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PlayStation (Games) XBox (Games) Entertainment Games

Xbox Price Drop Doubles Sales, Sony To Follow? 83

Posted by simoniker from the more-crunk-for-your-buck dept.
Thanks to GamesIndustry.biz for its story mentioning Microsoft's indication that dropping Xbox's price to $149 has caused sales to double for the week immediately following the announcement. However, the piece muses: "The question, however, is just how long the sales boost will last - with some analysts suggesting that the 'bounce' isn't sustainable. Certainly, there are many factors which suggest that Microsoft will cut the Xbox price again before Christmas 2004." In addition to this, there's speculation about competition: "All eyes are now on rival Sony, with sources close to the Japanese giant suggesting that it plans to drop the US PS2 price point to $149 later this month - and will add two games (as yet unnamed) to the bundle as well, bringing the effective price of the hardware below the Xbox."
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Xbox Price Drop Doubles Sales, Sony To Follow? More

Xbox Price Drop Doubles Sales, Sony To Follow?

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  • Intresting that they happen not to post any numbers to go with this "news". Does this mean that they have sold 20 last week as opposed to 10 the week before?

    • Does this mean that they have sold 20 last week as opposed to 10 the week before?



      Well - I bought one, a friend bought one and I saw 3 others sold while we were there, that was Monday.


      Fairly impressed - Hopefully it won't be replaced too quickly, but it beats having to keep a windows partition around to play games on.


      Unfortunately, I broke one of my rules on things not to do during exam week.

    • I looked it up. They did sell 20. Good guess.
    • I think they were selling a few hundred k units a month in the US. So doubling a weeks sales (in a fairly slow season is probably an extra 50-100k units. The numbers are occasionally availble from NPD's fun world survey.
  • ...when are we going to get a European price drop, that's what I want to know. The low value of the Dollar is making US boxes insanely cheap in comparison to our 139 price point.

    Not that I don't have all the current consoles already, but a second machine for chipping would be nice.
    • Please enlighten me.

      I'm a European too, and I've no idea what you've just said.
      Or, actually I do, but that one thing is out of context...
      • He is saying that USD 150 is about EUR 120 or about GBP 80, those are close I haven't check rates in a few days, and did the math in my head. Even with the VAT (US prices are generally quoted pre tax those are still significantly less than I think the retail price in Europe (Last time I saw the price it was closer to EUR 180 or 200 (and GBP 99). If it weren't for region coding you would benefit from ordering an X-Box (or likely a Playstation from the US).

  • Sony's price drop (Score:5, Interesting)

    by lake2112 ( 748837 ) on Thursday April 08, 2004 @12:30PM (#8804637)
    I find it odd how the first and least powerful next-gen system is now at the highest price point. I guess it just goes to show how big Sony has become in the gaming industry. Even though I still view them as an outsider in an industry where Sega and Nintendo were once kings.
    • It was the second console of this generation, but I still think it's the least powerful. The Dreamcast is part of this group, even though it died off fast (it came out too soon). I think that the DC had the horsepower to keep up with the others and probably outpace them at times.

      (can you smell the burning Sega fanboyism?)
      • *Sniff*

        The great thing about the DC is that it left with a great legacy, although it couldn't fight with the big bully on the block it will definitely have it cherished space in video game history. Definitely one of the most innovative machines to ever come out. I remember looking back at first gen PS2 titles and comparing to my DC, and thinking to myself - why spend all that cash for something only marginally better?

        Funny thing is, I finally broke down and got a PS2 last December (damn exclusives)
      • I picked up a dreamcast, and i garantee i play it more than i would a ps2 if i had one:P

        I bought it for 20 bucks with 3 games, 4 controllers(including guns) and memory card.

        www.dcemulation.com

        I have an nes still, yse, but isnt it just that much better to turn on dreamcast and have entire nes game library on ONE disk, with all the perks associated with a pc emulator?

        Cant beat that, and the first party games are also good, hold their own with most ps2 games graphically.
    • The PS2 lacks many features that GCN and Xbox have, notably good T&L, hardware bumpmapping, extra levels of texture filtering, and memory speed.

