Speaking to this site this morning, a Sony spokesperson has denied the suggestion that the price of the PlayStation 3 could actually be forced to rise in the UK, owing to the weakness of the Pound/Euro against the Japanese Yen.

The Pound has lost some 40% of its value against the Yen in recent months, and 20% against the Euro - as the impact of the credit crunch seriously hampers the UK's economic outlook - and Sony have admitted recently that they will have to start charging UK retailers more for their products.

The currency shift does of course mean that Sony make less money from British sales, hence the price rise, although many retailers may absorb some if not all of the increase, as they look to lure to shoppers amid poor consumer confidence.

"Sony UK can confirm that in the past 48 hours it has communicated to its trade channel that due to adverse changes in the Yen/Euro & Euro/Pound exchange rate over the last six months, and with this uncertainty set to continue into 2009, Sony will increase the trade price of a number of products over the coming months," says a Sony representative.

"The precise level of price increases has not yet been agreed, but it is likely that the vast majority of products affected will see increases of significantly less than 33 per cent. As these testing trading conditions continue, Sony does not believe that it will be alone in taking this form of action."

However, a Sony Computer Entertainment Europe spokesperson this morning said that this move would not translate into a price rise for the PS3.

By Luke Guttridge

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  1. Fido Unregistered 1 month ago

    Cry me river. The whole excuse to why Europe pays a third more than US/Japan was supposedly due to currency hedging. The US Dollar has lost 37% against the Yen and no one is mentioning price increases there.