PlayStation 3 to cost £425
It's 'a bargain', says bigwig.
Sony Computer Entertainment UK's managing director, Ray Maguire, has revealed that to Eurogamer that the PlayStation 3 will set British gamers back £425 when it arrives here on November 17 - which he believes is "a bargain."
Speaking to Eurogamer TV in an exclusive interview to be broadcast in the next few days, Maguire said: "I don't think it's an expensive machine; I think actually, it's probably a cheap machine.
"If you think a Blu-Ray player by itself might be £600-700, and we're coming in at just £425 - it's a bargain."
At a pre-E3 press conference last week, Sony announced that the 60GB PS3 will go on sale for €599 - that's around £405 if you do a direct conversion. The 20GB PS3 will retail for €499, but well-informed retail sources have been suggesting that Sony won't release the lower spec model in the UK at all.
Which will leave us with the 60GB version, priced at £140 more than its nearest rival, the Xbox 360. Microsoft has reportedly told UK retailers that the cost of an Xbox 360 plus HD-DVD peripheral will be less than the price of a PS3 come Christmas.
"£425 is definitely not a mass market price, no," Maguire admitted.
"But you think about the price, think about the price of just a Blu-Ray player. It will be cheaper than a Blu-Ray player just by itself. So fundamentally we're going to be great value just from that point of view without even looking at the games side."
He went on to concede, however, that it'll be up to Sony to communicate this message to consumers who might not be that knowledgeable when it comes to next-gen disc formats.
"The point is that most people don't realise what they're actually getting with PlayStation 3," Maguire said.
"Number one, it's a games machine and we all know that. But also it's a high definition video playback device through Blu-Ray, and a lot of people don't really understand that part of the functionality either. There's a big story to tell people and a lot of information to be taken on board."
Look out for the full interview on Eurogamer TV - coming soon.