      The PS2 and Dreamcast are of the same generation.
      • I am definitely not a PS2 fanboy, and I usually diss it quite a bit - but I recently bought Primal and was quite impressed at the texturing, etc - I could have sworn it was almost an Xbox game. But yeah, most of the other games are bland.
        • IF you try. Shenmue 2 on the Xbox looks essentially like Shenmue 2 on the DC. The problems the DC version had were mainly load times, and slowdown on the more polygonally intense scenes.

          The PS2 just isn't easy to program, while the DC was very easy to program. You could do Primal level graphics on the DC with way less developer experience, which was why a lot of the later DC games still look pretty good when stacked up against the games of the past couple of years.

          However, the GCN and Xbox are very eas

          • Yes, because it was a dump port; they didn't do anything Xboxy to it.

            Want to see the difference? Play Dead or Alive 2 on the Dreamcast (blows away DoA2 on the PS2) then go play DoA 3 on Xbox. Seeing the T&L on skin, the bump-mapping used on the costumes to create embroidery and what not...damn.

    • Re:Sony's price drop (Score:5, Interesting)

      by MMaestro ( 585010 ) on Thursday April 08, 2004 @01:24PM (#8805330)
      I guess it just goes to show how big Sony has become in the gaming industry.

      Indeed, but one has to wonder : Will that translate true with the PS3?

      IMO, the PS2 outdid the Dreamcast with backward by shipping with backward compability and shipping with a DVD system. However, a shipping with a DVD system isn't going to help anymore since the market is saturated with them, and backward compability won't help since they've saturated the market with PS2 units (when PS3 hits, I wouldn't be surprised to find pre-owned PS2s going for $50.) So what does Sony have going for them with the PS3? Maybe some linkage between the PSP and PS3, and its huge third-party developer support.

      But even thats weak. SquareEnix, unarguably Sony's biggest help with FFVII and FFX, isn't staying 100% dedicated with them to buddy up with Nintendo. Capcom and Konami are also beginning to cross-develop on other systems as well, not to mention Sony failing to buddy up with Sega after defeating their Dreamcast. The PSP also doesn't have much going for it other than technological overpowerment over Nintendo's Gameboy Advance, considered to be an unenterable market. Unless Sony reveals some serious, serious backage at this year's E3, I'm gonna have to say Sony is in trouble. Between Nintendo's tried-and-true franchises and Gameboy Advance, as well as Microsoft's power-leading Xbox and a treasury larger than some third-world countries, Sony is in a tight spot. Yesterday's success is today's overconfidence and tomorrow's defeat.

      • A lot of your points are valid but I think Sony is on a good position just because there are so many PS2 owners out there now. When the casual video game player talks about video games, chances are they are thinking of the PS2. If the PS3 is at the very least decent it will probably do very well.
      • I'm a light PS2 gamer. I probably have $750 worth of games. Most PS2 owners probably have twice that (just a guess.) Backwards compatibility is about still being able to use the investment I have made in the games - the price of the hardware is small by comparison.

        BC
      • Yes, we need to backwards see more of shipping with shipping with a DVD burner and shipping with backwards compatibility. But shipping the backwards compatibility may hinder a shipping.
    • Maybe because graphics horsepower doesn't have a lot to do with the overall appeal of the system?
    • "I find it odd how the first and least powerful next-gen system is now at the highest price point."

      I don't. It's supply and demand. History is full of stories about technically inferior products dominating. It's the best where it counts. Game selection.
    • That's odd, I see Nintendo as the outsider where Atari and Intellivsion were once kings.

  • PS2 Bundle (Score:5, Insightful)

    by the Man in Black ( 102634 ) <jasonrashaad&gmail,com> on Thursday April 08, 2004 @12:38PM (#8804731) Homepage
    If I could get a PS2, second controller, and 8MB memory card for $149, I'd buy one immediately. As it stands, the combination costs about $249, and you STILL haven't bought a game, which is another $50.

