Xbox 360 Price Cut Dismissed

Next Generation is reporting that, despite comments from director of Xbox product management David Hufford saying that a console's 'sweet spot' is $199, Microsoft has no plans to drop the price any time soon. His comments came from a Bloomberg article we discussed last week. "Some are getting really spun up about the Bloomberg story and inaccurately reading tea leaves that don't exist. I spoke to Bloomberg nearly two months ago and we were talking about NPD data that had just been released, and chatting generally about price points of consoles in the market. The comment, which is accurately reported, unfortunately has now been taken way out of context and being reported as if I am signaling a price drop ... With Xbox 360s selling well at their current price point, Elites selling out at $479, and an insanely great portfolio of games in the market, there's no reason to announce any kind of price drop anytime soon."

Also, ANY price cut will not be telegraphed...

[nweaver]

Any price cut will not be telegraphed in advance, as as soon as a price cut is announced, sales will plumet until the cut takes effect.

I'm confundled

[JamesRose]

How is NOT dropping the price of a product news. I mean, if it were, we're not doing it now we're doing it on this date instead then maybe, but honestly this is just another story adding to the FUD around xbox pricing.

Not for another few months

[Coopjust]

MS isn't going to cut the 360 price points at any time soon. They JUST made the elite $480, and they're not going to do anything which makes it seem like less of a value yet. As others have said, announcing a price cut would be boneheaded for MS, because it would give time for competitors to act appropriately and would decimate sales until the price cut came.

Now, I wouldn't be surprised if in the few weeks/days before Halo 3, the often predicted price cut comes. It would push sales of Halo 3 for Bungie/MS/retailers, but more importantly the 360 itself. Not to mention all of the wireless controllers, memory cards, and other games. It would be a huge blow to the PS3 if the lower end 360 was availible for 1/3 of the price, and the top of the line for 1/2 the price.

It's not really a question of "if", but "when" and "how much". If MS was to drop the high end 360 to $300, you could get the 360, 3 additional wireless controllers ($150), 4 rechargeable batteries ($80), and Halo 3 for $10 less than the PS3.

Re:Also, ANY price cut will not be telegraphed...

[CastrTroy]

How does good equate to beating a game in 6-14 hours. I guess it's nice if you plan on renting it, but if I spend $60 on a game, and only get 6 hours of play out of it, I'd be quite mad. However, with most of the games I've tried on the Wii, they've lasted much more than 6 hours, and probably more than 36 hours. Maybe other people like to spend $60 on a game that they only play for 15 hours, but I don't think that's worth it.

Re:I Disagree...because of the Wii

[Pojut]

If you think about it, there are MANY MANY more people in the Wii's target demographic than there are in the 360's target demographic...

Example. My girlfriend's parents bought her sister a Wii for her birthday. Her sister has NEVER owned a gaming console and frankly doesn't even really like gaming. She messed around with a Wii at a friends house and instantly wanted one.

I assure you she would not want a 360. Get my point?

Re:Want a price cut?

[LandoCalrizzian]

Microsoft doesn't need to even think about a price cut until Sony does it.

With the PS3 at $600 and no exclusive must have games, Sony is responsible for selling more Xbox360's than Microsoft at this point.

The constant price cut...

[posterlogo]

Considering inflation at ~4% per year, you're getting that much of a price cut just by waiting to buy it. This of course assumes a lot, like you being a job that gives you a raise once in a while.