PS3 price quietly jacked up in Canada

It looks like the not insignificant price break Canadian gamers have been enjoying on the PlayStation 3 may have abruptly come to an end, with Future Shop, Best Buy, and other retailers now listing the 60GB console at $699.99 Canadian ($593US). The console had previously been selling for $649.99 Canadian which, at the current exchange rate, made it a full fifty bucks cheaper than the console's US retail price. While the new price is still a relative bargain compared to the premium our European friends have to fork over, given the unlikelihood of any price cuts in the near future, it looks like those that have been holding off on a purchase may well find themselves regretting their patience.

[Ellianth @ Jan 26th 2007 8:12PM]

Usually when no one is buying a product that you can't return to the manufacturer, store owners lower the prices to get them off the shelves. What happened here? Anyway won't matter much, odds are if you have 1k to blow on a ps3 then 50 bucks won't make a difference.

[Axe to Grind @ Jan 26th 2007 8:16PM]

The official sony store still has prices pegged at $660, are they just lazy and haven't updated prices or are futureshop and best buy in on the fix?

in any case what a bizzare turn of events if this is the new MSRP...

[Ryan @ Jan 26th 2007 8:56PM]

Hey, i just bought a ps3 the 60 gig wireless one, and i was downloading a demo the other day, it took forever the Fall of Man took over an hour, and Grift Shift took about an hour too. Are they supposed to take this long? any idea if it will get faster? is Sony planning a firmware update so you can do other things while you download?

any help would be awesome thanks a ton.

[zonamanoz @ Jan 26th 2007 10:38PM]

And you know it is coming out this year how?

[myscrnnm @ Jan 26th 2007 9:03PM]

Hopefully, this merges with the previous post. If not, sorry for the double post, just trying to help the guy above.

Yes, the demos also take pretty long to download for me (802.11g router and Verizon DSL connection). But at several hundred megabytes, it's to be expected. And yes, SCEI is planning to have a firmware update where you can do multitasking.

[MuteflY @ Jan 26th 2007 9:29PM]

I work at London Drugs and so far we haven't changed the price from the $660 it's always been. The linked site doesn't mention any other stores so I'm wondering who the "other retailers" this post refers to. Given that Future Shop and Best Buy are the same company it seems to me that one store has raised the price independant of Sony and this is a complete non-story.

[Castle @ Jan 26th 2007 9:37PM]

From Gamestop:

The official story: "Although the suggested retail price (SRP) of the PlayStation 3 in Canada has not changed, some Canadian retailers have chosen to increase their retail price as a result of the weaker Canadian dollar. This increase is solely at the discretion of the retailer, as Sony Computer Entertainment Canada has not issued a price increase."--An SCEC representative.

Bogus or not bogus?: Sony raising the price? Bogus. That the price has gone up at some stores? Not bogus.

http://www.gamespot.com/news/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=25337080&sid=6164872

[DjFIL @ Jan 26th 2007 9:45PM]

doesn't really matter. just like america, us canadians just arn't buying the PS3's. my two local eb's and the toys'r'us have had PS3's easily available for few weeks now.

[mcloki @ Jan 26th 2007 9:53PM]

I've hooked up the PS3 to a wired network and the downloads are fast. Like meg a second fast. Downloaded the 300 trailer at 1080p 152 megs under 2 minutes. It's your wireless connection. It's cool but it's not that fast, that or your modem is slow. And i gotta love the fact I bought last week. It's been stellar so far the only dissapointment is Cash Guns Chaos. I was expecting Smash TV. It's crap. I'd pay to buy Smash TV and yes "I would buy that for a dollar". All Sony has to do is keep incrementally updating the PS3 and i'll be happy. Little things like controls to quickly go through podcasts. Maybe integrate podcast support right into it. Or better yet Just license the Itunes store. That would be amazing.

[Colin @ Jan 26th 2007 10:12PM]

This may have to do more with the quantity of consoles available in key markets more than anything else.

A quick check of FS in Victoria, Vancouver, Surrey, Richmond, North and West Van shows these things being sold out.

All reports I've seen shows that the Wii and PS3 are stocked in US stores. In Canada, they're sold out. Now who should we complain to? Sony and Nintendo, for not giving us enough stock, or Futureshop for being sold out?

Can anyone go to a Futureshop and verify that they have units for sale? I would love to nail them for poor business practices...not that I have anything against FS and their predatory tactics.

[Matt @ Jan 27th 2007 2:05PM]

The PS3 is stocked at American stores. The Wii still sells out as soon as stores get some in.

[Ed @ Jan 26th 2007 10:22PM]

HAHAHA!!!! sony is a joke. basically they are saying "canadians are suckers and we should F^(! them in the arse without vaseline". And people still buy shitty sony producs? I can only imagine how bad their DRM is on their Bluray crap.

