UPDATE: Sony's European PS3 Announcement Leaked - CONFIRMED
It's a bundle but is it of joy?
[b]UPDATE: Sony Computer Entertainment Europe's London office has contacted SPOnG with the following statement regarding this story - which pertains to an apparently leaked email regarding a French PS3 bundle. We are quite happy to print Sony's statement to us here.
SCEE has told us that, "The story is totally and factually incorrect".[/b]
UPDATE: Don't forget to read the confirmation of the package details right here.
An internal email (pictured) from French retailer Auchan to a Sony Key account manager based in Paris indicates that Sony's 'value' announcement due early on this Friday morning will include a PS3 plus two games bundle priced to retail at €514 plus a 0.42c charge for waste recycling. The bundle is due to hit French shelves on August 1st.
UPDATE: To make this absolutely clear, this information was part of the email made publicly available on the Internet. The euro pricing could obviously reflect a before sales tax and before retail margin value.
The bundle will include one PlayStation 3 plus a copy of Resistance Fall of Man and Motor Storm - which strangely to us at least was not originally going to be included, Formula 1 was.
Auchan itself, according to its part in the email sent from Msr Vincent Sabin, will be serving up the bundle for €599 (£405), and will include two controllers (no mention of Rumble though!) - and is the same price as a standalone 60Gb PS3 currently sells for in Auchan.
Both games currently retail at GAME in the U.K. for £29.99 (down from official pricing of £39.99). A 60Gb PS3 retails at £425. A quick piece of maths would provide 'value' of £504.98 - at full official pricing ($425 for the unit + two sets of £39.99) for an equivalent U.K. bundle at current pricing.
A quick piece of currency maths suggests that the new €514 bundle to £365 - a £139.96 (call it £140) price cut. As both games are first-party and represent what is effectively a give-away by Sony, we could be looking at a unit price cut of, conservatively, £100.
Bear in mind that all of these calculations come from French details in this email.
UPDATE: To clarify once again - this is, as we pointed out - our analysis and is not official SCEE pricing. We, like everybody else wait to see the official announcement this Friday morning at 5am (BST)
Being our sceptical selves we called the number at the bottom of the email and spoke to the Sony manager, Stephanie Colombo who confirmed that the email is genuine. "We will announce this officially tomorrow. This internal email should not have gone out yesterday", she explained.
Ms Colombo then continued, "Currently Auchan is looking into legal and technical reasons why this occurred."
We asked pointedly if the details within the email will be part of the European-wide Sony announcement due at 5am (BST) on Friday, we were told, "Yes, this is part of the announcement".
SPOnG then contacted SCEE in London in order to get confirmation of U.K. pricing. While it was confirmed to us that Stephanie does in fact have a contact number at Sony in France, Sony's local rep was unable to provide any comment regarding U.K. pricing.
UPDATE: As we have now pointed out, SCEE in London has indeed commented on this story. We are also making it clear that, as has been widely circulated, the announcement from Sony will regard a 'value bundle'
We, however, informed that the company's Senior VP in France would be contacting us to clarify matters.
UPDATE: See this conversation right here.
SCEE has told us that, "The story is totally and factually incorrect".[/b]
UPDATE: Don't forget to read the confirmation of the package details right here.
An internal email (pictured) from French retailer Auchan to a Sony Key account manager based in Paris indicates that Sony's 'value' announcement due early on this Friday morning will include a PS3 plus two games bundle priced to retail at €514 plus a 0.42c charge for waste recycling. The bundle is due to hit French shelves on August 1st.
UPDATE: To make this absolutely clear, this information was part of the email made publicly available on the Internet. The euro pricing could obviously reflect a before sales tax and before retail margin value.
The bundle will include one PlayStation 3 plus a copy of Resistance Fall of Man and Motor Storm - which strangely to us at least was not originally going to be included, Formula 1 was.
Auchan itself, according to its part in the email sent from Msr Vincent Sabin, will be serving up the bundle for €599 (£405), and will include two controllers (no mention of Rumble though!) - and is the same price as a standalone 60Gb PS3 currently sells for in Auchan.
Both games currently retail at GAME in the U.K. for £29.99 (down from official pricing of £39.99). A 60Gb PS3 retails at £425. A quick piece of maths would provide 'value' of £504.98 - at full official pricing ($425 for the unit + two sets of £39.99) for an equivalent U.K. bundle at current pricing.
A quick piece of currency maths suggests that the new €514 bundle to £365 - a £139.96 (call it £140) price cut. As both games are first-party and represent what is effectively a give-away by Sony, we could be looking at a unit price cut of, conservatively, £100.
Bear in mind that all of these calculations come from French details in this email.
UPDATE: To clarify once again - this is, as we pointed out - our analysis and is not official SCEE pricing. We, like everybody else wait to see the official announcement this Friday morning at 5am (BST)
Being our sceptical selves we called the number at the bottom of the email and spoke to the Sony manager, Stephanie Colombo who confirmed that the email is genuine. "We will announce this officially tomorrow. This internal email should not have gone out yesterday", she explained.
Ms Colombo then continued, "Currently Auchan is looking into legal and technical reasons why this occurred."
We asked pointedly if the details within the email will be part of the European-wide Sony announcement due at 5am (BST) on Friday, we were told, "Yes, this is part of the announcement".
SPOnG then contacted SCEE in London in order to get confirmation of U.K. pricing. While it was confirmed to us that Stephanie does in fact have a contact number at Sony in France, Sony's local rep was unable to provide any comment regarding U.K. pricing.
UPDATE: As we have now pointed out, SCEE in London has indeed commented on this story. We are also making it clear that, as has been widely circulated, the announcement from Sony will regard a 'value bundle'
We, however, informed that the company's Senior VP in France would be contacting us to clarify matters.
UPDATE: See this conversation right here.
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Comments
Joji 11 Jul 2007 12:28
1/5
£100 sounds good, I'd invest in one if it was £300-£320, roughly what you can get a 360 for. If Sony are prepared to take that hit I'd be fine in commiting. I won't get excited til I hear it from the horses mouth though.
ultimateassmonkey 11 Jul 2007 12:36
2/5
£100... Seems too good to be true Joji.
And I know I've already got a 360 (pre-owned but still) I think I want to get an Elite. Then if I want to I can pass on the 360 I've got.
And I know I've already got a 360 (pre-owned but still) I think I want to get an Elite. Then if I want to I can pass on the 360 I've got.
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DoctorDee 11 Jul 2007 12:44
3/5
If it's £365 with two first party titles, I'll be buying.
Oh, yes!
Oh, yes!
hollywooda 11 Jul 2007 14:01
4/5
That's good news & once some of the exclusive titles start coming out (i dont know either?) & get some good reviews i might start making that PS3 shaped space in my house, but i'll probably wait till either Killzone 2 (if its any good, & by good i dont mean it looks pretty) or MGS4....unless that comes to the 360, then the PS3 will drop waaaaaay down my line, and maybe off it completely.
deleted 11 Jul 2007 15:44
5/5
sounds true enough im sure sony can take a big hit in the games division if that relates to a big sale in the movies (blu ray) division, as we know thats where sony wants its money making skills to be, and well id buy one for £325 with two controllers and two games, deffo! i think at that price point with games and 2 controllers, my xbox 360 purchase would no longer look like the difinative winner in the ps3 vs 360 war anyone could take it and i dont want to be a loser so id want both! and at the same time im fit for the bluray vs hddvd war as i have my 360 hddvd drive already.