Core Xbox 360 loses ten pounds

by Ludwig Kietzmann { Aug 25th 2006 at 6:45PM }

And before our juvenile brains manage to construct a poor joke regarding the Xbox 360's power brick, we'll quickly blurt out that the lost pounds are strictly in monetary terms. According to Gamesindusty.biz, several retailers in the UK have confirmed that the Core Xbox 360's price has been slashed by 10 quid, bringing its total price to GBP 199.99. A lower price says little of value, however, as walking out of the store with a Core console, a hard drive (GBP 69.99) and a component cable (GBP 19.99) will still cost you more than the standard pack (GBP 279.99).

Though this move is unlikely to cause a similar Core price drop in the US, it does seem to reinforce the idea that the cheaper deal is the less popular one. Of course, that doesn't stop retailers from advertising it in deceiving ways -- the above advertisement is straight from the front page of online retailer, Game, and proudly proclaims that "HD gaming starts" at 199.99 pounds. "HD gaming" here having the definition of "a sequence of fuzzy images conveyed by the included and technically inept composite cable."

Tags: Core, Premium, price drop, PriceDrop, UK, United Kingdom, UnitedKingdom, Xbox price drop, XboxPriceDrop

Related From Joystiq

Pachter predicts another Xbox 360 price cut in 2010
3 days ago
Xbox Live moderators getting serious about Modern Warfare 2's Javelin glitch
7 days ago
Microsoft: Natal launch details 'not accurate'
23 days ago

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

suicidesnowman @ Aug 25th 2006 7:11PM

haha, great headline. at first i thought MS tossed the powerbrick.

the_game_genie @ Aug 25th 2006 7:14PM

bet by the end of Nov this year.

Xbox 360 core be $199, or dropped all together in US
Xbox 360 premium be $299

Nmaster @ Aug 25th 2006 7:16PM

For the european-currency-impaired (like myself):

GBP = Great Britain Pounds
USD = United States Dollars

001.00 GBP = ~001.89 USD
019.99 GBP = ~037.81 USD
069.99 GBP = ~132.39 USD
199.99 GBP = ~378.28 USD
279.99 GBP = ~529.60 USD

Rob Templin @ Aug 29th 2006 12:08PM

Waitis the premium component cable not good or something? Things already look pretty good at 1080i, should I buy like a monster cable or something?

Bryce @ Aug 25th 2006 7:20PM

I wonder if this is going to follow suite here in the US, and hwo that will effect the Wii price.

Fuzz @ Aug 25th 2006 7:22PM

It's because the USD is going down the toilet, so this adjusts it back to roughly the same ground.

LegendarySyko @ Aug 25th 2006 8:28PM

All i want is a premium price drop.

Matt @ Aug 25th 2006 7:31PM

Rob Templin:
No, they're referring to the composite cable, not the component cable. Composite is all you get in the core pack. Composite also sucks very badly. The signal quality is terrible.

Imadogg @ Aug 25th 2006 7:34PM

"haha, great headline. at first i thought MS tossed the powerbrick."

Yea, I seriously thought they were talking about the brick also.

Quaddw @ Aug 25th 2006 7:35PM

was about to say "Did you mean ten pounds plus gravity?" :P

subnet6 @ Aug 25th 2006 7:44PM

"I wonder if this is going to follow suite here in the US, and hwo that will effect the Wii price."

As much as I dislike the idea that Nintedo is pursuing an oxymoronically "reactionary" policy in the midst of their blue-ocean strategy, I fear it may be the case.

I don't think it would help sales of the console to withhold the price from consumers, so the purpose would seem to be to withhold the price from Competitors.

Nintendo knows that no matter how much they trumpet that they are not competing with the 360/PS3 (and they may well be trying not to), they will indeed be "sharing" shelf space this holiday season and for the foreseeable future.

That being said, there are likely to be 3 pricetags for 3 consoles simultaneously in view to customers shopping for a christmas present for little Hayden. (everyone uses the name johnny for these examples, but I was trying to be more in tune with the real world. New parents don't choose nice classic names like Johnny anymore)

That being the case, Nintendo doesn't want to get caught in a pinch with a price too close to the 360 core system when they know the differentiating factors are:

1. HD
2. Controller
3. Price

Not necessarily in that order.

If the price gap gets too close....say $50 or less, then you basically have HD vs. the controller. While that may be a no-brainer for an intellectual like myself, Nintendo probably has enough sense to realize not everones knuckles are as far from the ground as my own.

SO, its important they keep their price a secret in order to FORCE microsoft to make the first move (and in this case. NO MOVE is still a move with regard to Nintendos strategy). This works because MS realizes that $50 is the magic number too. They would LOVE to be within $50 of the Wii so they would feel they have the value advantage. This thinking might drive them to lower their price if they KNEW for a fact that the Wii would come out at....say....$229.
Then they would lower their price to $279 and be the value victor. However, they can't risk doing that in the current environment. Here's why. Lets say MS DOES lower their price to $279. Then what happens if Nintendo releases at $189. Well? They lose the $50 comparison and the value victory is lost. All that and they are now making less $$$ per console.

