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The 360 Is Too Cheap?
The always interesting GamerDad site is running a 'LongShot' column wondering if perhaps the 360 wasn't expensive enough? From the article: "The beginning of a console generation has typically been for those with deep pockets or an unhealthy hardcore jones for videogames. These people are willing to smack down big bucks for the latest technology. The price of 360 was too low to keep the launch confined to that group and it was a big mistake in my opinion. With a higher price tag, Microsoft would have made more money, made sure sellouts wouldn't have lasted for months after Christmas and still sold through all the units they had to sell before the holiday. The demand for a new system was far higher than most people anticipated, especially given the early demise of the original Xbox, a system that will probably be gone from store shelves by February 2007."
What GamerDad said is that the only people who are buying XBox 360s at this point are the people who are so stupid they'll pay any price for a video game system regardless of the quality. Hence, Microsoft should have jacked prices up higher initially to build up a war chest, and then lowered the prices once the supply and game library problems the XBox 360 suffers from have been solved well enough that it is time to market the XBox 360 to the non-stupid demographic.
It's kind of a flawed plan since initial momentum is such a big deal in the video game market, but from a pure microeconomics perspective, it makes sense. Gouge the early adopters, then lower the prices to attract everyone else.
No, this is a 400 dollar alternative to buying some kid a kick ass machine with a 400 dollar video card to play games on. The alternative to this alternative is to let the 12 year-old-know-it-alls beat up on mom and dads PC installing every demo that comes down the pike as well as all the crap the accompanies the demos for unknown reasons. I've seen what my nephews have done to my brother's PC and I can tell you 400 dollars is a small price compared to the pains that brats will cause you by fouling up your machine.
No, the alternative is that your kids don't have to have every damn thing they want.
The other part is the assertion that it was a mistake for Microsoft NOT to have raised prices. I don't know that to be the case. Regardless of MSRP, the Xbox 360 WAS the "hot" product of the 2005 holiday shopping season. I'd assume Microsoft's leadership is pretty pleased with that, even if some middlemen did take home some profit that theoretically could have been theirs.
If by hot you mean "sold less then all of their competitors" Then yes it was a hot product. But in that case, Zima was also a hot product for 2005 as was the N-gage.
"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
the price seems to be the number one complaint I see when it comes to the PS3, what if it does end up costing $800 at launch from sony themselves?
Does it mean every game I get will last?
Does it mean every game I get will be original? (read not copy's of other games or endless sequals)
Does it mean I get FREE downloads of classic games? (read Xbox live arcade but free)
$400 for the 360 as it is is pushing the price point, there are gaming quality PC's that are around the same price and they can do 10x as much as the system (which requires Windows Media center edition in order to use the 360's PC hookup ability).
as it is the PS3 is rumored to be around $500 (since Sony is keeping mum about price speculation is running rampant), when the 360 launched people were MORE then generous to this mans reasoning about it being sold for to little, they were kind enough to sell it up to 4 and 5 times as much of what Microsoft set the price at.
Now the people that spent that much on the system...Are they getting some extra level of enjoyment out of the system the people that paid $400 for their system? are they getting some special deals on Xbox live that other's aren't?
Saying we should pay more for the system is just assinine what about the people who really wanted the system but couldn't afford it at a higher price? did they ever come into the logic here? for some $400 or even $300 is expensive as it is yet he want's them to pay MORE even though they can barely pay for that one now?
why not go ahead and raise the price of games while were at it? $60 is to cheap! come on, their on DUAL LAYER DVD'S! that's worth atleast $80 or $100! cutting edge next gen formats there, after all there weren't ANY games that were on dual layer DVD's this generation right? oh wait there were plenty and they somehow some way managed to sell for $50...But this is next generation shit here not that old crap that Microsoft abandoned in favor of the 360.
I say we are ripping off game companies, $60 a game is to cheap for better graphics, it should be atleast $80 so there won't be shortages of games and they will make more money on each game sold.