Earlier in the week the US division of SCE had all but the very latest PixelJunk games on sale for a dollar. The expectation – rightly – was that SCEE would do the same, and we could grab some of the PSN’s best games for a matter of pennies.
However, that wasn’t the case.
The full list of titles is as follows: note that some of the games are actually over three pound, and only discounted if you’re a PlayStation Plus subscriber, which has an RRP of £40 a year.
- PixelJunk Monsters (£1.99, €2.49) (€0.99 for Plus members)
- PixelJunk Eden (£3.19, €3.99) (€0.99 for Plus members)
- PixelJunk Shooter (£3.19, €3.99) (€0.99 for Plus members)
- PixelJunk Shooter 2 (£3.19, €3.99)
- PixelJunk Racers 2nd Lap (£3.19, €3.99) (€0.99 for Plus members)
- PixelJunk Side Scroller (£3.19, €3.99)
“It seems a bit unfair to have European gamers pay so much more for the same games. At a dollar a piece, I would have certainly given these games a try. At 4 euros a piece, I don’t think I’ll try them out.”
SCEE’s Jawad Ashraf replied on the Blog. “Unfortunately the pricing is something we have to make do with,” he said.
“It was a difficult decision and we only hoped to have done exactly the same sort of offer.”
Jawad doesn’t continue to answer any further questions on the PixelJunk pricing, sadly. “The difference between the US and European pixeljunk sales is downright insulting,” says a user in the comments. “Another greedy move from SCEE,” says another.
The comments continue, and go mostly unanswered yesterday. “It was a hard decision SCEE had to make and we’re discussing it internally,” Jawad comments this morning.
For European PS3 owners, the situation is frustrating, not least because it doesn’t seem like end users are getting anything like the full story. I’m not stupid enough to think there aren’t internal issues at hand, but at least let us know why we’re expected to pay considerably more than the US did just a day before for the exact same games.
Even Dylan Cuthbert doesn’t really have the answers. Â “It’s a complicated territory,” he said.
Of course, if you’re behind the Plus paywall, please go get your fill of PixelJunk games whilst the sale is on, you’ve only got another six days.
Bilbo_bobbins
As always it seems Sony give the US market much more for their money than us Europeans. Its a bloody joke infact, and a main reason I don’t buy from PSN anymore.
If us Europeans don’t like it, then vote with your wallet instead of complaining.
Bilbo_bobbins
oh and the fact P+ members get it cheaper is another thing. I don’t mind them pricing it less, but Sony can expect to alienate those who aren’t P+ members, which for the long term, is not a good idea.
david24
the reason behind that is that the ps3 is far less popular in the us so the make more of an effort to reward anyone who buys one over an xbox.
Bilbo_bobbins
David24, its that not fair on current customers though is it? I know p+ get a little bit more in Europe than the US, but its still not right. The price should be the same.
david24
hmm, although i agree with you Sony probably have a huge team who decide all the pricing and from a business point of view it must make sense. in the us there trying to attract customers where as in the EU where the PS3 is already more popular then the Xbox there trying to get there existing user base to upgrade to plus
HoboCastro
UK get screwed on new game realeases. £50 PSN works out at $80, $20 more than the US PSN price. Swings and roundabouts.
david24
to be fair the uk generally get it good compared to Europe and despite our rrp (£40) being slightly higher the the us ($60-£36) i nearly always pay %20-%25 less on release and mw3 and bf3 only cost me £50 combined through supermarket sales. the uk also gets huge sales quickly after release and shit/old games can often be had for under £5 which happens far more often then any of Europe or the us.
HoboCastro
Talking PSN prices. Granted retail we get better deals but I want to buy BF3 off PSN but SCEE are going to rip me off.
david24
yes but there a rip off in the us too because they generally set the price based on the rrp of eu games which is considerably higher then the uk/us
david24
i think Europe pay around £60 for a new game. hopefully someone from Europe can confirm that.
Boomshanks
I’m from the Netherlands and games are €60,- here at retail, and 60 or 65 on PNS. Problem is that the retail prices rarely go down so it’s waaayy cheaper just to import from the UK or US
Jag
I actually think the extra discount should be Plus only in America too.
I know that’s going to be unpopular but we get a lot with the basic PSN for free anyway especially when compared to XBox Live.
I see the Plus scheme as an optional way to support the PSN service with lots of rewards thrown in. They’ve still got a way to go with Plus but it is constantly getting better.
Dazbobaby
this is the main reason why I buy a lot of items from the North American store and not from the EU.
Convert your money and get more in America! Simples.
Dazbobaby
Where to buy USA PSN cards at the best price:
http://mess-hall.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=75&t=2328
Hot Damn that made me sound so much like a spammer.
rossthebassist
i use electronicfirst.com for all my PSN cards, you can get uk cards slightly cheaper, and US cards are not crazy priced…. USA $10 card is £8.99.
Hope that helps
OH and paypal aswell.
Dazbobaby
So that’s £45 for a $50
i get mine for around £35
HoboCastro
Cheers Dazbobaby. Need one to get BF3. Unless EA/SCEE see sense and drop the price.
Jakster123x
From a Plus perspective, it’s brilliant:
Eden, Monsters and Shooter, all of which i don’t have, for 79p each.
I’m happy, SCEE.
skibadee
same got a PSN card on the way to get the lot.
Jakster123x
A £20 card could buy me those 3, Datura and Journey with money to spare :)
Jag
As someone who thinks these are all great games at full price I think any discount should be snapped up.
