Sony drops pricing information from the PlayStation Blog

Last week, Sony for the first time failed to include the prices of games as part of the weekly PlayStation Store update on the European PlayStation Blog - much to the annoyance of regular readers.

Sony let PlayStation Blog readers know about the change via a paragraph slipped inside the Store update post. Note the lack of explanation:

PlayStation gamers use the PlayStation Store update post to discover what's new on their console that week. I often use it myself! And the pricing information alongside each game and piece of downloadable content provided a useful, at-a-glance picture of whether or not something was worth a download.

So it was a surprise to see Sony ditch pricing information on the blog and force people to click through to the PlayStation Store for each individual item in order to find out how much games and DLC cost in their region.

The reaction from the PlayStation community was, as you'd expect, entirely negative. Some even accused Sony of hiding its pricing, which has come under fire for being too expensive in comparison to the cost of games in North America.

This week, as part of the latest PlayStation Store update, Sony explained the move. Here's the statement:

The reaction to the explanation has been, largely, positive (a detailed statement that sounds like it comes from a human being goes a long way!). There are a few complaints, though. One user has questioned why Sony struggles with pricing when competitors such as Microsoft and Steam do not.

There are a few reasonable suggestions, too, such as the PlayStation website pulling in local pricing based on users' ISP or PSN ID.

This idea, Sony said, is doable, but it sounds like a decent amount of work, so don't hold your breath.

So there you have it. No more prices on the PlayStation Store update blog post. At least now we know why.