WiiLoaded.com - Wii Forum and News

UK, April 5, 2007 - Two major UK retailers have cut the price of the PlayStation 3 less than two weeks after the launch of the console. WH Smith and Play.com have slashed the price of the machine from £424.99 to £399.99.

WH Smith advertised the drop in The Sun newspaper, no doubt to catch the attention of parents looking to get their kids something a bit more special than a chocolate egg this Easter. Whereas, Play.com is offering the console for the same price but is also throwing in an HDMI cable and a copy of Click on Blu-ray.

At the time of writing no other retailers have followed suit, although many are expected to. And while WH Smith's offer is scheduled to end on April 19, Play.com is offering the console for £399.99 for the foreseeable future.

Additionally, tomorrow - Good Friday - the console price craziness is set to continue, with Play.com telling us that it's planning to offer the Core Xbox 360 for just £149.99 - £50 lower than the RRP - and is dropping the price of the Premium Xbox 360 from £279.99 to £249.99. You'll have to be quick though because the offer only lasts until April 10 and stock is likely to be extremely limited.

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in U.S. terms, 399.99 would be $533.42 U.S. dolors...remember though, this system comes with a game and an HDMI cable included

I didn't know retailers had the power t o drop prices of consoles or did they get approval from Sony

If you'd read the article, the same is happening to the Xbox 360. So I'm guessing they can cut the price on their own.

Don't the retailers "buy" the units from Sony and then sell them to the consumer?

That's what I always assumed.

Also greenfrogthing, £399.99 converts to $785.90 USD. I think you may have mistaken Pounds for Euros.

I saw that about the 360 and I guess they can. Usually the retailers are given a price to sell their product by the company but retailers can then lower it after some time. Wal-Mart does it all the time.

Thank you for pointing out my conversion problem. I forget that BG hasn't become as civilized as the rest of Europe