UK to pay about the same for Wii as US, Japan

When Sony announced that $600 price point for the PlayStation 3, it was a spicy meatball, but their €499 / 599 European price was an even tougher sell, and their eventual supposed £425 (~$800 US) UK sticker was the icing on a very vexatious cake -- the more we found out about their launch prices, the more it pained us. Looks like Nintendo's not gonna be following in Sony's footsteps though, at least not in Europe. They let GamesIndustry know that the "UK pricing will be in line with Japan and the US," for the Wii, which GI took to mean that with VAT, the UK might expect to pay about £150 (about $279 US). Yeah, it's a little higher than the US and Japan -- and it usually is -- but it's certainly not the multi-hundred-dollar price penalty for living on the Soggy Isles Sony's apparently intending to excise, that's for sure.

[Peter Elliot @ May 26th 2006 9:48AM]

UK prices have to include sales tax (17.5%) which is the displayed price, whereas all US prices are quoted before tax (6% in Michigan).

I prefer my MI tax, but wish they'd make stores add it to the displayed prices...

[Tnyc @ May 26th 2006 9:48AM]

Amen to that.... now are you Brits happy?

First post!!

[Mr.Blonde @ May 26th 2006 9:50AM]

still, thats only twenty quid more than what the Gamecube was when that came out. Not a bad price in my opinion.

[bob @ May 26th 2006 9:51AM]

we're british - we're never happy, it always raining! lol

[Mr.Blonde @ May 26th 2006 9:52AM]

oh yeah, I forgot about US sales tax, doesn't make the deal so sweet after all.

[Will K @ May 26th 2006 9:55AM]

"When Sony announced that $600 price point for the PlayStation 3, it was a spicy meatball"

ROFL!

[Charles Taylor @ May 26th 2006 10:05AM]

"I prefer my MI tax, but wish they'd make stores add it to the displayed prices..."

#1, that would be feasibly impossible since every state and in some states (like Georgia) every county has a different sales tax rate. Could you imagine how much money it would take for a large national retailer to price everything according to which bloody county it's sold in?!

[Sam @ May 26th 2006 10:06AM]

If this is true, this is goodd news for us living in this rainy and windy island.

I'm sick and tired of being ripped off by companies selling goods in here at extortionate rates.

A MacBook Pro Notebook is £400 cheaper in the US. (Im not a Apple fanboy, I used that as an example).

Nintendo please keep this propposed pricing true and you will win a new customer

PS3 at £420 NEVER!!!!

[Semi @ May 26th 2006 10:07AM]

150 seems cheap...
as long as it does exactly what it says on the box!

with no limitations!!

[Giles @ May 26th 2006 10:21AM]

happy happy happy
first nintendo purchase coming soon...
at least someone is thinking of us here in the uk

[Brian from Texas @ May 26th 2006 10:29AM]

In Texas each city has it's own sales tax. Mine is 8.03, whereas surrounding cities are 8.08, 8.15, and 8.25. These are voted on to fund building of roads, or more recently, the new Dallas Cowboys stadium.

[Nick @ May 26th 2006 10:29AM]

I think that devices which are capable of recording video are taxed in a different way, so it may be that Sony has to pay the UK goverment more on each PS3 sold because it is classified as a different kind of device to the Wii, and that may well be reflected in the higher $->£ conversion. That's assuming the PS3 will end up with PVR functionality, which seems quite likely.

[Wow360rocks! @ May 26th 2006 10:53AM]

actually its the opposite, Sony spent loads of money trying to persuade the UK government the PS2 was a computer in order that they saved on import duties I think MS got away with it because of its Hardrive.

[derfreddy @ May 26th 2006 10:53AM]

what about normal europe?

[bush @ May 26th 2006 10:59AM]

#10: PVR functionality?

Wow, I didn't know PS3 has TV (DVB-T) tuner or TV-input.

[TriZz @ May 26th 2006 11:01AM]

Wow! In Fairfax County (Virginia, USA) - which is one of the richest counties in the US) - has a sales tax of 4.5%

You MI, TX, and especially the UK have it rough.

[charlie @ May 26th 2006 11:02AM]

Kind of exciting... it looks like the Wii will debut in america for $199. The japanese price comes to $223, their consoles are always slightly cheaper in america, and they're not going to have an odd price point like $219 or $209.

