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Xbox 2 for $400?
An anonymous reader writes "CNN/Money has posted a new Game Over column quoting an industry analyst who suggests the next generation Xbox could cost as much as $400. This is on top of software price increases of as much as $10 per game, which (according to the article) have already been confirmed. Also discussed are backwards compatibility and the lingering question of whether the Next Xbox will have a hard drive."
Looks like the only way I'll ever get a Xbox2 is the same way I got the first one, winning it. Still only have one game for it too.
"I use a Mac because I'm just better than you are."
First thing that came to mind when I saw this was the price for 3D0 when it first came out. What was it, $799??
At that price point, there is very little difference between buying it or buying your own PC. Some might say, "That's the point!" but I would argue that the whole purpose of consoles was to be compact forms of entertainment affordable by the markets they target.
A friend of mine is planning to sell his Xbox to buy Xbox 2 and keep his old games because he knows that Xbox 2 has to be backward compatable.
Man, he is naive, I mean this is Microsoft we're talking about.
This sig is false.
New Xbox games are currently about 60 euros (~80$) here in Finland. It feels to be pretty close to the limit anyone is willing to pay for a new game around here.
Microsoft might be evil and borg-like, but they arn't stupid. At least not in their buisness practices, and history has shown many times that videogames are VERY price sensitive. If MS has any sense at all (hint: they do) then this article is total BS.
--- "End Of Line" - MCP
since thats what every next gen system has launched at for the last 2 generations. Saturn was 300 PSX 1 was 300 ps2 was 300 Xbox was 300 well ok 299 to be exact but still.
Hey, talking about Xbox2, anyone knows where I can get some screenshot or video of the Xbox2 BSOD in the Bill Gates Presentation at the CES 2005? I really need to see that
Industry Speculation in this article only. Take out the word Xbox and put in any product name for the same effect.
It's $100 more than the original Xbox was at introduction.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox
It was $299 on November 15, 2001.
In 2002, it was $199.
In 2003, it was $179.
In 2004, it was $149.
So a price of $399 isn't that unreasonable, and we can expect similar price cuts over a three-year product lifespan.
Also, the prices being mentioned now may reflect what Microsoft would have to charge to sell the consoles without losing money on each sale. Depending on what the other console makers do, they may be forced into a lower price.
Has anyone, besides this article, ever had any doubt about the next Xbox launching at the standard 299 price point? I don't think so.
"...next generation Xbox could cost as much as $400."
FUCK THAT
Ummm this is deja vu. When the first Xbox launched, it too was over-priced, and no coincidence, it struggled to compete. Then came a big price slashing and it really helped it sell (enough so to become #2 in the top 3 consoles).
So now they do the same thing. Will it be any surprise if the Xbox 2 struggles to take hold of any significant market share?
Yeah, right.
Microsoft has had no problem selling the XBOX so cheaply they can't make a profit, and there are only three things that will change this:
1) Microsoft gets a console monopoly. $400 would be the low end then, but won't happen this generation.
2) Microsoft loses an anti-trust suit to the Government, Sony, or Nintendo and is forced to raise prices closer to the cost of making the product.
3) Investors start demanding a profit on the XBOX.
I don't see any of these senarios at the XBOX 2's launch anyway. Maybe there are some I'm missing?
Remember this is an analyst speaking, he has no idea like you and me. Besides, M$ is really good at doing one thing. Making more $. At $400, the economics would not support the margin.
Short story take this with a grain of salt
the only reason I'm waiting for the xbox2 is so it drives the price down ever farther for the xbox. There are so many awesome games with so much playability that I can see myself being happy with a regular xbox for a long time. In fact, probably until the xbox3 comes out.
Call me old-fashioned but I don't need the latest and greatest games. Madden 2005, NHL 2005, and DOA: Ultimate is good enough for me.
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At least one major publisher (Activision) has gone on record saying it plans to increase wholesale prices on its AAA games. Others will likely follow its lead. That will probably result in retail prices jumping $5 to $10 per title.
With a price increase, I can guarantee you'll have more people pirating these "AAA" titles, which will probably be boring action/fps games anyway.
I realize it costs a lot to develop a game these days, but most of that time is spent on bump maps and fx. Gamers remember the days of 2D Asteroids and I'm sure would be willing to sacrifice 1337 graphics for challenging (truly challenging, not difficult jump puzzles cuz they're programmed for crap) games.
I see video games as an extension of paper puzzle games and board games. They need to be mentally engaging and fun to play over just "pretty." If you want to lookit eye catchy objects with minimal thought processing behind it, goto a museum (not to knock the art world I like museums.) Graphics should function as a way to visually serve the story and the gameplay.
Lookit the GTA series. Sure hardware limitations of the PS2 are valid arguments as to why the games 3D engine isn't as stylish as some, but they could have easily reduced the scope of the series in order to boost the graphical content on the screen. Yet they focused on a fun interactive experience and made serviceable, yet visually stimulating, graphics.
All I'm saying is a little more creativity in game design can go along way to helping them make more money as well. I know on /. I'm preaching to the choir on this, but the publishers don't seem to be listening.
No sig for you!!
