Will Xbox 360 price cuts actually make any difference whatsoever?
Since Microsoft cut the price of the Xbox 360 across the range at the end of last week, I have been praising the decision to do so and talking up how it could invigorate sales and start a pricing war, with the PS3 and Wii also getting reduced in price. But there is another possibility: that it won’t make the slightest bit of difference.
The price cuts are a good thing, I’m not doubting that for a moment, and Microsoft had to do something to give the Xbox 360 a bit of a jolt in the sales department. The company had very few options at this point, with price cuts being the first and most obvious of those. So it did what it had to do and is likely to see at least some short term gain from it over the holiday season.
The problem is, this generation is still really in its infancy, and there is a long road ahead. Apart from a few extra sales over Christmas 2008, I really can’t see the latest round of price cuts making a huge difference to the state of the market.
One of the big problems is that the model of the Xbox 360 that got the largest price cut, taking it below the price of the Wii, and below that all-important $200 price barrier, is a bit of a lame duck. No serious gamer I know would even think twice about purchasing the Arcade pack, and the casual gamer who stumbles across it will probably regret their decision as soon as they get their purchase home and realise quite how much they’ll have to spend to turn it in to anything approaching a real Xbox 360.
The Pro and Elite models have also come done by $50 apiece, but that still leaves them above the price that appeals to the mainstream, and above the price of the casual gaming behemoth that is the Nintendo Wii.
A price war is unlikely to unfold as hoped. Sony cannot afford it, with Playstation 3 hardware costs still limiting its options on that front. And Nintendo don’t actually need to cut the price of the Wii while demand is still matching supply.
Therefore, the state of this console generation is still the same today as it was last week: the Wii appeals to a wide demographic of casual gamers and is likely to keep selling in huge quantities until Nintendo replaces it in a few years time; the PS3 is incredible value for money with its Blu-ray player built-in and exclusive games; the Xbox 360 is a great console which Microsoft doesn’t quite know what to do with.
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14 Responses to “Will Xbox 360 price cuts actually make any difference whatsoever?”
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September 8th, 2008
*punches DAVE PARRACK in the face*
WHAT DID I SAY ABOUT “PRICE CUTS” IN THE HEADLINE?!?!?!
-Arvis
September 8th, 2008
lol. fair play, had it coming.
September 8th, 2008
You have the right to post anything you want on this website of yours. But do you think it’s better to tackle more about other important or let say more interesting topics rather than talking about the freaking price of that crappy defective piece of hardware. Nobody’s interested on it’s price. It’s cheap yes, so what, it will crash, discs will have scratch on it, no bluray you have to pay for online services,. Man, come on, give us great gaming news, not business news, who cares how much money the manufacturers earn, we gamers does not benefit from it. We need great games, wethere it’s frome 360 or ps3 we don’t care. We care more on software and less hardware and specially we care less on the changes of the price of the 360..
September 8th, 2008
YOU EXPECT LAME ARTICALS FROM ASSHOLES WHO COUGH BELIEVE WII IS WEAKER THAN XBOX 1
THATS BLORGES LEVEL BULL SHITTING LYING AND GOBBLEDEEGOOP
BLORGE STATE A 243MHZ FSB PLUS 4TO1 PEAK COMPRESSION = 7.7 GB BANDWIDTH IN A HIGHLY EFFICIENT CONSOLE (Wii)
IS WEAKER THAN 133MHZ 1GB BANDWIDTH IN A FAR FROM EFFERENT CONSOLE (xbox)
xbox fanboys talking outa there asses blorge more like bullshit.com
September 8th, 2008
Well, at least your realized your caps lock was on by the last line…
And yes, yes, I own a Wii before you jump on me.
Btw how did ‘cough’ get in in your post.
Oh and yes the price drop will help, could be 1 console, could be 100,000. It will sell some units.
September 8th, 2008
This round of price cuts is sheer desperation.
All indications are the MS sees the market slipping away and has to try to pump the numbers before all the devs desert the platform.
September 8th, 2008
The price cuts aren’t going to make it any more desirable as a product they will simply mean some people will buy one earlier than they were going to.
The 360 simply doesn’t have the desirability worldwide of the Wii or PS3 and even making it $100 wouldn’t change the fact that long term its gonna come way, way last in this gen.
September 8th, 2008
I already own a 360. The price cut means nothing to me. There are many many 360s sold already, and the price cut will ensure there will be more. The more consoles sold = motivation for game makers to up the quality of games. We’re living in a golden age people!
September 8th, 2008
Aww now you know last gen was the golden age.
Well, I think so anywhoo
September 9th, 2008
Actually I have fond memories of the Megadrive (Genesis for the Americans), I think that was more of the Golden Age with games such as Golden Axe, Revenge Of Shinobi, Sonic (Before he sucked), General Chaos, Afterburner 2, Streetfighter 2 etc.
Shame that Sega’s fortunes turned with the Dreamcast and the one before it who’s name escapes me, they did make some kickass machines.
September 9th, 2008
SO… As I have said before Nintendo continues to dominate the Market and sales, Why??? Cause “Hard Core” gamers have no money. The 2 other teams are trying there best to get there sales up. The Wii has about 31.000.000~ consoles to the Xboxs 20.531.000 console and the Sonys 15.000.000. Now realy I am cluching at straws to make these two sound better… so hears what will say. TOGATHER THEY HAVE OUT SOLD THE Wii!!!! But at what cost Masive Price cuts on the Xboxs Side and Play station not getting a good share of the Kid market and Sonys not have any really new Ideas to sell with.
I say not one thing about the deamcast never played it…
September 9th, 2008
Deamcast Had to go to many players in the Market.
September 9th, 2008
Harry, before the DC was the sega saturn, surpassed in ugliness only by the ps2!
As for ‘hard core’ gamers having no money… I don’t really think consoles are THAT expensive to begin with.
I look at it this way. We really don’t know how many so called ‘gamers’ are out there… Gaming in general hasn’t really been in the mainstream for that long, maybe 2 generations or so. The PS2 held the casual crown last gen, and now it looks like its the wii’s turn whilst the 360 and ps3 hold onto ‘hard core’ gamers.
(I’m not saying the wii is pure casual machine! & I own all 3
)
September 10th, 2008
THE SATURN!! Thanks SW!