Microsoft Drops Xbox 360 Pricing

Kawahee was one of several readers to tip news of a price cut for the Xbox 360. This comes after Sony dropped PS3 prices and unveiled the Slim model last week. The 360 Elite will now retail for $299, but will no longer ship with HD cables. The 360 Pro has been reduced to $249, but Microsoft is phasing it out. Analysts don't expect this new price point to be a huge boon for sales because the Elite doesn't match the PS3's hardware capabilities and is still more expensive than the Wii. Microsoft has "no plans" for a smaller version of the 360.

Comments

MS needs to be thinking about the 720

[elrous0]

The 360 is nearing the end of the typical console lifespan (which has always been about 5 years, give or take) and is getting a bit long in the tooth anyway. A DVD drive and 4-year-old CPU are already starting to hold it back (several new games are coming out for it that will have to span across several DVD's, versus one bluray for the PS3). They really should be looking at a new generation console soon (for 2010 or, at least, 2011). If they wait too long, Sony is going to start trouncing them with the stronger hardware of the PS3.

And this time MS, for the love of God, please put some effort into making a hardware design that doesn't cause another RROD fiasco, or take a step BACKWARDS with no standard hard drive. That was just shameful.

On a personal note, how about making your online architecture a little more friendly to MMO's? The PS3 has several in the pipeline, and you don't have any. There are only so many FPS's and racing games I can put up with before I want some innovation. Backwards compatibility probably wouldn't hurt either. Just my opinion.

Re:MS needs to be thinking about the 720

[d3l33t]

They cant afford to drop the current software development cycle. Why do you think every other console figures a minimum 8 year cycle.

Re:MS needs to be thinking about the 720

[elrous0]

I would point out the multitude of problems with that response, but I'm not going to start yet another PC vs. console pissing contest, thank you. Suffice it to say that the PS3 is getting some MMO's on their console finally, but MS is not. And I think a truly next generation console needs to expand its capabilities to handle all game genres.

Re:MS needs to be thinking about the 720

[Cornflake917]

On a personal note, how about making your online architecture a little more friendly to MMO's? The PS3 has several in the pipeline, and you don't have any.

Wrong.

If they wait too long, Sony is going to start trouncing them with the stronger hardware of the PS3.

Sony has had over 3 years to "trounce" them. This hasn't happened yet. Why would the stronger hardware aspect of the PS3 all of the sudden start attracting gamers away from the 360?

Re:MS needs to be thinking about the 720

[medv4380]

Given that the PS2 still has a good number of units sold every month and is close to what the 360 sells they are probably thinking this is becoming a 10 year cycle or something longer. Nintendo was right when they said that more expensive hardware wasnt needed for more advanced game development. MS just needs to make their system cheaper and more reliable.

Re:MS needs to be thinking about the 720

[interkin3tic]

The 360 is nearing the end of the typical console lifespan (which has always been about 5 years, give or take) and is getting a bit long in the tooth anyway.

I disagree. I'd rather not have to buy another console, the wii has, for better or worse, seems to have shifted console makers' focus off of cutting edge graphics to making it appealing to people who play fewer games. See project NATAL: that's not for people who play a lot of games, that's for the families, for parents, for party games, etc.

DVD player holding it back? Maybe there are some people who get irrationally angry and violent when they have to change discs, but I managed to play many games on the PSone which were on multiple discs without breaking down and crying. It's really not a big deal. If it saves me even a hundred bucks from not having to buy a bluray player with my console, I'm completely fine with changing discs.

CPU also I don't know about. I think the graphics are fine. And it's not going to happen because of computing power anyway: MS isn't going to spend a ton of money developing a more powerful console, when the console that's selling the best has about as much computing power as the first XBOX. Not saying that's the best reason to not have a new generation with a better CPU...

If they wait too long, Sony is going to start trouncing them with the stronger hardware of the PS3.

As I understand it, MS is already losing money on the 360. And of course, the wii is trouncing both of them.

On a personal note, how about making your online architecture a little more friendly to MMO's? The PS3 has several in the pipeline, and you don't have any. There are only so many FPS's and racing games I can put up with before I want some innovation.

MMOs= innovation? Really? I've seen plenty of innovative FPS and racing games. If you are a fan of MMO, ask for MMO because you want MMO, but don't confuse lack of MMO with lack of innovation.

