Sony says Brazil's $1,850 PlayStation 4 price "is not good for the PlayStation brand"

Sony has responded to the news that the PlayStation 4 will cost the equivalent of $1,850 dollars in Brazil, saying that the high price is "not good for the PlayStation brand."

Addressing the complaints that have arisen following last week's announcement that the PlayStation 4 would sell for R$3,999 in Brazil, Sony's Latin America general manager Mark Stanley said "we have read thousands of your comments and heard your frustration loud and clear."

"We want to emphasize that it isn't in the interest of Sony Computer Entertainment America to sell PS4 units at this high retail price, as it’s not good for our gamers and it’s not good for the PlayStation brand," he added.

Stanley explained that 63 percent of the R$3,999 will go to import taxes.

"There is a lot of confusion and inaccurate information spreading online about Brazil’s import tax policies online and the PlayStation 4 retail price, so we’d like to set the record straight: of the R$3,999 gamers pay, 63 percent of the retail price goes to offset the various taxes that are applied in the process of importation. Some do not consider the IPI on the distributor price and PIS/COFINS on retailers price and much less, include the ICMS and ICMS-ST taxes. You can see a true breakdown of the price model at Valor Economico. The other 15.5 percent goes to retailer margin and 21.5 percent to PS4 Transfer Price (equivalent to USD$390)."

"We will continue to talk with the relevant government agencies to help us reduce the heavy tax burden that gamers, retailers and Sony Computer Entertainment America are paying."

Looking to the future, Stanley said Sony would be investigating the possibility of manufacturing PlayStation 4 units in Brazil--as it now does with the PlayStation 3-which would cut down on taxes. "Our primary focus right now is to ensure we are in full compliance with Brazilian import tax laws and look ahead the opportunity to locally manufacturing the PS4, which will significantly reduce the retail price. Sony Computer Entertainment began locally manufacturing PlayStation 3 in Manaus this past May and it immediately made PS3 more affordable to gamers in Brazil."

"We are doing everything possible at this moment to reduce the PS4 price for you," Stanley concluded. "We are in this together!"