Sony slashes PlayStation price tag
SONY is cutting the price of its PlayStation One games console to under £50. The Japanese giant dismissed any suggestion that the £30 reduction was in response to the launch of two new consoles this year, from rivals Nintendo and Microsoft.
The PlayStation One came out in September 2000 as a redesigned version of the original PlayStation console launched in 1995. Together with the PS2, launched in November 2000, around 118m PlayStations have been sold worldwide.
Sony hopes that by cutting the price of the PlayStation One from £79.99 to £49.99 in the UK it will attract younger gamers, who will then go on to buy the PS2.
Chris Deering, president of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, said: 'The PS one has been a terrific success, and there are now well over 35m PS ones in homes throughout Europe, with over 1,300 games titles available. The price change, the first for almost three years, will help to further broaden the audience for PS one, making it more affordable for the younger gamer.'
Sony said the announcement was part of a three-year strategy to reduce the price of the PS one and not in response to Nintendo slashing £70 off the £199 price of its GameCube console less than a fortnight before its 3 May launch. Microsoft joined the price war when it cut the price of its Xbox console from £299 to £199 five weeks after its launch.