Re:MS needs to be thinking about the 720

[KDR_11k]

It also seems as though Nintendo has begun to hit market saturation with the Wii at its current price. The sales have been down over the last few months and there's still no word of a price cut. I'm expecting one around Christmas, but they may be running out of steam. If anyone needs to come out with a new piece of hardware it's Nintendo.

No, they just went without a killer app for too long. Their strategy does not allow for pricedrops that quickly, especially when it's known what needs to be done to restore the sales without a pricedrop (namely releasing more killer apps). Besides, they just came out with a new piece of hardware called the Motion Plus. Since they don't consider graphics and processing that important they won't release a new system just to upgrade those.

Re:MS needs to be thinking about the 720

[Anonymous Coward]

The PS3 no longer costs $200 more? It also plays Bluray movies? People already have 360s and it seems like an upgrade?

Re:MS needs to be thinking about the 720

[thule]

It also seems as though Nintendo has begun to hit market saturation with the Wii at its current price. The sales have been down over the last few months and there's still no word of a price cut. I'm expecting one around Christmas, but they may be running out of steam. If anyone needs to come out with a new piece of hardware it's Nintendo.

Nintendo is blue ocean. They are not trying to compete in the red ocean that is Xbox and PS3. MS and Sony have to price cut because they are fighting over the same pie.

The Wii is finally getting some interesting third party games. The MotionPlus is awesome and makes a huge difference in certain types of games. Less "waggle" and more precision. Nintendo really doesn't need to do anything right now. Sure, they'll have an HD console someday, but for now, the Wii is doing just fine.

A lot of people think that New Super Mario Wii is going to be HUGE (especially in Japan).

They likely have plans, but I don't expect them to make any moves until either Sony or Nintendo does something first. My bet is on Nintendo just because they're flush with cash and really lagging behind in terms of hardware, especially with both Sony and Microsoft releasing motion control features in the near future.

This is exactly why hardware performance doesn't matter. Nintendo *is* flush with cash and has moved many, many more units and they did it with lesser hardware! They weren't fighting over the current "hardcore" market. They were going after expanded market.

For the "hardcore" crowd, the PS3 is the way to go and MS could end up loosing some share to Sony.

Re:MS needs to be thinking about the 720

[ookaze]

I think that they're going to stick with the Xbox 360 for a while longer.

I think if they do that they will continue to crash and burn.
Seems like they think Natal is their next console, their console rebirth.
I bet this will crash and burn badly, and finish destroying their hopes of breaking even.

First of all, they have previously stated that they wanted to be profitable this go around. [...] They probably would reach profitability on this current generation and have started making up for the losses of the original Xbox if they hadn't run into the red ring problems. That probably set them back a year or so at least.

No!
Their only profitable fiscal year, they made less than $500 M (million) profit, and this was the Halo 3 fiscal year. They already lost $3 B (billion) dollars this generation on XB360, and lost $4 B on XBox (that's $7 billions in the hole for XBox brand at the very least). So the RRoD set them back at least 2 years back, most likely 3, and they have no chance of breaking even on the XB360 before 8 more years.
That's because you should keep in mind that they're back to losing money since their first price drop, despite selling several internal development studios and cutting off others.
And here comes another price drop. Their revenus also declined since their first price drop: sales didn't make up for the price drop of last year.
They're in a very bad position.

They're also in no real danger of being one-upped by Sony either. The PS3 may have technical superiority, but it's not by a large enough margin to cause people to move away from the Xbox 360. Sony also has a lot of costs to recoup as well and it doesn't appear as though they're in a hurry to release a new console any time soon.

The problem is that technology or competitor doesn't decide what the consumer will buy.
What will make them in a hurry to do anything is the gaming market.
The problem of both HD consoles, is that they can't release a new console now, while at the same time they must release one soon, as their sales are dropping and they're not making money, but their business model requires that they sell lots of games.

It also seems as though Nintendo has begun to hit market saturation with the Wii at its current price. The sales have been down over the last few months and there's still no word of a price cut. I'm expecting one around Christmas, but they may be running out of steam. If anyone needs to come out with a new piece of hardware it's Nintendo.