    Maybe the rest of you have cash reserves the likes of which I can't imagine, but I don't have $300 to blow on sedentary entertainment. Do you know what I could get for $300 across the river in Windsor?
    • Canadian social disease?

    • Re:PS2 Bundle (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Do you know what I could get for $300 across the river in Windsor?

      No, what? I thought the casino there was closed due to a strike. Is prostitution legal in Windsor?

    • Why are this guy's finances "Insightful"? He might not have $250 to "blow" on a PS2, but clearly, millions upon millions of people do. Not to mention that, considering the typical Slashdotter's lust for hardware, buying a PS2 for $250 hardly seems outlandish.

      What I find even funnier is that the tagline says that the effective price will be below the Xbox because of the two games. Of course, that conveniently neglects the memory card, when my Xbox came with a free hard disk, and the network adapter (inc

  • Heh... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by cybermace5 ( 446439 ) <g.ryan@macetech.com> on Thursday April 08, 2004 @12:43PM (#8804790) Homepage Journal
    I knew this was going to start soon. Both Sony and Microsoft own the rights to a good number of games. When they've lowered the price so much that it hurts, they'll just include games...hey, it's no extra cost right? Just the cost of another pressed CD?

    It would be interesting to see what the internal financial impact analysis of including games is, compared to public statements of loss due to piracy.

    This might be bad news for the Xbox modders out there. If Microsoft takes the cue and no longer lowers the price, but instead includes more games, then they will increase the perceived value of their system while not making it any more attractive to people who want to take advantage of their loss leader.

    • Re:Heh... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by cbirdsong64 ( 410584 ) on Thursday April 08, 2004 @12:56PM (#8804968)
      Bundled games or accessories don't really increase percieved value. Before the Gamecube dropped to $100 last year, it was selling for $150 with a free game or GB player. Price drops, free stuff deal ends, sales quadruple. There was really NO DROP at all. Interesting situation there.
      • It probably depends a lot on what games they bundle. If it isn't a killer game, too few will really value it. It's like the shite games bundled with graphics cards, no one would have bought them separately, 'least not at anything near full price.

        • Re:Heh... (Score:2, Informative)

          by cbirdsong64 ( 410584 )
          Well, with the GC deal, at the end, you could choose between Zelda: Wind Waker, Metroid Prime, Super Mario Sunshine, Star Fox Adventures, Mario Party 4, and the GB player. Admittedly, Star Fox and Mario Party are "Meh" and "More of the same", respectively, but Zelda and Metroid Prime are two of the best titles of this generation.
          • (Disclaimer: All I know about console games is what I learn from Penny Arcade)

            Were Zelda and MP still 'hot' games at the time or had everyone who wanted to play them more or less already bought them? Most game sales would appear to happen right at the release with sales quickly tapering down after a few weeks or so and if that's the case here, bundling 'old' games would have a low percieved value in the eye of the customers.

      • It's probably that $100.00 vs. $99.99 thing. We all really know that it's the exact same thing (one cent doesn't really matter). But for some reason if you change the price from $100.00 to $99.99 people will buy more, because it "seems" cheaper. Odd as it is, it has been proven true. I'm guessing it's the same thing.

        Sorta like the point I made about the eMac in the Apple story the other day. Sure it costs more, but the value of the software it includes/doesn't need (has photo, video, MP3, doesn't need AV,

    • The new price is nearly half what the consoles originally sold for. Xbox live users could be purchasing a second machine to mod/tinker with.
    • Sell the console cheap. Lose a little money while doing it.
      Charge extortionate license fees from the producers for every gamecopy produced or sold.

      Why else can you get consoles for the same price as three games?

      The point of lowering prices to bleed even more is to get consumers locked onto _their_ machine, so that they will buy _their_ games. It's the games that pay their bills, not the machines. A machine can hold for years (I'm pretty sure my NES still works), but new games keep coming _all the time_.