[Gustavo @ Jan 26th 2007 10:30PM]

Sony is starting 2007 really bad i don't even think people are buying the PS3

[myscrnnm @ Jan 26th 2007 8:59PM]

Not a problem. With Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots coming out this year, people would STILL buy the PlayStation 3 even if SCEI made the price higher.

[a_stlouis @ Jan 26th 2007 10:49PM]

The PS3 was 659.99$CAD not 649.99$CAD - still a 40$+Taxes premium. To the Sony bashers, this has nothing to do with them, this is solely a retailer move as already mentionned by Castle.

Anybody else noted that the 20GB are nowhere to be found at Future Shop or Best Buy. Is Sony just not making them anymore?

[myscrnnm @ Jan 26th 2007 11:05PM]

"And you know it is coming out this year how?"

Um, maybe because I'm not living under a rock? It's slated for release this year from the trailer shown at TGS 2006, EGM reports, and ah yes, the Konami website.

http://www.konami.jp/kojima_pro/japanese/lineup/metal.html

[Someone @ Jan 26th 2007 11:24PM]

Hmm...as a Canadian this makes me mad. After I'm done drinking my cup of maple syrup and my mug full of beer, I'm gonna walk on my snowshoes all the way to Sony Headquarters in Canada and hit those executives with my hockey stick.

Let's see how Sony likes that eh!

[Montana @ Jan 27th 2007 1:06AM]

I haven't seen this happen in my store yet (I work at a Future Shop) however I'd like to point out the cost on the system (to the store) is $704

[s4057102 @ Jan 27th 2007 2:09AM]

feel sorry for your Aussie Counterparts.... 999.95 AUD for our PS3... about 773 USD... whats the go???

[Eric @ Jan 27th 2007 6:26AM]

"I haven't seen this happen in my store yet (I work at a Future Shop) however I'd like to point out the cost on the system (to the store) is $704"


yep 699$ on futureshop.ca....lol i love this!! i hope the ps3 fails worst then it currently is hahaha

oh and why buy a 699$ system when you can buy an xbox 360 to play MGS:4??

[Eric @ Jan 27th 2007 6:34AM]

futureshop.ca has it listed as 699$ LOL i hope this just kills the ps3 in canada already since nobody is already not buying them

and why would ppl spend more money to buy a ps3 for MGS:4 if they can get it on 360 for cheaper...and you would have xbox live service for mgs, will be kick ass!!

[Magickam @ Jan 27th 2007 9:28AM]

Wal-mart always has cheaper prices than Best-Buy. I bought a psp core pack at walmart for 198$ CAD, and it was 230$ CAD at Best Buy.

[Jimosai @ Jan 27th 2007 11:48AM]

My local Best Buy here in Canada has had plenty in stock since the week before Christmas, and a crap ton of open box units. Way to go Sony.

[retro @ Jan 27th 2007 11:54AM]

There was no "pricing premium" for the Canadian PS3, when it [PS3] was released (and for a while before and after the release) the Canadian dollar was at 90 cent worth on the American dollar, making $550 on the $500 and $660 on the $600 PS3 completely normal. Our dollar dropped again to 82 cents or something recently. Stupid fucking economics.

[Mike @ Jan 27th 2007 1:58PM]

The earlier Canadian price only looks like a bargain if you forget to add on the Provincial and Federal sales taxes, which (in Ontario) add up to a hefty wedge at 14%.

Canadian prices suck for almost every consumer item by the time the various governments leech their share...

[rodrigo1508 @ Jan 27th 2007 3:04PM]

Just so you know in mexico the 60GB PS3 costs about $1200 US dollars, so dont complain

[K.R @ Jan 27th 2007 9:56PM]

Well I think the xbox360 is going to have an even stronger hold in Canada then last generation ( it has been noted that xbox has the highest percentages in Canada). I remember during christmas that the xbox 360 had a special package in Futureshop that included 3 extra games.

[Steve @ Jan 28th 2007 12:24PM]

My brother works at Futureshop in Downtown Toronto and he says they can't get rid of the damn things. His boss said they should be able to move no problem though....as soon as he figures out a way to cram them into 360 boxes.

[MuteflY @ Jan 28th 2007 9:01PM]

Well it looks like London Drugs has followed suit. We've got it at $699 there too, though our cost on them is only $684 so at least we're making money on them now.

"The earlier Canadian price only looks like a bargain if you forget to add on the Provincial and Federal sales taxes, which (in Ontario) add up to a hefty wedge at 14%."

Alberta 6% tax FTW!

[justlikeme @ Dec 9th 2007 3:09PM]

This is going to hurt Futureshop and best buy.. why?? They advertise they will match it and then beat the price by 10% of the difference as long as the store has it in stock.