This quote only seems to refer to PSN pricing, not PS3 general pricing. The console price was matched last October.

Here is the entire blog comment/reply:

Gothdom | April 15th, 2008 at 2:21 pm

The store is great, I like the new layout. Only one thing makes it not perfect…. when will you stop overcharging canadian gamers on the PS Store?

Peter Dille replied on April 16, 2008 at 3:23 pm

Hey everyone - thanks for all the (mostly) positive feedback. A couple quick replies.

Regarding Canadian pricing, we have been looking into this and will be adjusting it. We understand the concerns and are looking to correct the discrepancy.

PaulHunter

is this just consoles or games? I HOPE ITS GAMES :D

NDC

Consoles and games have been 1:1 with the american prices for a while. B.B./futureshop are still trying to move old games (motorstorm, heavenly sword) at the old $69.99 though.
And he was definitely talking about PSN prices if you look at the post he was replying to.

droopy

[wonders about how much the US dollar was worth, and how much gas cost, eight years ago]

BPMβ

Have u seen the mag prices? Canada gets over charged for everything LOL

RonMaverick

Good news. Day MGS comes out, that MGS bundle is mine, now for cheaper... sweet.

Scazza

A lot of American businesses aren't adjusting their prices and are ripping Canadians off, believing that the dollar is once again going to magically rise to 1.5. It ain't. It won't. Stop fucking with us!

dunetiger : the mekuri master

First, a PS3 game that looks really close to the anime it's based on.

Now, they consider lower the pricing for Canada, the place where I live.

I think Sony is spying on me, trying to get me to buy a PS3... and it's kinda working.

yanipheonu

Sounds good to me.

I live in the U.S., but I've always been a proponent for direct currency translations.

So, I give this news... a kirby yay... ^(o.o)^ --- {YAY!}

GDW1017

@kenkankendo: Uh...relax. Please. It'll make everyone feel just that little bit rosier.

Luke Plunkett

Fuck you? It's not Canada's fault that the world economy uses the USD as the universal reference point - a reference point that is falling in value compared to everyone else at historic speeds.

You pay more for your video games? No offense intended, but cry me a river. The price of food for us in the states have pretty much doubled over the past year.

kenkankendo

He was indeed replying to comments about PSN store prices.. not stuff in the retail channel.

Bastard11

If I'm not mistaken, some PSN prices are still a little wonky. They might be referring to adjusting those.

Pai Pai Master

wait, so now its going to be cheaper in Canada than in the US? woohoo!

Crawl to China

A price cut here would really grab my attention in terms of purchasing a PS3. Then again, I haven't been really keeping up on its pricing, but yeah. Definitely something I'd look into if it had another price cut.

JarenFace

I agree that Sony should look more at the other parts of the world and not only Canada... Australia, New Zeeland and Europe pays way more than Canada for the PS3... case in point the price of the 40GB SKU converted to US dollars.

Australia $655 (not sure if that's with 10% GST, but I'd guess so)
EU $635 ($540 + 17.5% VAT)
NZ $630 (would guess that includes 12.5% GST as well)
Scandinavia $763 ($610 +25% VAT)

So yeah.... way to put the attention where it's needed Sony.

The Whaleman

@kenkankendo:

whoaa, someone's a little patriotic there.

stop being so cocky because the USD is the international currency.

acekrn

@svexo: Since when has everything been better in Canada? If anything, Our attractive Multi-Coloured Bills have made American Businesses MORE attractive :)

AntiZERØ

@Crawl to China and GDW1017: Actually, in October 2007, the Canadian Dollar peaked when compared to the US Dollar. It was at $1.10 CDN to the $1.00 USD. But now it's been going steady at the 1 - 1 mark (even). The general Price of a PS3 was eventually brought down to the same cost as a PS3 sold in America. Before, it was approximately $100 - $150 more, but now it's basically the same (disregarding the little increase and decrease going on around the dollar in the Stock market)

@RonMaverick: Eh? How 'bout the Euro Price by comparison to the US? Anyway, the actually price for a Gaming Magazine purchased in Canada ain't to bad from a cost stand point. The American Price is, and has always been cheaper, but their printed once per month. So it should be easy enough to scrap together around $7.00 - $8.00 for a mag.

All in all, Sony's been keeping up with Canadian pricing, that's one for them I guess (still want more options for a Backwards Compatible Console cause my PS2 ain't gonna last 10 fucking years).

AntiZERØ

@ittekimasu:

Im naht yo friend, buddeah!

Komrade_Kayce

@svexo: The F You was @ Canadians, Hence the jealousy.

