Yes other countries have it worse, but those countries have major import fees or other tarrifs. Blame your government, not Sony.
Either way it's still irrelevant to this particular Canadian price hike. The Xbox one stays steady at $499, while the PS4 climbs to $449. So the, so called - $100 difference is now only $50.
The Canadian dollar lost some ground against the US dollar, but that doesn't seem to affect MS products. Actually the PS Vita price remains the same, so does just about every electronic import in major retailers. So the PS4 is a special item that apparently needs to stay close to the exchange rate like a fly on sh!t.
The ironic thing is that when the Canadian dollar surpassed the US dollar in the past, there were no price cuts on imports. Just increased legal obstacles (tariffs and custom fees, American vendors unwilling to sell to Canadians at the American prices) to keep Canadian consumers from doing their shopping in the US. The obvious thing that should have happened were price cuts across all imports, but American vendors that did business in Canada instead saw an opportunity to make more money (read, gouge Canadian consumers).
If you ask me, this price hike has more to do with simple opportunity Sony saw to make more return, supply vs demand told them they could get away with it. The exchange rate is just an excuse.
Kind of brutal for me, I was about to buy a PS4 last month, but I had to wait for some income. Being a major Xbox Live fan, I was on the fence about buying a PS4 over an Xbox One. The price difference was the major deciding factor for me, I was very close to pulling the trigger and ditching MS for good. There are a great deal of North American consumers in the same boat.
Xbox 360 has a loyal consumer base of core gamers in North America, MS were doing a good job destroying that loyalty with the Xbox One launch (focusing on casual/kinect and pointless "all in one" media features), and Sony were doing a great job enticing core gamers to jump ship (better hardware, cheaper price, no pandering to Casual gamers). You need to remember that Japanese exclusives titles aren't popular with everybody in North America. Many people here are simply interested in FPS titles developed by North American developers who focus on the North American consumer. As stupid as that may sound to many Tempers here, it's a fact none the less. Online gameplay and Western focused titles is what made the Xbox 360 and Xbox Live a huge seller in North America. Xbox One has the better selection of exclusive titles at the moment for those with that typical North American kind of taste, and I believe people have a easier time paying for the Xbox Live they already love, vs paying for PSN with which they have no experience. MS were doing a great job alienating their core base during launch of the Xbox One (core gamers don't want Kinect or media features), but I think the price difference was the biggest hurdle. Sony was doing a great job pulling those core Xbox fans to PS. The PS always had a spot in North American homes as there's a wide variety of consumers here, and Japanese exclusives are still hugely popular amongst many fans. Lets face it, those fans were going to get a PS4 anyways. but where Sony was really gaining ground, was drawing away that typical core Xbox fan who wants North American developed shooters and online community. Those core gamers were jumping ship based on Microsoft's attempt to ignore them and grab casual gamers, and Sony's significantly cheaper price and better hardware.
Considering the Xbox is still very popular brand in North America, Sony's price hike in Canada has a potential to backfire. I know many Canadians (myself included) that were about to jump ship from Xbox to PS simply based on the price difference. The waters are more muddy now, and MS will benefit from that.
If you ask me, Sony is making a big mistake by increasing their price. but I guess the Canadian market isn't important to them.
