Sony UK Boss Calls the US a ‘Land of Cheap People’ to Justify PS3 Price

Playfuls ^ | 03/25/2007

[JohnSheppard]

In an interview with Martin Matt, from the popular GameIndustry.biz site, Sony UK managing director Ray Maguire calls America "a land of cheap people", while the UK is “a little island where rent and rates are at an absolute premium”.

When asked about the high price of the PS3 in PAL areas, especially in the UK (where Sony’s console is currently being sold for GBP 425- US $840- more expensive than anywhere in Europe) this is what Ray Maguire had to say:

“If you take what's considered to be the most expensive and the least expensive – consider the US with its massive land and cheap people. Then you look at the UK – a little island where rent and rates are at an absolute premium, and the cost of people is a lot more. The cost of retail is vastly more in the UK than it is in the US and that's before you even stop to consider the US doesn't have VAT at RRP, they put a small amount on afterwards. Whereas, we get stung by 17.5 per cent. And pity the poor Irish and places like Sweden.

[Arkinsaw]

My son wants to buy one, he has the money saved up... But oddly enough, we can't find one locally. They seem to be all sold out. XBox 360? Sure. PS3, can-do. But he wants, and can afford, a Wii.

Its worth the wait. Don't let him play alone, get everybody in there and start with making Mii's. Its a hoot.

We bought some games but have not really played them as we have been wearing out the bowling on the disk that comes with it. Even grandma can play that one.

Also download the free Everybody Votes channel. Interactive polls every couple of days.

[Always Independent]

Its funny, having two boys only two years apart I end up buying two of everything as I did with the original Xbox and now two Xbox 360s'. In the states here, anyone notice that there is not one cent of price competiton anywhere on any make of gaming console or games for that matter. If there was ever a case for investigation of price fixing, I think it is the video gaming industry.

[Washi]

Yup. We cheapskates didn't go for the BetaMax or the Macintosh either. Goodbye PS3.

[Erasmus]

Piss on Sony. No way I'm paying that much for a fscking game console.

If it's got Linux inside, it probably does some fsck-ing.

(That's fsck, as in "file system check.")

< ]B^)

[Porterville]

just for that I'm buying an Xbox 360...

[MinorityRepublican]

The only 2 nations that come little close to us in standards of living but not equal are Canada and Australia.

You forgot Ireland and Norway.

[DesScorp]

"(That's fsck, as in "file system check.")"

Yeah, I'm a 'Nix geek myself, which is why I use fsck as my replacement profanity of choice. Some will get it, some won't :)

[laotzu]

Game stations aren't really exculsivly for children

Damn it.....I specifically meant the purchase of my PS2 to be childish. Is 48 too old to become a fire-spinning roller-blader?

[freedom moose]

I don't see what the problem is either.....I thought he was saying that labor is cheap in the US and he was complaining about the high tax rate. Maybe I'm wrong, but I think it was just poor word choice and it didn't come across well in print.

[capitalist229]

The UK pound is overpriced.

No the dollar is over priced because it is the world's reserve currency, and the Chinese refuse to revalue the yuan to correct the situation because it will destabilize their economy and endanger the Red Chinese overlords.

When the dollar is finally devalued all USA consumer prices will shoot way up.

BUMP

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

Where do people get the idea that the PS3 is overpriced?

Because it is. Price is not what the components are worth but what the customer is willing to pay and what they perceive as the value of the item.

So the PS3 is over priced when it is one dollar more then the perceived value to the target customer even if the component parts actually cost more then the sale price.

[LibWhacker]

By cheap people I assume he's referring to our cheap labor (i.e., illegal aliens), in which case there's no need to take offense.

[jveritas]

I do not think that Ireland and Norway are in much better shape than other European nations when it comes to the purchasing power parity. Please remember that although Ireland and Norway may be on the top of European nations when it comes to individual incomes and they are comparable to that in the United States, still their purchasing power is much weaker than individuals in the United States because things are too expensive there.

[jveritas]

That was the general concensus reaction of many Europeans interviewed by the CNN reporter on the sidewalks of New York City. They were both shocked and amazed at the prices for such items as computers, gaming consoles, and flat screen televisions.

And that what is New York City which is one of the most expensive places in the US, if they go to the shopping malls where most of us go, then they will be “really shocked and amazed" how good we have it here :)

[OpusatFR]

Cheap!?

No. Frugal.

I still have the bedroom suite my parents bought for my 13th birthday.

~about 5 decades ago.

[Doohickey]

I don't see were the guy insulted anybody. I do see where the writer editorialized it that way.

[FreedomPoster]

Add their proprietary memory formats to the list of "why to not buy Sony".

[Anitius Severinus Boethius]

I don't agree with Hildy very often, but she is right. He isn't getting snide by commenting that Americans are cheap, he is criticizing the pricing structure of the U.K.

How else can you call for him saying feel sorry for the Irish and Swedes? Their VAT is even higher than the UK. If he thought the UK was "better" than the US, why wouldn't he have praised Ireland and Sweden for being even "better" than the UK?

The fact is that US customers won't pay the same prices that those in the UK will pay. Kind of like how men won't pay the same price for clothes that women will.

[BipolarBob]

Yeah got the WiiPlay when it first came out. It was worth it for the controller. The cow riding game is a hoot with family members. Never played the tank game. I'll try it though.

[antiRepublicrat]

Except they screwed the pooch on the aging Nvidia card inside the thing. All that processing power being held back because the video card is slightly weaker than the ATI one in the Xbox360.

Except there's not even one game today that even uses all of the processing power, and likely won't be for a couple of years.