Commonwealth Brothers = Both Canada and Australia are in the Commonwealth of Nations.

Klopfer123

@wef: Well i'm not your guy, friend!

ittekimasu

@svexo: Do you want French on all your game packaging? Cuz that's what you get! (I hate it!)

Ecks

@svexo:
I'm not your buddy guy!

wef

Well fuck you too! You guys got every thing way better up there... i want to be Canadian :(

svexo

@Komrade_Kayce: im not you buddy, guy!

Yeah, i thought something was wrong when i receive the news about the reduction on Warhawk psn price but on my psn store it was like 4-5$ more.
yay! i guess..

SsLordMagus

I should point out though that doesn't mean I don't think Canada deserves adjustment for PSN pricing as well though... just that there's some other financial issues that should have been dealt with ages ago that still hold.

The Whaleman

Now just lower the price of the PSN/RockBand store... $2.99/song aint cool for canadians

phantomlink

This is what happens when Canada threatens to strike... :D

Cronofan

Quote: fuck you

Yeah, don't let sony get away with their shady pricing business.

cnas

It'd be amusing if after the November elections the dollar makes a wild upswing and starts soaring again. Amusing in the sense that any revisions they did would then have to be undone as now the Americans complain about getting ripped.

Black-Dog-Howls

@V1L3: Holy! Never knew either!

Scazza

Man, nothing drove home exactly how weak the dollar was until I paid the first month's rent on an apartment (a flat!) in Dublin, Ireland - a lower-end 1 bedroom was $1,700 US. Damn.

Also, if Microsoft would sell me a UK power brick, I'd feel a lot better about the move, but their tech support guys in India can't figure out that I'm not trying to replace the or repair the console, but trying to to move it overseas. Looks like, despite my best efforts to give Microsoft my money, I'll be spending it on eBay... lame.

LongDarkBlues

@acekrn: You just reiterated what I said, that it's the (de facto) international currency; it's got nothing to do with patriotism dude.

The author posts a non-serious "fuck you" to Canadians out of jealousy, something most "patriotic" Americans would resoundingly echo in a serious and illogical manner, and when I step in to defend Canada, I'm being "patriotic" and "cocky". I don't really understand.

kenkankendo

I hope they do because if it becomes more manageable I will totally pick up the MGS4 bundle in june.

On another note Microsoft Points is still in line with the dollar's value well over a year ago. Good to see Sony is at least recognizing this because I really hate paying more for the same digital currency then I'm supposed to.

Grey_Fox

The abbreviations for the months from July through to November spell JASON?

Why did no one inform me of this?

V1L3

@IntelSilver: No, be jealous of me because my parents live in Canada, thus I can buy on the side that is cheapest for me.

beerguy961

We...need...more...munneh

LandMineLandSnake

I second that fuck you.

Sabre_Justice: Okay, no more long name.

:) Be jealous of me.
For I. AM. CANADIAN.

IntelSilver

All PSN titles are higher in price compared to US prices. GT 5 Prologue is the only game that is correct at $39.99.
The real crooks are amazon.ca who suck major ass.

jsin007

@jsin007: True. And amazon.com blows too for not letting me import the stuff that amazon.ca won't carry (electronics mainly).

hastyp

@kenkankendo: Except that Luke is Australian not American.

t0nz0r

The only reason this happens in Canada is because Sony is well aware most of Canada's population have easy access to US stores. Living in Vancouver it's only about an hour drive to Bellingham, WA. Lots to buy there. If we're speaking specifically of PSN titles though, it's generally $1-4, who really cares?

I guess true parody is better late than never.

Replica23

I second that fuck you!

StuiWooi

@hastyp:

Yeah, I've never understood that. Before Amazon.ca opened, I could get anything from there. It was kinda neat 'cause it was like easy US shopping and I'd buy enough to negate the shipping.

All of a sudden, it stopped working, which sucks, 'cause the US hoardes a lot of neat stuff for themselves.

dunetiger : the mekuri master

I blame the World Canada Council (WGA lol). Set them adrift I say.

On another note, it's about fucking time they did something like this in Europe.

dionion

I e-mailed Major Nelson once who I should complain to about the fact that they're still using the exchange rate from 2005 for Microsoft Points and he replied saying that he would forward the e-mail to the proper authorities.

Here we are a few months later and canadians are still paying 20% more than americans for the same content..

Rask

This would be a really nice adjustment. I might actually be convinced to buy some things I've been wanting from the PSN.

