Will two free games mean the Xbox 360 outsells Wii and PS3 this Christmas?
By Dave Parrack
After two consecutive price cuts in the last two months, Microsoft have now added two free games to the Xbox 360 Elite and Premium bundles. The games in question are Forza Motorsport 2 and Marvel Ultimate Alliance, the first being great, the second average at best. But will the inclusion of games make the Xbox 360 a much more desirable console over both the Nintendo Wii, and the Sony PS3 this holiday season?
The prices of the Xbox 360 as it stands in the USA at the moment are $349.99 for a standard 20Gb model and $449.99 for the 120Gb Elite edition. The PS3 meanwhile is still prohibitively expensive at $499.99 despite a recent $100 price cut. The Wii of course beats them all for price, but has a lot less expensive technology under the hood.
By the end of October, all Xbox 360s are going to ship with the two games included in the bundle for no extra cost, a move which should greatly increase sales over the ultra important holiday season from Thanksgiving until Christmas. Now its up to Sony in particular to ramp up the marketing and pricing war and see what they can do to compete. Although I think its very unlikely the PS3 will drop in price any further this year, maybe a new pricing strategy on games, or a new bundle will be forthcoming.
One thing is clear however, that Microsoft seem to be one step ahead of Sony at every stage, with more ideas and a clearer idea of what consumers are going to react well to. Sony have actually changed their strategy midstream over the past week, with the announcement of a 40Gb PS3 becoming the standard (at least in Europe) but removing costly features as a result.
We’ve also recently seen the importance of games to the success of a system, with Halo 3 alone being responsible for Microsoft selling 125,000 Xbox 360s in the week of its release and overtaking the Wii in the process.
And where does the Wii fit in to all this? Well Nintendo have clearly chosen a different strategy than their competitors being reasonably priced and affordable to casual gamers from the off. Whether the sales levels can continue at their current levels is open to question, especially if the hardware shortages rear their ugly head again.
I think the Xbox 360 will come in first this holiday season, and the 2 free game bundle will only add to the appeal of the console over its rivals (Halo 3 helps too). The Wii should hold strong for now in second, and the PS3? Well, as good as a machine as it is, there’s just not the customer base there yet, and the price still pushes it out of the reach of anyone but hardcore early adopters.
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October 9th, 2007
With exclusives Uncharted:Drakes Fortune, Haze, Ratchet & Clank, SOCOM: Confrontation and Time Crisis 4 the PS3 easily has the best holliday season lineup imo
October 9th, 2007
Yeloo Gootah, I dont see any exclusives on your list that are worth a $600 paper weight….
October 9th, 2007
that is a pathetic list you sould start playing better games
October 9th, 2007
@Gamer
Isn’t that what the 360 becomes after RRoD? I get plenty of play out of mine and so do most people, it’s nice having more than two games to play this Christmas
@shadonin
What’s your list look like? Mass Effect and Mass Effect. Have fun playing one game while we have at least five.
Your both fucking idiots just like the wirter of this blog or article or whatever the fuck it wishes it was.
October 9th, 2007
Yo SomebodySomewhere, Shut the fuck up you ignorant, stupid Sony fanboy.
“Its nice having more than two games to play this Christmas” This coming from a Sony fanboy. That is really some funny shit. Of the 3 consoles, the BS3 has the least games of any. IDIOT.
October 9th, 2007
As much as I wish MS to be at the top (assuming the fix the dreaded RROD issue) in this console race I have a hard time believing that it can in number of units sold in the forseeable future.
Simply put, there is a much larger audience for the wii than there will ever be for the xbox. For the PS3, they are only riding on their fanbase from the last generation. However, the author of the article above has a very good point, MS has a very focused strategy in place while Sony has a mess and a brand name!
Ugh, and I own the paperweight PS3, but not the Xbox 360….
October 9th, 2007
Sony has had game bundles for the PS3 the last 6 months. Dunno….
October 9th, 2007
Wii is unstoppable this holiday. Even with the help of Halo 3, MS can’t touch Wii numbers for more than a few weeks. Its sad actually, that such a great console could have such horrible reliability. If the RROD thing had never happened, the 360 might have actually been harder to catch. I mean, a year headstart and it can only hold off the pathetically underpowered wii for a measly 9 months. Wha?
October 10th, 2007
WII is unstoppable in sales……..YES!!!
WII has a HIGH attach range (games per console)…….NOT!!!!!
WII is HD gaming………NOT!!!
WII is hardcore gaming.NOT!!!!
WII has same game audience as PS3 or xbox360……NOT!!!!
WII is a concurrent of the xbox360/ps3……NOT!!!!
