European Commission Not Targeting Sony, Nintendo, Microsoft

News reports are ricocheting around the Internet that the European Commission is to 'name and shame' Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft for price inflation on consoles sold in the United Kingdom or 'Treasure Island' as we're apparently called.

Not true.

The actual fact is that - according to an EC press release via the Associated Press: "Starting Thursday, the European Commission will chart basic consumer goods across the European Union's 27 nations in an effort to identify areas where prices may be unfairly high.

"The EU's executive will then once a year report the average price of a new car, dairy products and grains, cereal and pasta and other goods. It will also list average fees for running a bank account and household bills for electricity and gas.

"EU officials said they weren't pushing a uniform price across the EU since there may be good economic reasons why, for example, salted cod — a commonplace dish called bacalao in Portugal — costs far more in other countries where it is an imported delicacy.

"The information that the EU scoreboard turns up could help national consumer, antitrust or other agencies investigate if companies are breaking competition rules by deterring potential rivals and keeping prices high, the European Commission said."

So, where does all the 'naming and shaming Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft' that's been doing the rounds come from?

The Daily Telegraph and The Daily Mail have banged out stories in recent days stating that..." Brussels to name and shame rip-off companies" and "Crackdown on rip-off foreign firms that treat Britain like Treasure Island".

Both stories used the same example:

"Sony's British launch price for the 60GB version of the PlayStation 3 console last year was £425, some 27 per cent more than in the U.S. and 68 per cent more than Japan."

The Mail also went on to use an Xbox 360 stat, "A Microsoft Xbox 360 Premium games console was £269.66 in this country, £250.53 in France, £178.63 in New York and £161.73 in Japan".

(Can anybody help us out with where in the UK an Microsoft Xbox 360 Premium costs £269.66?)

The fact is that Brits are charged more than many other countries for video game consoles. As SCEE' UK managing director Ray Maguire told SPOnG back in February last year:

"The UK, in particular, is quite expensive to deal with. Transport costs a lot of money. There’s taxation which is obviously government-controlled, so is more onerous. The cost of living is high, therefore people need to be paid more money at retail - and in our own operations - than some of our European counterparts".

In terms of 'naming and shaming' corporations for shoving prices of consoles up in the UK - what is actually going to happen is that once a year, a price comparison chart for 'basic consumer goods' will be posted somewhere on the EC's website.

Sadly, therefore, if you want to get lower pricing for your gaming hardware, you're going to have to do the legwork yourself, as usual.