So Nintendo can't reveal their price until its too late for MS to drop the price for christmas advertising, which is going to go out in October (everyone knows they start putting up the damn xmas ads the day after halloween) and thus begin production of printed materials in late September/early October.

If nintendo waits to reveal the price until Late September (a la TGS) it will be VERY expensive for MS to drop the price of their system in reponse. Perhaps expensive enough to absorb the benefits of doing so.

Ok, or maybe not, I could be wrong. :)

B33 @ Aug 25th 2006 7:51PM

Xbox 360 Premium package won't have a price drop in the U.S. till at least the 2nd year. And the core package is useless. You still have to buy a Hard Drive.

Miharu @ Aug 25th 2006 7:59PM

Here in Finland a store has been selling Core + Perfect Dark Zero for 279€ for ages. No one wants the Core. Premium still costs ~399 with a game.

nick @ Aug 25th 2006 8:17PM

I don't understand, if you're going to purchase the core and then buy all the accessories that make up the premium, why not buy the premium package instead? Which duh, of course it's a better deal (hence the package). The core is aimed at those not necessarily wanting those extra items.

K @ Aug 25th 2006 8:21PM

I, too, dig the headline.

Shogan @ Aug 25th 2006 8:31PM

If the 360 was only $200, I'd buy one right now. However, it's just out of reach for me... due to also buying a Wii this Fall. But if they did slash the price, Microsoft would completely own the console wars and kill Sony dead this time around.

d... @ Aug 25th 2006 8:47PM

i hope this makes MS drop the core pack all together lower the price of the hard drive ($50) and the premium ($350) and make the hard drive a requirement

makesevenupyours @ Sep 11th 2006 12:13AM

core=peice of shit

premium=awesome

no but seriously, microsoft already announced THERE WILL BE NO PRICE DROP ANYTIME SOON.

im thinking 6 months is considered soon...

now, some believe they said this because there were rumors going around that they would drop the price, and that would cause 360 sales to come to a near complete halt.

so they had to disband the rumor to keep people buying even though they WILL be lowering the price.

or maybe they were telling the truth, and they WONT lower the price.

im betting on the second one.

if it werent for this, i would agree completely with number 10.

m4ndo @ Aug 25th 2006 10:10PM

What they should do is get rid of the core and throw a wireless adapter into the premium. The other consoles have wireless built in and you shouldnt have to pay more for it on a 360. A $50 decrease in premium price would be nice too but i doubt they would do both.

NorCal05 @ Aug 26th 2006 2:18AM

Subnet, that was the stupidest rant I have ever heard. My IQ is low for having read it. MS can set their price at any time. I did like the Hayden part though. We will see how cool that controller is in a year.

ishtar @ Aug 26th 2006 2:59AM

So is that loss with or without gravity?

NorCal05 @ Aug 26th 2006 3:05AM

If the price gap gets too close....say $50 or less, then you basically have HD vs. the controller. While that may be a no-brainer for an intellectual like myself, Microsoft probably has enough sense to realize not everones knuckles are as far from the ground as my own.

SO, its important they keep their price a secret in order to FORCE Nintendo to make the first move (and in this case. NO MOVE is still a move with regard to Microsofts strategy). This works because Nintendo realizes that $50 is the magic number too. They would LOVE to be within $50 of the 360 so they would feel they have the value advantage. This thinking might drive them to lower their price if they KNEW for a fact that the 360 would come out at....say....$279.
Then they would lower their price to $229 and be the value victor. However, they can't risk doing that in the current environment. Here's why. Lets say Nintendo DOES lower their price to $229. Then what happens if Microsoft releases at $259. Well? They lose the $50 comparison and the value victory is lost. All that and they are now making less $$$ per console.

So Microsoft can't reveal their price cut until its too late for Nintendo to drop the price for christmas advertising, which is going to go out in October (everyone knows they start putting up the damn xmas ads the day after halloween) and thus begin production of printed materials in late September/early October.

If Microsoft waits to reveal the price until Late September it will be VERY expensive for Nintendo to drop the price of their system in reponse. Perhaps expensive enough to absorb the benefits of doing so.

Ok, or maybe not, I could be wrong. :)

phipscube @ Aug 26th 2006 6:28AM

I was stung heavily with the core pack (I had no choice other than buy it or wait 3 months for the premium pack), I wish MS never released the damn thing and concentrate on pushing the "Premium" as the standard. I hate the PS3 2 SKU deal too. At least the "Core" PS3 has a little more and is good to go out the box, but still, Owning the "core" systems seems wrong. I feel like the poor man here with my Xbox 360.

I hate MS for inventing this SKU option. I hate Sony even more for bloody copying! We are going to see the same shortage issue with PS3 I recon, and again I feel Im going to be in a situation where I can have a core PS3 or nothing for three months.. and im not going to be able to resist and feel all wrong again. GAH!!

Why can't MS and Sony realise we dont want these watered down versions!

I think its safe to say Nintendo wont do the same. Thank god!

Waccoon @ Aug 26th 2006 6:44AM

I think it's a scam that consoles don't come with S-Video standard, no matter how much they cost. Can't they just keep the price the same and bundle in a few accessories that cost virtually nothing to manufacture?

There won't be any big news until the new 65nm CPUs go into production. I am really looking forward to that.