This is pure nonsense.
How come the Wii has hit market saturation while it sells more than the HD consoles put together at the worldwide level? Even in the USA alone, the biggest market, the Wii still sells more than any of the HD console.
That's without a single price drop, in soon to be 3 years! And with a XB360 model cheaper than the Wii since more than a year worldwide!
Given that, saying that Wii has hit any market saturation is pure nonsense.
If anyone needs to come out with a new piece of hardware, it sure enough is NOT Nintendo.
At best that's wishful thinking.

My bet is on Nintendo just because they're flush with cash and really lagging behind in terms of hardware, especially with both Sony and Microsoft releasing motion control features in the near future.

That's the problem: Nintendo will go on riding this generation and making lots of money while the others will painfully sell less and less. The HD consoles motion controls have not even a date of release, not even a price, they're just plain vaporware for now, but vaproware doesn't work in gaming.
Nintendo doesn't care that they are lagging behind, as that is precisely part of their plan.
Nintendo just moves like they want, completely unaffected by the HD consoles. On the contrary, those are the HD consoles that painfully try to catch up in Wii's path, but fail miserably for now.
How come the fact that PS3 and XB360 are playing catchup to the Wii with motion control is seen as a strength? Especially when the Wii is still selling more than both combined?

Re:Keep Trying

[matang]

"wii toy" - right, because the other two are deal-making, shuttle launching, techno-heavy pieces of equipment. "hey guys, we better get some xbox360s in here before people stop taking us seriously."

Price increase for the UK

[thetoadwarrior]

Thanks for using the UK and the exchange rate to boost your profits, cunts.

http://www.edge-online.com/news/xbox-360-elites-price-cut-arcades-raised

I'm sure the reason they haven't done this all over Europe is because they're only popular in the UK so they feel they can get away with this.

what about the peripherials ripoff......

[Sobakus]

The most required price cuts are for the outrageously expensive wifi adapter and the absurdly overpriced 120 gb hard drive. I have an original xbox 360 with 20gb hard drive (only had 1 RROD, hoorray) and I can barely install 1 game, and forget about movie downloads or a couple of demos unless you uninstall that game. Right now in spain a 120gb harddrive + wifi adapter will actually cost you more than the full xbox 360 arcade pack. To all you PS3 fanbois, bless Sony for letting you put any hard drive you wish. Believe me, after years fighting with a ridiculous 20gb drive thats one hell of a feature (...insert envy emoticon here...) WTF Microsoft??!!!!

Re:what about the peripherials ripoff......

[93 Escort Wagon]

The most required price cuts are for the outrageously expensive wifi adapter and the absurdly overpriced 120 gb hard drive.

Wait a minute... is that correct? The 360 doesn't even have wireless networking built in? You've got to be kidding!

This is not even really a price drop.

[Anonymous Coward]

They are phasing out the Pro model at $250 and dropping the Elite model to $300. However, once the Pro models are gone it's still going to cost you $300 to get a Xbox 360 (the Arcade model doesn't count). So, how exactly is this a price drop? I suppose you could argue that it is a value increase (as you are getting 120 GB instead of 60 GB), but I certainly wouldn't call it a price drop.

I bought a Xbox 360 Pro a year ago for $300. I've had no problems with it and enjoyed it a lot. However, if I were to do it all over again today I would go with a PS3. Back then a PS3 was $500. Today, however, for the same price as a Xbox 360 you get built-in Blu-ray, WiFi, and a standard hard drive interface. On the hardware front it's not even a contest. Xbox 360 has some great exclusive games, but so does PS3 (I hate exclusive games, but that's the world we live in). On top of that, Xbox Live is $50 a year. Xbox 360 was killing PS3 from the start (and rightly so; who pays $600 for a console?), but now the PS3 is in position to reverse that trend. Meanwhile, half of all Xbox 360s are failing. The future doesn't look so bright for the Xbox 360...

Re:it's not a good deal

[Amarantine]

Funny that none of the points you mention are about the actual games. I mean, we are talking about games consoles, right? Why not choose the console that has the games you like most, instead of having a pissing contest about dvd playback quality and hard disk size?

Re:why not just upgrade the CPU and GPU?

[tepples]

At that point, it's called a desktop computer and not a console.

It's a console as long as it uses cryptographic methods to shut out any development that is not part of a day job, such as development done by students and hobbyists. If it were a computer, I could load GCC onto it.