Sony's Inconsistent PlayStation Network Prices

As the PlayStation Network is available in many countries with different currencies, it's natural that the prices of games and other content varies on the PlayStation Store. The games in North America are slightly cheaper than those in Europe and the UK, though this depends on the currency fluctuations. Earlier today, we came across a big discrepancy in Sony's pricing which has nothing to do with currency fluctuation.

[Zedux]

if you call sudden price drops and sales "Inconsistent" prices then I'm more than happy with it! ;)

[WildArmed]

lol. exactly, cry me a rivier -.-

[GameGambits]

I sorta wish you could make a global Playstation Network account, so that everything from across all the Playstation stores was in that single one. Having 3 different region PSN ID's to travel to get all the content I want kinda stinks.

Also, gibs me all the Japan store PS1 classics! I needs more Xenogears Sony!

[Blaze929]

Wasnt this a similar problem with the Games on Demand service when it launched with different prices depending on the regions and everyone was quick to run in and call Microsoft greedy doing the usual rip-off tactics they always do? So is Sony ripping people off too? Nah, I dont think so ;-)

[AridSpider]

Of course not, only Microsoft can be accused of bring greedy people who like to rip people off. Never mind the region pricing of games.

/sarcasm

[heroicjanitor]

So how is this their fault? Ms are accused of greed if a developer wants to make dlc free but MS insists on a price(and rightly so)

[RememberThe357]

They may be involved but I don't see them having a huge role in third party pricing. You might want to get EA a ring about this one.

A better example would have been to compare the games that Sony publishes themselves on the PSN.

[Time_Is_On_My_Side]

If you know anything about the mainstream public they'll say something like, "You get what you pay for because not everything that is free is worth it" or something like that to keep the fantasy going. I say the best things in life are free, lol.

[IdleLeeSiuLung]

Yeah, but isn't MS the one footing the bill for bandwidth for the FREE DLC? So after the DLC is created, MS is the one footing the bill for the recurring cost.

Sony charges a fee $0.16 per Gigabyte downloaded to publishers....

source: http://kotaku.com/5177036/p...

[Saaking]

people should stfu and stop complaining about irrelevant stuff.

[Shadow Man]

Halo3 ODST

[PlayStation X]

he's right the whole world gets ripped off with odst expansion =/

[betrayed gamer]

i still hate paying taxes on dlc

[Biggunz]

PSN tax is determined by the State you live in not Sony.

[El_Colombiano]

I have no taxes on PSN.

[betrayed gamer]

and sony should unify their system like msft

[Cajun Chicken]

To buy MS points, there's still a different price point in the UK to everywhere else, so MS is no better. Everyone does something like this in some way or other, don't be thinking the points have a universal point value. Items can still be more expensive from XBL in some regions than other just because of the core price for the points, the actual MS point currency doesn't reflect the true price, the same for Nintendo on Wii.

[Evocation]

MS points come across however has much more unified, 800points worldwide, even if 800points is worth something different. and with the new PSN card £20PSN doesn't =£20irl anymore.

EU has to pay more tax on games anyway which doesn't help with prices.

[betrayed gamer]

yea but there is no tax added. so i look at it this way. 20 points i can spend exactly that on xbl, but if i buy a psn card i have to buy 2 if i want to get something worth 19.99. thats stupid

[thereapersson]

There used to not be tax on things purchased from the PSN, but now it's a state-by-state thing.

Here in WA, I get taxed on PSN purchases.

[sunil]

Are we taxed when we buy PSN cards? Or is it only when you from the PSN?

If its both, then it is not fair !

[BaSeBaLlKiD721]

no you do not pay tax when you buy PSN cards. its $20 flat...

[Jihaad_cpt]

The tax is put into the price of the purchase it's self not when you load money, just like for MS. Stop being dumb please. For those saying it's not fair move out of your countries tax is used so you fools have things like streets, medical services and if you're a Brit of American to make sure your banks don't loose everything along with your plushy lives and retirements and 401k's (or what ever it's called if you live in the US)

[Baba1906]

buuuuh cry.... thats the best they could come up with? the pricing of the psn store? *snif*

[LinuxGuru]

Boo hoo

[Shadow Man]

No crossover game chat while in gameplay(bu but HOME)
No in game music
You have to install game DEMOS!!!! You have got to be phucking joking!!

