Mill o’ Rumour: Microsoft to cut Xbox 360 prices?
Over the weekend Sony announced that their underachieving Playstation 3 would be getting a $100 price drop. This begged the question as to whether or not Microsoft or Nintendo would follow suit. Apparently, according to a new report, as well as many analysts, Microsoft may be following suit very shortly with the Xbox 360.
According to analyst Michael Pachter, we should expect Microsoft to slash prices for all three models of their Xbox 360 console:
- Xbox 360 Core from $299 to $249
- Xbox 360 Premium from $349 to $299
- Xbox 360 Elite from $479 to $399
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Pachter, speaking on behalf of Wedbush Morgan, added:
We expect Microsoft to follow with a price cut of its own… Last week, Microsoft announced a slight Xbox 360 shipment shortfall and we do not believe that the company is prepared to allow Sony to erode its pricing advantage.
We think that the console manufacturers will continue to cut price as their production costs come down, and expect sales to ramp significantly this holiday season.
Now, you may be wondering how exactly Microsoft would go about dropping prices with their consoles without taking too much of a hit. Well, in short, it’s a project code-named “Falcon“. What’s Falcon? In short: It’s the new 65nm processor that is widely believed to help the Xbox 360 run smoother and cooler, resulting in fewer ring-of-death-related console failures. It’s widely believed that the new 65nm processor would also be cheaper to produce.
Now under normal circumstances, I would be inclined to believe this, if for no other reason than hope. BUT, considering that Microsoft is about to write a $1 BILLION check to reimburse everyone who has had their Xbox 360s die due to the Ring of Death problem, I don’t see them really affording a price drop any time soon.
Now, keep in mind that these price drop rumors apply solely to residents of North America, as Microsoft has come out today and said there will be NO PRICE CUT in Japan. Unfortunate, considering they’re getting their asses kicked in the land of the Rising Sun.
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July 9th, 2007 at 5:18 pm
Even though MS would be putting itself further into the red, making it even longer before sales catch up to manufacturing costs, I would bet my left arm that they will counter Sony with a price cut of their own.
MS knows that they cannot give up any ground to Sony, and that if they quickly counter Sony, that it will effectively render the PS3 still overpriced in comparison to everything else out there.
July 9th, 2007 at 8:04 pm
They’ll finally be able to bundle a 360 and a Wii for less than the price of one PS3! (498 vs 499)
July 10th, 2007 at 1:26 pm
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July 23rd, 2007 at 12:01 am
[…] Rumors have persisted for a long time about an Xbox 360 price drop. Michael Pachter (what does he do? Seriously, he’s like Mel Kiper! You see him once a year (around E3), and he’s a ghost the rest of the time) even went so far as to tell us to “expect” a price drop for the Xbox 360. […]
November 7th, 2007 at 5:57 am
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