[matt @ May 26th 2006 11:05AM]

bob: "we're british - we're never happy, it always raining! lol"

and our mouth smell too!

[charlie @ May 26th 2006 11:09AM]

"You MI, TX, and especially the UK have it rough."

Well the UK, yeah, but Texas doesn't have a state personal income tax. Virginia actually has a relatively high one, 2% to 5.75%, and the highest bracket comes into effect at only $17,000 in income.

[John Doe @ May 26th 2006 11:36AM]

"#1, that would be feasibly impossible since every state and in some states (like Georgia) every county has a different sales tax rate. Could you imagine how much money it would take for a large national retailer to price everything according to which bloody county it's sold in?!"

Yah it would be cake. When I worked at Toys R Us 10 years ago their ticketing system labeling system was done through a VAX system. That was 10 years ago. With most big name companies now fully integrated into a national WAN; taking tax into consideration is as simple as making sure when you print up the label it has the right zip code associated to it which in turn would calc the tax involved. We aren’t talking brain surgery here.

[benj @ May 26th 2006 11:41AM]

Oi Europe isn't the UK plus others!! There are others countries round these parts, honest

[embee @ May 26th 2006 11:48AM]

"#1, that would be feasibly impossible since every state and in some states (like Georgia) every county has a different sales tax rate. Could you imagine how much money it would take for a large national retailer to price everything according to which bloody county it's sold in?!"

It's called a calculator and a sticker. Trust me, store managers are capable of calculating sales tax and writing the total on a sticker

[Osiris @ May 26th 2006 12:02PM]

WTF how can the PS3 have a TV Tuner in it?
If that ships in UK then that means all owners will be obliged to also pay a tax for a TV licence..

As retarded as the TV licencing laws are in this country, PS3 would be even more retarded implementing it...

[Chris @ May 26th 2006 12:11PM]

What about in Canada? With the strong Canadian dollar I saved about 50 bones buying my 360 in the US.

[Jack @ May 26th 2006 12:12PM]

SOGGY???! im so glad about this, means i allready have enough saved and just have to aquire however much it will be for MP:3, LOS:TP and Red Steel and another controller

[Crivens @ May 26th 2006 12:17PM]

"These are voted on to fund building of roads"

Nah, in the UK we have seperate taxes for all that. We totally rule when it comes to taxes. :(

[Ryan @ May 26th 2006 12:25PM]

If Americans think they have it bad, some of my income is being taxed at 40%, I have to pay approx $1700 US a year in rates to my council, everything I buy is at 17.5% and even then, importing I still have to pay tax. It is ridiculous.

[KultiVator @ May 26th 2006 12:26PM]

That's why Robin Hood was such a popular man over here!

;-P

KultiVator

[jimmy B @ May 26th 2006 12:31PM]

SOLD good job nintendo, lots of love from the uk

[wideawakewesley @ May 26th 2006 12:38PM]

If it sells for £150 it's a f*cking bargain. I'd pay £200 for it and not bat an eyelid!

[Crivens @ May 26th 2006 12:39PM]

"I have to pay approx $1700 US a year in rates to my council" - Obviously not near London then ;) Think I'm paying about $2500 a year to the council just to live here. And I'm not even that near London (half an hours drive).

And lets not mention Petrol......

[hmn @ May 26th 2006 12:55PM]

First of all my employer has to pay a 28% tax on my income and then I have to pay another 28% on the remaining money. Then we have VAT ranging from 6% to 25% so don't whine!

[Luca @ May 26th 2006 1:04PM]

In Italy there's a 20%VAT for most things, and we're getting DsLite with 10€ added to the price (149 in Europe, 159 in Italy) and it has already happened to the normal DS at launch.
If the Wii remains in the 200/250 € range I'm ok with it.

[greg @ May 26th 2006 1:18PM]

i always thought the whole of america was stupid for adding tax on later, still do actually. i went to a dollar shop in florida and everyting was a dollar and 7 cents!! why not make it 93c? what retarded nation does that? in NY recently the starbucks prices were like $2:60 or something so when u took it to the till, it was ok.


anyway, id rather have 3 Wiis that a PS3. mind u id rather have a Wii and shit loads of games

[Anonymous @ May 26th 2006 1:26PM]

The price of the console wasnt the worrying thing for us in the UK, the worrying thing is if they do what they usually do and completely ignore the European market for a year or longer and only release certain 'high profile' games when they can be bothered.