      W

  • I got yer reason right here (Score:4, Funny)

    by aztektum ( 170569 ) on Thursday April 08, 2004 @12:44PM (#8804807)
    Someone, somewhere, is putting together a Beowulf Cluster.
    • I know your joking, but I've heard XBoxes make great MythTV front ends. They even have a Knoppmyth install for it. I just started putting together my first Myth box, and have thought about used XBoxes for front end boxes elsewhere in the house.

  • PStwo ? (Score:1, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    In that interview with the European Sony chief he hinted at a PSone style makeover, which means are we potentially going to be getting a PStwo soon? Maybe Sony didn't immediately follow because the product is in the pipeline for next month's E3?

    If they made the PlayStation 2 small, sleek and sexy ala the PSone, you would have to wonder if the hard drive peripheral would fit as easily.....

    Anyhow, my PS2 is starting to make real funky noises when I open the slide tray and I've had mine since 2001, so I woul

  • Thanks to Thompson? (Score:5, Informative)

    by GeneralCern ( 653651 ) on Thursday April 08, 2004 @12:46PM (#8804842)
    I love Xbox, love it, love it, love it. But even in my fanboy state I still have to question how many of these reduced price Xboxes are being purchased to replace broken First Generation Xboxes that shipped with the faulty Thompson DVD drive?

    • Thats too true. I bought one the second week they came out (for $300 USD), and the DVD drive crapped out. I wasn't too thrilled about the platform, but I've bought about 15 games and didn't want to sell them back for pennies on the dollar.

      Long story short, I ended up buying yet another one at the $180 price.

      By contrast, I got a GameCube for $100: the controller is better, the games are as good or better, and the hardware is alot more solid. (I'm a Cube fanboy, I suppose)

      • I recently picked up a Cube and some games for a very good deal, and I'm loving it so far - Nintendo definitely has the whole "charm" thing down pat, and the games are major fun. I'm not thrilled about that controller though, the face buttons and analog sticks are decent, but the shoulder buttons just feel off to me for some reason. I guess I've just gotten used to the Xbox ones (and I can't stand the PS2 shoulders)
        • Same story here, Xbox 1st gen dvd drive crappedo out, and bought a GC. Problem is that the GC has great games, but once you play the 3-5 games that are great. There's NOTHING else. Everything else that comes out is shit. 1 or 2 great games come out for the GC a year. Atleast for the Xbox, a good mediocre game would come out every month but it would have online play which automatically gives it replay value.
          • I'm still in the Honeymoon stage with my Cube.. don't ruin it for me! I guess I don't care because I have the XB/PS2/GBA/PC/DC etc to fall back on in those times of need.

            One question though. Have you seen Resident Evil 4 in motion? Hot-Damn.
      • I can't understand why anyone would say that the GameCube controller is the best at anything. After you get used to it, it's playable, but you could say the same thing about the N64 controller, and that was one of the worst controllers ever designed.

        Rob (Currently has a sore left index finger due to the springy shoulder buttons)
    • in response to your sig, that's probably because only on slashdot is there a moderation system with point denominations like "+5 insightful." Don't you agree that, on the whole, the mod system here is comparatively excellent?

  • My take (Score:4, Interesting)

    by DamienMcKenna ( 181101 ) <damien@@@mc-kenna...com> on Thursday April 08, 2004 @01:34PM (#8805428)
    I don't intend buying an XBox, but I would buy a reduced-price Playstation 2 due to the awesome RPGs. The XBox doesn't have the games I want, the PS2 does.
    • "I don't intend buying an XBox, but I would buy a reduced-price Playstation 2 due to the awesome RPGs. The XBox doesn't have the games I want, the PS2 does."

      That's the best reason to decide on a system. You wouldn't believe how many times I've heard people say stupid shit like "but the XBOX is just a crappy PC!" and "I don't want the XBOX because my Microsoft mouse broke! I can't trust that company!"
    • I'm not into RPGs, but I came to the same conclusion about the PS2. The XBox and Gamecube are great systems, but when I make a list of the games that I want to play on each platform the list for the PS2 is the longest.

      The XBox may be more powerful than the PS2, but who cares about the hardware if the game you want to play doesn't run on it?