[FlipMode]

That makes PSN Suck?

:/

[itchy18]

then sell your fcking ps3!!!!! all you do is complain complain complain complain!!!

[chisox100]

wtf ps3 has in game music, i was listening to Slipknot while playing KZ2 earlier.

[chisox100]

if ps3 sucks why is it getting the superior version of FF13?

[kevinx1000]

Because FFXIII sucks....
most multiplats look better on 360 so that's completely irrelevant.

[talltony]

You can listen to music off ur hard drive but only in some games. Psn makes up for installing games with sending and recieving messages much faster than wit the nxe. To top it all off u have to pay to to be in a service with the most immature kids I have seen In any online service in my life. Xbox live is the most overrated service I have ever seen!

[Saaking]

Shadow man doesn't own a ps3. He just trolls PS3 articles and complains about psfanboys

[Gabe EatsWell]

inb4PSNsucks

EDIT: A little too late, Shadow Bot's here.

[JonnyBigBoss]

What a bad article. The prices in the UK are always a lot higher. Heck, the subscription fee for MMORPGs is double. There's a certain tax which I forget the name of that is applied to sales in Britain. This is hardly something to write about...

[resistance100]

It's called VAT and is currently at 15% (compared with the 6% average in the states) however it is going back to 17.5% later this year

[Sir Ken_Kutaragi]

...at least i don't have to pay yearly to play online??? WTF is all that about M$??? ;-D

[Shadow Man]

Hey you have install the demo AFTER :D
AHAHHAHAHA :-D

[NaiNaiNai]

I still don't understand that one. why do you have to install a DEMO. thats stupid. and a waste of time on most of them.

[Saaking]

gtfo bots

[NaiNaiNai]

saaking your in more xbox 360 articles then Even me, you really need to take your own advice.

[Ummm Da Dum]

we british/ europeans our use to being screwed over by games companies.

high prices or late release dates.

atleast we got playtv and iplayer on ps3 now.
doesnt make up for gettin a video store atleast 1 year later than the yanks

[Sarcasm]

*sigh*

In the U.S, they release games with "English" and that about sums it up.

For EU, they release games with English, Spanish, Dutch, Swedish, etc. etc. and you expect it to come out the same time?

[kwicksandz]

that is such a BS arguement. IF you live in england and speak english why the hell cant you get the ENGLISH LANGUAGE version day and date?

Its like withholding the US version for mexico, canada and portugal localisation. dont speak portugese? too bad you still have to wait

[BWS1982]

that there is a "North American" version, sometimes called NTSC/region 1/NA depending on media, and then there's "European" or sometimes called PAL or "International" or "EU"...the version intended for North American is plain US English, and the "International" is complicated with many/several language options...

Again, this is my understanding, and where I think Sarcasm is coming from above, but I may or may not have this exactly understood. I'm just trying to sort out this by stating that NA releases are American/US English (1 language, simple enough, the international language at that) and then releases in Europe are often multilingual, and hence a possible delay in it. If this is true, sure it's not fair, but there is a vast expectation for residents here in NA/US that if you don't speak US English you're out of luck here with media (but will have Spanish subtitles/dubbing for both Mexico and US Latinos, perhaps French for Canadian) and either have to learn it or import it from your native origin (again, regarding most media and entertainment). English is VERY pervasive in NA (mostly Spanish in Mexico though)...Sure Canada has French also, and I've seen Canadian releases have 2 languages (French and English) but beyond that, "North American" releases are more or less "English" because of the huge majority of English speakers, whereas Europe is very divided and it'd be kind of unfair to expect a dev team to come out with 10-20 different major versions of the game and release them all (a Spanish, German, Polish, Swedish, Dutch, etc...) and instead I think they just focus on one giant compilation and call it "European release" with multiple languages to choose from/printed in the manual, etc... Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

[Jihaad_cpt]

Now use your head and think for one second the European block combined wealth is more than the US in term of purchasing power which is not only the UK so they want to please everyone in the Europe and not just one market so there is a reason they release it at the time so they don't alienate the other 60% of where their profit comes from. US does not equal world and the UK does not equal Europe

