GC: PlayStation 2 price cut to GBP 94.99 as part of Leipzig offensive
Sony plans to cut the price of its market-leading console across Europe this week, with memory cards also set to shift downward in price.
Sony will cut the price of the PlayStation 2 to GBP 94.99 in the UK and EUR 129.99 across Europe at this week's Leipzig Games Convention, with memory cards cut to EUR 19.99.
"At this new price point of EUR 129, the market leading PlayStation 2 should remain the computer entertainment system of choice for an even wider and more diverse audience for many years to come," said David Reeves, SCEE president.
The news represents a drop of roughly GBP 10 and reflects Sony's desire to continue building its current-generation installed base even as PlayStation 3 strengthens its hold on the company's agenda.
Embarrassingly for Sony, the announcement had been embargoed until Wednesday morning, but was accidentally uploaded to the company's Virtual Press Office today before being hastily removed. Albeit not before various newsmen had sunk their teeth into it.
Less embarrassing is that publishers, many of whom have already abandoned large-scale support for Xbox 1 and GameCube, continue to support the format en masse.
More than 100 million PlayStation 2 consoles have already been sold worldwide and PlayStation 3 is due to launch in the UK on November 17th.
Sony also plans to launch a pink version of its slimline PlayStation 2 model, it said today, with the blinding new unit to go on sale from November 8th, accompanied by a pink controller and memory card.