Some prices are as much as 50% higher for the Canadian store. Rock Band tracks for example, are $1.99 in the US, and $2.99 in Canada. Sure, it's only a dollar, but the whole principle of the thing forces me to refrain from purchase.

lbartley

I'm on a roll..some of my stuff is making it up here(hope I got it to Kotaku first..should have)

enewtabie

I thought the rise of my dollar would be a good thing! If anything it only helped the economy of US towns on the border.

The only major price adjustment is that the Xbox 360 Arcade costs around the same as the Wii does.

Dragonis

@Rask:

thats what you get for believing Major Nelson was going to fix your problem.

joelface

According to www.xe.com the US Dollar is almost exactly equal to that of the Canadian Dollar. So I suppose they weren't getting screwed as badly as they think they were.

Zyzex_Remix

@The Whaleman: Europe ALWAYS gets screwed with videogames. So much that half my European friends import. They figure it's the same cost to pay international shipping as the increased price tags, and they can get the games this year instead of 3 years from now when someone decides to release it in europe.

I think companies should set a price and have it adjust to currency...we have computers that can do that!

Ajh

@Zyzex_Remix:
Its not so much that we think we are getting screwed. Its the principle of the thing. If my dollar is equal to your dollar than I should be paying the same. We are not unfortunately. We are arbitrarily being charge more. For no other reason than greed. If Americans were being charged $1 more they'd be complaining just like we are.
As for the UK and Aus pricing all I can say is i feel for you all. That is just ridiculus what you all have to pay for games and hardware.

-itis

I wish Microsoft takes a better look at their prices. The points, Xbox Live and some games are still 20% more in Canada.

Kinburn

I dont belive them, this has been going on for so long, I have writin to Sony a least a dozen times. When the US gets a .99 song for rock band, it cost us canadians like $3.00. BS, so I hope this takes effect soon. PLEASE!!

boots555

@t0nz0r: Again, what is the context of a comment like this. Yes, he's clearly from a PAL territory. He clearly doesn't directly buy things with USD or CAD. What does that have to do with what I said?

kenkankendo

@Kinburn: Well obviously it costs more to ship XBLA games to Canada so we have to pay more.... wait a minute somethings not right here.

liquid_kore

This is really good new for me because I was actually thinking of purchasing a ps3 in the near future. Its awesome that Sony actually cares about us up here.

Zangetsu89

For Rock Band tracks, it's not just the principle of the thing.

Consider the following: You pay 2.99 for a track that goes for 1.99 in the US.

You are in fact paying 1.5 times the price - 50% more.

For one track, okay, it's the principle.

What if you buy 20 tracks? You pay 20$ more. That's a straight up ripoff.

Koztah

@liquid_kore: Hahaha. Along with fair Sony product pricing we have a great sense of humor and great beer.

Kinburn

Simple solution... Price in US = Price in Canada

barring any extraneous fees.
1 USD = 1.01 CND right now.

Rususeruru

@Koztah: Welcome to Europe ;) We pay at on average 60% more than the US for everything concerning gaming... if not 90% more (PS3 in Scandinavia) or 125% more (Rock Band).

The Whaleman

@Ecks: Well maybe you prefer to have all your movies dubbed in spanish because you live in California.

FredQC

While some commenters have noted the $1.99 (US) -> $2.99 (CDN) Rock Band price discrepancy, none have mentioned the more significant $0.99 (US) -> $1.99 (CDN) price difference for cheaper tracks.

Canadians have to pay over 100% more for some PSN items.

SmilingPolitely

@FredQC: Je comprend les anglophones de detester les traduction francaises sur les jeux, ca cache tout le derriere de la boite et empêche de voir la description, it suck...

JPQsat

Sony and Microsoft should stop using local currencies and bill in USD.

Unfortunately all manufactures have raped literally all Canadian when it comes to currency exchange in the past 24 months. Car manufacturers even go as far as billing Canadians 20-25% premiums over US prices for cars built in Ontario.

FredQC

Oh, clarification, my post was about the PSN pricing. So we're getting screwed on the PS3 hardware pricing too?

Hackangel

Talk about timing, I've finally got an answer by email to the question I asked Sony "Why do canadians have to pay up to 200% what U.S. residents pay when the canadian and U.S. dollar are practically on par?"

You know what the answer was?
"Pricing for PLAYSTATION(R)Store content is set independently by each region and subject to change at any time. Additionally, once items are purchased they are non-refundable and non-transferable".

Hackangel

Two things were stopping me from buying a PS3. First is the games, and second the price...

... it seems like i'll be getting one before the end of the year ;)

Super_Otter

@kenkankendo:

Hate to break it to you, but in Canada, the price of food is still 25-30% higher than in the states :)

lucky644