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Xbox 360 Price Cut Dismissed
Next Generation is reporting that, despite comments from director of Xbox product management David Hufford saying that a console's 'sweet spot' is $199, Microsoft has no plans to drop the price any time soon. His comments came from a Bloomberg article we discussed last week. "Some are getting really spun up about the Bloomberg story and inaccurately reading tea leaves that don't exist. I spoke to Bloomberg nearly two months ago and we were talking about NPD data that had just been released, and chatting generally about price points of consoles in the market. The comment, which is accurately reported, unfortunately has now been taken way out of context and being reported as if I am signaling a price drop ... With Xbox 360s selling well at their current price point, Elites selling out at $479, and an insanely great portfolio of games in the market, there's no reason to announce any kind of price drop anytime soon."
Any price cut will not be telegraphed in advance, as as soon as a price cut is announced, sales will plumet until the cut takes effect.
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How is NOT dropping the price of a product news. I mean, if it were, we're not doing it now we're doing it on this date instead then maybe, but honestly this is just another story adding to the FUD around xbox pricing.
No shit. There's even a historical IT precedence for this that's defines such a boneheaded move.
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the Osborne Effect.
"Accept that some days you are the pigeon, and some days you are the statue." - David Brent, Wernham Hogg
Microsoft had a healthy head start, and, in America, at least, it has the opportunity to expand upon it, before it is eroded by the Wii, as well as make things untenable for Sony. Complicating matters are the losses that Microsoft's game division has taken, recently. However, I think that it would pay off in the long term to make the Xbox 360 and unbeatable value, especially when compared to the ridiculously expensive PS3. It would seem that Microsoft is opting for a different, "safer" approach, however.
So we're coming out with an Xbox 360 that costs $100 more! Take that, Nintendo!
52 Weeks, 52 Religions with John Hummel
MS isn't going to cut the 360 price points at any time soon. They JUST made the elite $480, and they're not going to do anything which makes it seem like less of a value yet. As others have said, announcing a price cut would be boneheaded for MS, because it would give time for competitors to act appropriately and would decimate sales until the price cut came.
Now, I wouldn't be surprised if in the few weeks/days before Halo 3, the often predicted price cut comes. It would push sales of Halo 3 for Bungie/MS/retailers, but more importantly the 360 itself. Not to mention all of the wireless controllers, memory cards, and other games. It would be a huge blow to the PS3 if the lower end 360 was availible for 1/3 of the price, and the top of the line for 1/2 the price.
It's not really a question of "if", but "when" and "how much". If MS was to drop the high end 360 to $300, you could get the 360, 3 additional wireless controllers ($150), 4 rechargeable batteries ($80), and Halo 3 for $10 less than the PS3.
Want a price cut? Stop buying it.
That doesn't seem to be working for the PS3...
Microsoft doesn't need to even think about a price cut until Sony does it.
With the PS3 at $600 and no exclusive must have games, Sony is responsible for selling more Xbox360's than Microsoft at this point.
Considering inflation at ~4% per year, you're getting that much of a price cut just by waiting to buy it. This of course assumes a lot, like you being a job that gives you a raise once in a while.