There's Nintendo's biggest downfall in Europe, completely ignore the market and it'll eventually ignore you.

[Matt @ May 26th 2006 1:48PM]

Nice to see the (until recently) usual 1:1 dollar-pound conversaion rate for most stuff is really starting to die off now! About damn time too! I guess Tescos et al is making people realise that you dont need to pay 50 quid for a DVD player just because same thing retails for $49.99, when you can get one for £17.49...

Anyway, good price point. I'm never usually a early-adopter (and until recently a playstation-only console user) but I'll be getting a Wii straight away if its 150 quid or under. Sony have utterly lost the plot - they've basically ruined the Playstation name now if this continues.

[mathew @ May 26th 2006 2:32PM]

Sounds like Wii might be worth spending a penny on.

[TMoney @ May 26th 2006 2:35PM]

Hey all you Brits complaining about your taxes. You live in a socialist country. Your taxes pay for numerous programs, that we either don't have, or have to pay for ourselves in a America. Do you know what health insurance costs here? It all balances out. Your government prefers to charge everyone and offer services to everyone, while mine leaves a lot of it up to capitalism.

[Mark @ May 26th 2006 2:42PM]

21: if you're getting a PS3 you should have a TV licence anyway, otherwise you'd have nothing to plug it in to (i know you can plug it into a monitor but who the hell owns a computer but not a telly?), and i'd hardly call the TV licence retarded, considering how much you get from it it's actually a bit of a bargain

[Ad @ May 26th 2006 3:22PM]

All we ask for is equality. Hope it comes with a couple of free Virtual console downloads to get us going

[Ryan @ May 26th 2006 3:26PM]

@33 - It does not balance out. I still go private because the service on the National Health Service is abysmal and I have no choice to opt out of it. Therefore I am paying possibly up to about $4000 a year for something I don't use. I haven't had anything done medically for 8 years. Where has my money gone to? Am I going to have a $100,000 operation soon?

[A Texan in Bavaria @ May 26th 2006 4:10PM]

Ryan: but I have friends back in the States who would give their eye-teeth for the privilege of $4000/yr health insurance premiums for even very basic care, but were foolish enough to be born diabetics or go to the hospital while uninsured recent graduates. I know a guy who is gratefully paying $300/mo. just for catastrophic coverage (as in, kicks in if he has a $5000+ incident).

Grass is always greener, I guess...

(currently living in one of the greenest pastures of all: American Army civilian contractor in Germany - reasonably priced doctor and hospital visits, even cash out of pocket, and with a great international policy backing it up)

[Michelle @ May 26th 2006 4:18PM]

£425 is not bad. Most things is Britian are the same price as US...but in pounds. So if you buy a Starbucks coffee, it will be £3.50... so it's like they are getting it for $425 in comparison instead of $600.

[TheWakeUpCall @ May 26th 2006 6:04PM]

The TV license is a brilliant thing, the BBC would not be the same without it. Because it is a government owned company it means they have certain rules and stuff and they do alot for the country aswell. Usually their programming is of high quality also. As for high taxes, this is true, but most people manage to get by. And those who can't afford it have a thing called Tax Return, where there government charges them less tax. Also, Britian is very lucky and they have alot of free government run things, for all age groups. Also, the NHS is a brilliant idea, no one in Britain can afford health insurance hardly, but the best thing is we don't need it. Also, growing up in an ecconamy where things are very expensive and where you have the most expensive prices in the world, you get used to it. Also, I think people earn more in the UK than other countries, I think minimum wage is higher.

[Ben @ May 27th 2006 7:44AM]

@22 & 37 - If you use your TV purely for using a games console, you can inform the TV lisencing department of this by letter, and then they won't fine you. Obviously, they probably do periodically check, but if you're being honest about it, it's fine.

[proud of the welfare state @ May 27th 2006 9:55AM]

@36 if you don't like it then leave. We pay taxes to fund the NHS not because it'll nescessarily pay off for every one of us in the long run, but to help those who genuinely can't pay for it, as opposed to those who can afford it but bitch about it anyway.

[ohpoo @ May 27th 2006 2:29PM]

Yey Nintendo.. we're all rich in the UK so it doesnt matter but this means Ill have money left over for some Earl Grey and scones!