Depending on what the other console makers do, they may be forced into a lower price.
Are there going to be any comparable consoles to the Xbox2, given that this will presumably be a next-generation console? If not, then perhaps the market really will support this price? Perhaps it will be just that good, that people will fork over $399 in order to get in on this next 'evolution of gaming'.
"There's no success like failure, and failure's no success at all."
- Bob Dylan
"...and the lingering question of whether the Next Xbox will have a hard drive." (from article)
Hasn't that question already been answered a couple months ago? Xbox2 will have 3 versions. One without a harddrive, one with, and then a TV-PC type thingy.
The $400 could be true for the TV/PC...maybe? If they guy had said 3 different prices, I might have believed him... Based on that assumption, I might think that the Xbox2 without an HD will be about $250, with HD $300 and PC-edition $400. That would make more sense.
"A truly wise man realizes he knows nothing."
Actually, the article says:
One publisher raising prices doesn't mean anyone else will.
At first, I wanted to call bullshit, as $400 seems, well, out there, for a game console. However, I thought the same thing when the original Playstation came out and we know how that turned out.
I'm still betting against though that kind of price hike. Microsoft isn't stupid and they haven't become the de facto standard for gaming yet. Nintendo and Sony remain viable competition, for the for the former especially I don't see a price point anywhere near $400 for the Revolution. Moreover, outside of America (where the people's taste in games are seemingly as bad as their taste in movies) the Xbox is a joke.
In short, Microsoft strategy is to win and then hike up the price and they haven't won yet.
"There is no time, sir, at which ties do not matter," Jeeves, (Jeeves and the Impending Doom)
like the first xbox, i probably wont buy one until there is a chip or some other method of modding it.
Thank god I've been slowly outgrowing my whole rebelious gamer phase for a year or so now! Money much better spent on the little woman, I'm sure we'd both agree ;-)
MMmmmm! USB drive-chain.
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
I think there's one important fact that's being overlooked here; the US dollar has been performing so badly on the international market over the last year, that it would be inevitable that the price of things produced overseas and imported into the US (which, despite being an American designed and funded console, the Xbox and probably its successor is) will rise. After all, US$400 is 'only' about GB£214 - that's GB$86 less than the price of the Xbox on launch (before it was dropped to GB£200 in a few months).
Basically what I'm saying is - and this goes for the cost of games to - the US dollar is probably the main cause of blame here, and basically all Microsoft is trying to do is to set the machine and games at a price which are reasonable in the international market, or they'd have a problem where the games are twice as expensive in Europe (I know things are usually more expensive here anyway, but in order to avoid encouraging mod-chipping, I'm sure they'd rather balance the price more) - and possibly find themselves losing money in their home territory.
I think over in the US you're just going to have to accept for now that you will have to pay more for international goods as long as the currency isn't doing well. If prices don't rise when the dollar rises, however, then you can complain.
Mattb90
Editor, allaboutgames.co.uk
3DO.
The 3DO originally debuted at a princely price, but quickly dropped to around $399. The Sega Saturn also debuted at $399, as did the Playstation. All of those consoles quickly dropped in price to the sweet-spot of $199.
It'll be a tough lesson, but I'm sure they'll figure it out soon enough.
so were paying $100 more for something that may or may not have a hard or run the other cool games that we own. Seems like a waste especially since the planned games for the xbox2 don't look all that great.
They also said the PSP would be $500....The console market has traditionally been too mainstream to expect people to pay anything more than $299 at launch. However, if MS is really planning to release 3 versions, then it would be possible that one of these versions would be $399 at launch.
Not to start a flamewar, given everything except for the price while a PC is a much better choice for gaming (configurability, graphics, upgradability etc.) why do so many people prefer a console? Anyone who has a console nowadays most probably have a better PC at their disposal.
Want to play in a big screen TV or hi-fi sound system, connect my Video/Audio output to my receiver? Then why would I want to choose a console over a PC.
Disclaimer: I do have an XBox, a Dreamcast, and a few high end PC systems that I play on.
- Xbox Next
- Xbox Next HD
- Xbox Next PC
So $400 might just be for the higher end Xbox Next PC which includes the following:
what microsoft is planning with x-2 it to replacee s/hardw are/whitepapers/power4.html
the computer (x86), with this much performance why buy a computer. just add (keyboard, usb-devices) its
got vertual-pc running on four power4 processor, emulating a p4@3ghz would be no problem, so all those windows users are happy because they dont know
there machines are running on (power4{powerpc}) chips
http://www-1.ibm.com/servers/eserver/pseri
Analysts, especially mainstream analysts, just don't get the videogame market. They are usually so far off the mark that it's laughable.
My recollection of most major console launches (in the UK at least) is that they start off expensive and then the price is gradually reduced? For the most part, there's the launch line-up with a few great titles, and then by the time there's a large catalogue of titles, the price has dropped considerably? This just seems to be the usual cost of being an early adopter? So what's the big deal here?
For $400 if better damn well come with a hard drive or i would never buy the thing.
Having just bought a GeForce 6800 GT for 430 euros (some $560) solely for Doom3 makes the $400 for xbox2 seem, eh, tolerable. :)
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