It’s a well known fact to gamers that prices are not even across the board and it often feels like the grass is greener on the other side when it comes to gaming.
So let’s take a quick trip across the most popular English speaking countries to see where would be the best place to pick up a gaming console.
Prices are in South African Rand’s and then US Dollars.
|
South Africa |
Australia |
UK |
USA |
|
| PS3 (250Gb) | R4 299.95 – $559.21 | R4 145.23 – $539.22 | R3 393.43 – $441.42 | R2 690.55 – $349.99 |
| Wii | R2500 – $325.20 | R2 765.80 – $359.77 | R2 024.10 – $263.29 | R1 537.42 – $199.99 |
| Xbox 360 (Elite) | R3 399.95 – $442.26 | R3 105.39 – $403.95 | R2 262.24 – $294.27 | R2 305.87 – $299.99 |
What is evident from the very beginning is that the prices in America really are far cheaper for the PS3 and Wii while the Xbox at least competes in Europe. (Also remember the American tax system is screwy so all their prices go up a bit)
South Africa and Australia are pretty well pegged but it does look like we are due for another price cut on the Xbox 360 sometime in the near future.
How weird is it that in the UK you can get a Xbox 360 Elite for nearly the same price as a Wii?
Last Updated: February 23, 2010
Piet
February 23, 2010 at 08:48
Maybe you should mention that the PS3 you used for comparison comes bundled with a game (Ratchet & Clank CIT on kalahari deal) and that the Xbox 360 elite has a 120GB HDD?
LazySAGamer
February 23, 2010 at 08:59
I tried to get an average price with comparable stats across all regions…
can you find better prices somewhere ?
RSA-Ace
February 23, 2010 at 10:03
I think R4199 is the normal price without any games.
Oh and Dion Wired has the 250GB with heavy rain as a bundle for R4299.
LazySAGamer
February 23, 2010 at 10:28
Now that’s a good deal 🙂
Uncle
February 23, 2010 at 10:31
Just shows how SA gets screwed in terms of pricing :blink:
Fox1
February 23, 2010 at 10:34
It’s sad to see how cheap the Xbox is in the UK and US but so expensive in AUS and SA.
Incredible Connection is running a trade-in service this month where you trade-in any console and get a XBox 360 Elite + Halo 3 + Fable 2 for R2699.
https://www.incredible.co.za/uploadedfiles/contentimages/Times%20Insert.pdf
Bobby Kotick has returned from the Dead
February 23, 2010 at 22:59
Don’t forget that in terms of shipping routes, South Africa and Australia are pretty far from civilization. However, when you compare them to some of the countries in Europe (for instance Sweden, Norway, Finland etc.) our prices are not that bad.