[napoleon_ist]

"Luckily, we also have a US PlayStation Account so we opt to purchase the game from there, and save ourselves a few quid."

you can't.

i used to buy stuff in the hong kong store from europe, but foreign credit cards are not accepted anymore alas

[TheTeam06]

Get your $5 lightsaber for your un-used, ridiculously pointless 360 avatars here, $5! No, better yet, buy this picture for wayy too much and use it as an avatar for your gamertag! No no no, wait! Remember the Gran Turismo $40 "demo"? Why not pay $60 for a Halo 3 alternate ending!?! Fantastic! Let's all pay $300 dollars to buy a console that breaks 2x as much as another console at the same price and with no online access fees!

Prices are always ridiculous. Why not complain about how gas prices are still not the way they were, or why movie tickets are TWICE the price of what they were 5 years ago? At least I can check out what the prices of those games are without already having a $50 subscription tag to give me the chance to check out what I want.

On topic, I agree with inconsistent sales on PSN.

[caffman]

avatars WERE unused, until the first compatible game came out. Now I can use my avatar in Guitar hero 5. I can't do that with my Home avatar

[TheTeam06]

I would expect you not to read the rest and get offended right away. Using avatars in games have been done for at least 3 years now. It's not really supported, nor will it justify my main point, which was price points. Using them in Guitar Hero is fine (even tho they look like they don't belong in there) but what you might have missed was the $5 lightsaber (which will buy you an apartment in Home, which extra things added in). It's fine if you use your avatar, but what are you using the lightsaber for? Fighting your other avatar friends? Using it in Star Wars (which will really look out of place) or using it as a tool so you can see what "the bottom of an avatar's shoe looks like"? Probably none of the above.

[Arnon]

I'm taxed here in Texas.

The only thing about the prices that I'm upset about is how expensive they are. Worms on XBL is about $5, while the one on PSN is like $12.99.

[stryx]

Worms is also given away free if you buy a 512 MB memory card for the 360. They also have Worms 2 and Worms Armageddon. They have reasons for the game being cheaper.

And as Valve stated this past week...I don't think that the development companies set the values for the games. I think they help in the process, but Sony and Microsoft have the ultimate say in how much we pay for everything on XBLA and PSN.

[stryx]

PSN cards should be non-taxed at the store, but you should see a tax on the store when you purchase...

As to the difference in pricing...no one really has the room to complain as Sony doesn't set the prices globally. Each individual division of Sony set the prices for that area, just as each division falls under different Ratings boards. SCEA, SCEE, & SCEJ all fall under Sony, but they are all consider individual divisions of the company, thus the reason why when someone in the US has a complaint, they call SCEA and not SCEJ.

[BaSeBaLlKiD721]

we dont get taxed when buying PSN cards...

[lonix]

i can listen to music on my psp and chat using skype on my psp
all at the same time as playing killzone2 on ps3

[Aquarius]

ummm so you can play it whenever you like later on?

Edit: So what does that mean? That you have to leave your 360 on while its melting inside just to play the demo?

[NaiNaiNai]

still a waste of time. after downloading it should be in a ISO format so you can play it right away.

[FFXI101]

Is not about the currency, is about the market.

Car is one example, house is another. Men/women's accessories like watch, purse, perfume, or shoes may cost more at retail store in Paris than Canada or korea or/and most states in the US.

[TheTeam06]

It's weird how HDMI cables can go for $30 in stores, but $5 online.

[gumgum99]

I get taxed as well. About $.37 reduction on my latest purchase.

[JustV]

Sony is not being Inconsistent with the price. It goes by the economy in different countries. You guys also make more money than people in US. Everywhere in England is way more expensive than US. Sony has to aim for how the economy is over there compared to here. For example : games in Norway cost wayyy more than US. it cost 500 Krones for a game. which is equal to nearly 90 dollars.While new games over here cost 59.99 with tax its gonna be like 64 dollars. So if I was to sell games on PSN, I would also put up a price that is higher than US. They take any chance to make profit. I mean, it is a company right? lol