  • One more console (Score:3, Funny)

    by swat_r2 ( 586705 ) on Thursday April 08, 2004 @02:19PM (#8806055)
    I was contemplating another Xbox so I can use Live, but I swear to god if someone sees another console in my entertainment unit they will think I have a problem.
  • Shopping list: 1: Server(X-BOX) $150 Check...

  • (note to moderators: read the whole thing before moderating "off-topic")

    I remember reading (linked from SlashDot) a year or two ago that MS loses $100 on each X-Box sold, this was before the LAST price drop...

    This reminds me of the moron my sister works for... he was pricing something they sell below their cost, so they lose money on each sale. When she pointed this out to him, he said "We'll make it up in volume!"... and he was dead serious!

    Anyways, back on topic... since Linux runs on X-box [sourceforge.net], we should
    • Actually, the math is pretty simple. If MS doubles its sales, it will pick up more game purchases also. (Everyone who buys an XBox will also buy a game.) It's the game purchases that make money for MS. Plus, various manufacturing efficiencies most likely have reduced the cost of manufacturing each XBox, so it doesn't cost as much to build each one.
    • Dude, unless you have some hard figures (i.e. Internal Memo's from MS themselves) to back up Microsoft's recent losses per console I think you should really consider this major point:

      The specs of the Xbox include (But not limited to the following): Intel Pentium 3 733, Nvidia Geforce 2 (Equvalent), 64 MB of Ram, 8 GB Hard drive, standard dvd drive, and motherboard with onboard NIC.

      Notice how these specs seem to be a bit outdated by modern PC standards. Go to any PC store and get prices of this type of h
      • I'd be surprised if they were making gross margin on the US systems at any time. I think they will try to cut price to breakeven or a small loss over this cycle and the next while they try to establish a strong competitive position in the entertainment market. Their plan was to collect a Windows like royalty on every TV/entertainment center sold. Figure at launch they cost somewhere in the $350-$400 range (depending mostly on assembly costs, they pay Flextronics or Celestica to build them) and their cost

      • Dood, do some research... it won't take much.

        It was all over the news with the end-of-year filings that MS lost over $1B on the XBox production.

        I also read an interview with one of the engineers who developed the thing... in which he said that MS will NEVER make money on the 1st-generation X-box, and in fact won't make any on the hardware until the release of the 2nd-gen units.

        All of these articles had slashdot stories, in case you don't like google (do you REALLY need me to hold your hand and walk you r
      • It's actually a 733MHz Coppermine Celeron at 133MHz FSB (133*5.5) - in a weird 370-pin socket that isn't at all shaped like the old Socket 370. The GPU is a GeForce 3 based chip. Keep in mind, it's a custom mobo, too. I'd say, in the quantities MS is ordering, they might not be making a loss, but they're definitely not making a profit.
  • Can't MS release any numbers? I don't think they've released official sales figures since around September. I know they didn't release figures for Christmas, they just said "We outsold Nintendo the last two weeks of the year!" (of course, most Christmas shopping had already been done, and even so, the NPD revealed that MS ousold Nintendo by about two thousand units during that period, compared with the GC outselling the X-box by several hundred thousand units since the $99 price drop.)or somethin
  • Once the price gets to double digits I will buy one. My main use would be for a divx/mp3/ogg jukebox so I will still have to pay for a modchip and larger hard drive. I have a PS2 and Gamecube for playing games already. I mainly like platformers and racing games on the console and the XBox game selection of the platform genre is lacking compared to Ratchet and Clank, Mario, and Jak and Daxter on the other consoles. I prefer a PC for RPGs and FPSs.
  • It's a funny thing, I thought the price drop would have a profound effect on sales at my store - for $149.99 you get the system itself, a hard drive, and built in ethernet vs. the $179.99 + $99 + $34.99 package you'd have to pick up in order to get a comparable PS2 deal. But I haven't seen it at my store and I was told candidly by the MS rep in my area that neither has she. Someone from Sony echoed her sentiments, saying the people she has spoken to haven't indicated a large jump in sales, either.

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