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Next-Gen Pricing Still A Hot Issue

Posted by Zonk on from the you-need-to-sell-more-organs dept.

GamesIndustry.biz has two articles taking a look at next-gen pricing, both from Microsoft's point of view. Xbox VP Peter Moore says that next-generation pricing is actually going to be an excellent value for the money. From the article: "...he predicted that many games may be offered in limited edition bundles, similar to the already announced Perfect Dark Zero bundle, which costs an additional $10 but adds a significant amount of bonus content to the title, and that premium downloads costing 'maybe another $5' will also be a key strategy for publishers." Additionally, the Xbox marketing folks are already planning price reductions for the 360. From that article: "'We will wind up cost-reducing the product every year,' Todd Holmdahl, corporate vice president of the Xbox product group, told Reuters. It's estimated that the 360 costs approximately $100 less per unit to manufacture than Sony's PS3, giving Microsoft more scope for price cuts."

2 of 101 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Who cares, it's still $500 at launch by Digital+Vomit · · Score: 4, Informative
    Buying a new video card every 3-4 years for that much is one thing, a new console every year is quite another.

    Huh?

    PS3/XBox360/Revolution = 2005/2006

    PS2/XBox/GameCube = 2000/2001

    PS1/N64 = 1995/1996

    SNES/Genesis = 1989/1991

    That's about a five year time span between generations. If anything, console upgrades are less frequent that pc video card upgrades.

    --
    Modern copyright is theft of culture from everyone and it retards the progress of the useful arts and sciences.
  2. Adjusting for inflation? by hal2814 · · Score: 4, Informative

    I see a lot of posters trying to make themselves feel better about the next-gen pricing structures by adjusting yesteryear's system launch prices for inflation. This will not give you an accurate picture of what's going on for two reasons:

    1. Electronics are getting cheaper. How much was that TV you bought in 1983 adjusted for inflation? How about the VCR you bought in 1985 for $250? Or even your refrigerator or oven? The price of a next-gen system SHOULD be cheaper by this logic.

    - BUT -

    2. Consoles are becoming more powerful compared to their peers. Back in the day when the NES came out, it was significantly less powerful a machine than the PCs of the time and the arcade machines of the time. Now the XBox and PS2 are about 3/4 as capable as a PC that came out around launch. As these consoles become more and more powerful compared to their peers, they SHOULD become more expensive.

    The important thing isn't what the XBox 360 or PS3 will cost compared to the NES. It's far more important that you think the XBox 360 is a good value from the money. Judging by these "adjusting for inflation" defenses, I get the idea that a lot of people aren't happy with the price but are willing to pay it.