I do understand everyone’s continued frustrations at the disparities between the different regions but at the same time there are a lot of crazy over-reactions to the situation.
I have a read of the comments on the blog post for the store update every week and you get all sorts of just plain silly comments.
When this month’s Plus update was announced, one user claimed they would rather get free avatars than the free games offered.
I found that outstanding, a 20p avatar over a bunch of games ranging from £4 to over a tenner.
It’s bizzare, but it is the internet I suppose :S
Jakster123x
You’re right. It’s not the current price that’s bad, it’s great, it’s just that Europe continually feels that Sony loves the US more than us.
That last example you mentioned is just plain internet stupidity, though.
DixNeuf
This is always the case with the SCEE blog, they never answer anything, and frequently don’t seem to know what’s actually going on.
MrJimmy
hear hear
david24
since only got enough for two which would people suggest?
david24
there should be an “I’ve” in between since and only there.
Jakster123x
I personally would choose Monsters and Eden.
Eden might not be for everyone but there was a trial for it a while ago, same for Shooter, so try and hunt them down and see what you think. Hopefully SCEE haven’t removed them.
MrJimmy
they are different, all good. Shooter is my fav, then Eden. Monsters is a towers game, so if you like them, it is a good one. I have Plus so I filled every PixelJunk hole in my collection, I now have the full set – and it’s goooood.
Sympo
Should be Non-Plus regardless.
Bilbo_bobbins
agreed
IAmJacksMedullaOblongata
There was a comment in the blog post saying they “tried really hard” or something. I’d like to know exactly why one set of users are being better treated than another in something that, unlike the usual issues to do with localisation and translation and all that other stuff that comes with living in a multi-currency and multi-language region, should be equal.
This has nothing to do with the actual prices of the games or whether or not they’re worth it (they are, they all are). The issue here is why the inequality between how users are treated. I suspect there is no real reason other than wanting to make more money out of a region that is routinely mistreated, and if SCEE had any sense* they’d apologise for this slant and make the offer available to everyone in Europe, not just PS+ (which I am a subscriber to which, again, is irrelevant in this argument.)
*they dont.
IAmJacksMedullaOblongata
Here’s the reply I referred to above:
“Unfortunately the pricing is something we have to make do with. It was a difficult decision and we only hoped to have done exactly the same sort of offer.”
That second sentence doesn’t actually make sure but, regardless, it sounds like it was a “difficult decision” and not something that was enforced on them. In other words: they can reverse this insult quite easily.
IAmJacksMedullaOblongata
Make sense. I’ll stop now.
hazelam
did you mean this comment?
“I messaged Q-Games on Twitter regarding the Pixeljunk sale and they replied with:
the prices are set by SCEE We fought valiantly for the cause though..”
sounds to me like nothing was forced on scee.
sounds to me like they new about the us sale, but they CHOSE not to do it here.
like they chose not to give us the uncharted dlc, like they chose not to release legend of dragoon, like they chose not to put the god of war games up as full game trials.
IAmJacksMedullaOblongata
I was referring to Jawad’s comment. I didn’t see that one but that’s even more damning.
Jeez.
Klart
I got my fill of PixelJunk games.
Sympo
Other doods want there fill on Pixeljunk too.
bigbaldwolf
I don’t understand why this continues to happen. I mean it’s not as if people aren’t going to see it straight away so why can’t they give us the same deal. I would have picked up a few of them but not if we are getting charged a lot more than the US
hazelam
long story short, scee are a joke.
and that Jawad bloke is useless as well.
here’s not even aware of some of the content on the store, i asked him about the full game trials a few weeks back, and he didn’t even know what i was talking about.
we’re always lagging behind on content, they keep saying they’re trying to catch up, of course only scee would be dumb enough to think they can catch up by going slower.
they have an array of excuses to hand, making excuses is the one thing they seem to have any passion for.
they blame the devs, the language problems or legal issues.
excuses that time and time have been such bald faced lies even helen keller could see through them
three things within just the last two weeks cannot just be brushed aside by scee as somebody elses fault.
legend of dragoon on the us store, when asked about it coming to europe, Jawad said “not any time soon”
now that game was published by sony computer entertainment, it was released in europe on disc.
so they could release it on psn, if the eu version doesn’t work release the us version, i’d bet real money it’d work on pal ps3s.
it wouldn’t be the first import game we got on the eu psn.
but “localisation” they’ll bleat, another excuse that’s been proven a lie time and again with all the english only content they’ve put up.
also there is the uncharted 2 dlc, free in the us, not in europe.
once again, another sony published title, which means in europe it comes under scee jurisdiction.
so what do we get?
bugger all.
and this pixeljunk sale fiasco.
yes, you guessed it, they’re published by sony, in europe and the us at least.
they keep using that old “we’re a small team” excuse, but that’s bullshit.
i’ve seen small teams do amazing things, when they care.
scee do not care.
scee are like a caravan on the back of a Ferrari.
they’re a massive drag factor, but the Ferrari, in this case being the playstation fanbase in europe, still have enough horsepower left to overcome that impediment.
but scee have forgotten to top up the tank, and it’s running on fumes.
they better be careful lest they end up abandoned by the side of the road, their fuel spent and a family of badgers living underneath it.
i mean, who wants a car that won’t get you where you want to go?
Kitch
Technically the Ferrari wouldn’t be much use at towing a caravan. It’s all about torque you see. Maybe one of them odd Porche 4×4 things would have worked better. Just saying. Or did I miss the point?
david24
although a Ferrari doesn’t have as much low down torque as a 4×4 they still have ample for towing a caravan :)