PS3: Launch details confirmed

Thursday 25January 2007
PlayStation 3 will launch in Europe on 23 March 2007, and will cost UK gamers a whopping £425 for the 60GB model, Sony has officially confirmed at long last.

Sony plans to provide only the premium 60GB package in the UK for PS3's launch, with the cheaper 20GB option perhaps following at a later date. Pricing for the lower-level pack has yet to be revealed.

Brit gamers once again suffer the humiliation of being lumbered with the console's most expensive price tag, substantially more than the 599 euros (that's roughly £390) paid by mainland Europe, and around £10 more than the 630 euros (or £414) Irish early-adopters will shell out for the first PS3s.

US gamers pay just $600 for their PS3s, which works out at roughly £300, a huge £125 difference thanks to the heavy exchange rate operating at the moment. But you needn't worry about supply - if you're off to the US anytime soon there're plenty of PS3s available across America, as we found out last week.

Above: UK gamers will finally be able to get their sticky mitts on a shiny PS3 on 23 March

Ben Richardson is a former Staff Writer for Official PlayStation 2 magazine and a former Content Editor of GamesRadar+. In the years since Ben left GR, he has worked as a columnist, communications officer, charity coach, and podcast host – but we still look back to his news stories from time to time, they are a window into a different era of video games.