WII is a long term investment……NOT!!!
WII is cheap………………………NOT!!! (just try to buy a network card or play dvd’s…you’d be better of buying a xbox360) even the old xbox has an on board network card an can play dvd’s…
The WII is as powerfull or maybe 2% more as the old xbox (and the old xbox can play 720P!!!(HD) and play DVD and has a networkcard)
the only innovation are the controllers.
used cisco………get your facts straight
WII is mostly for the new generation newcomer gamers (very little kids/girls ) and the old generation who was never interested.. (mom, grandpa and granddad)
all those newcomers will first buy a WII, and within a year or two (if they really come to dig gaming) they will buy a ps3 or a xbox360
the common wii owner has 2 to 3 games and does not get hooked/addicted.
the common ps3 or xbox360 owner has 3 to 10 games and does get hooked and addicted (especially the xbox360 owners…pray that Microsoft won’t get MGS4..if they do…there will be NOT one reason to choose ps3 or wii over the xbox360 (whether the console is very faulty or not)… except if you’re Japanese….
the ultimate winner will probably be the ps3 in 2009. why??…they have the best hardware package..and by then they will have enough games (maybe not more than microsoft..but just enough)
Microsoft has only one tiny problem: its’called
wrong marketing management ..they choose to invest in JAPAN, when they should be investing in RUSIA/EUROPE or CHINA…they’ve learned their lesson by now I hope.
The ps3 will allways sell more eventually, but selling more games (attach rate) per console???..
instead of putting money in JAPAN, they should have upgraded the hardware of the console (onboard wireless/HDMI for less or no money)…
I dont care about HDVD or BR..
October 10th, 2007
Actually, used cisco is pretty close.
“WII has a HIGH attach range (games per console)…….NOT!!!!!”
“the common wii owner has 2 to 3 games and does not get hooked/addicted.”
The Wiis attach rate is the same as the 360s was at this point in its lifecycle, about 5. Every month brings their attach rates closer. So you may want to do some research on that to keep yourself from sounding like an idiot.
http://forum.pcvsconsole.com/viewthread.php?tid=11055&page=3
And whats this about a network card? The Wii has built in wireless networking. No network card needed. Try buying a wireless network adapter for the 360. Its $100. So, really I don’t blame you for you opinion since your ignorance has made rational thought impossible.
October 10th, 2007
[...] Dave Parrack wrote a fantastic post today on “Will two free games mean the Xbox 360 outsells Wii and PS3 this …”Here’s ONLY a quick extractI think the Xbox 360 will come in first this holiday season, and the 2 free game bundle will only add to the appeal of the console over its rivals (Halo 3 helps too). The Wii should hold strong for now in second, and the PS3? … [...]
October 11th, 2007
Has anyone here played a wii? this thing is only a party machine!!! my 2yr old loves it, whats this tell you? I had a pos3 and finally got smart and traded it for a halo 3 xbox 360. best decision i ever made, who gives a shit about the ps3 dominating in 2009? it wont, you ps3 fanboys need to realize one thing- it`s MICROSOFT!!! sony has not the cash to go up against the software giant! by `09 M$ will have another machine available if needed, look at the games man, the graphics are still better on the 360, just like bill gates said, sony will always be behind the 360, always, and just like he said, game developers are dropping games for the pos3 like flies!! the pos3 is a nice machine, but just like halo, it`s way over hyped and lets not forget that sony is the KING of lying, i know they all do, but sony is the best at it!! heavenly sword and lair was a major let down, and mgs4 looks like total shit, the characters even look like they have a corn stalk in the ass. wheres bio shock for the ps3? and i could go on forever, and all you can tell me is about uncharted, haze, socom and stupid ass ratchet and clank? do the best thing you can and get rid of that blu ray player now and start playing the best games out there, and not to mention “live” which sony will never i repeat never have anything close!!! home? who the hell wants to walk around and talk to people, I`d rather be talking to them during a shoot out in halo!
October 11th, 2007
[...] Dave Parrack wrote a fantastic post today on “Will two free games mean the Xbox 360 outsells Wii and PS3 this …”Here’s ONLY a quick extractBy the end of October, all Xbox 360s are going to ship with the two games included in the bundle for no extra cost, a move which should greatly increase sales over the ultra important holiday season from Thanksgiving until Christmas. … [...]
October 11th, 2007
[...] Read the rest of this great post here [...]
October 13th, 2007
[...] to a killer (I'm paraphrasing), and the PS3, Xbox 360 or Wii will almost instantly be wiped off a lot of Christmas lists at a [...]
October 26th, 2007
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