During a strategic update yesterday, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer commented on on the likelihood of a 360 price cut. "I think every console in the world has had a price decrease sometime in the first few years. I don't know whether we'll have a price decrease in the first few years, and I don't want to comment on that, but I will highlight for you that every console has had a price decrease in the first few years," he said.Vague, obvious, and emphatic all bundled into one. The vague and obvious part is expected, but the double emphasis part has us wondering if the company isn't strongly considering a price cut now. History tells us that spring is the most popular time to drop a console's price, but has the 360 already plateaued at its current $300-400 MSRP? Collectively answer that, and you'll have a good idea how soon Microsoft will drop its price.












(Page 1) Reader Comments
its scarier the Venom and gives me nightmares...
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DEVELOPERS
DEVELOPERS
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The 4 words of success. If you have that you don't really need price drops because you'll be hot anyways. But then it would be nice for pricedrop sometime.
Nintendo and MS should do price-drops early next year after the major software hullabaloo dies down.
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Nintendo will probably price drop around the same time, after there is a big sales slowdown
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The exception is every quarter most companies re-evaluate their budgets and adjust up or down based on current performance. It is possible they could plan a price cut in one of those quarters, but unlikely given a price cut in the first half of the year wouldn't do much to 'move the needle' as it would in the 3rd or 4th quarter w/Halo in the mix.
Of course, there's always the executive mandate where Stevie says "do it" and the financial analysis comes second.
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Personally I figure they'll drop the core package all together.
Drop the premium kit to $300 and drop a Deluxe Premium with a bigger HDD and HDMI.
That would be enough to get me to buy one. In fact that's all I'm waiting for at this point. With all the TV and downloadable stuff a bigger HDD is a MUST...no point in buying a 360 until it comes out.
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Because everyone wants Jaleel White.
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It is 'A', but who gives 'A' crap?
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PLS B 4 RAEL
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(At least the camera prices are reasonable since it usually comes bundled with headsets and xbox live and games/points).
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Posted at 5:41PM on Feb 17th 2007 by BIGGEN
Preach it!
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"The price dropping begins when Sony says it does."
This isn't because Sony is the biggest player or anything, but actually because Sony's platform is the one most in need of a price cut, and it's the one that will drop the most in cost to make the quickest (mostly by virtue of costing the most to start with).
MS doesn't have a lot of reason to cut 360's price, they'd rather change the config (add HDMI, larger HD) and leave it at the same price. N has no reason to cut Wii's price, it's already the cheapest.
Which leaves Sony. Sony will cut prices first and MS will respond (probably immediately). I don't know what N will do, depending on the price 360 drops to, perhaps Wii will just remain at the same price for now.
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Not having a price drop may still put them in a good position when compared to sony but I am sure that microsoft is looking at all the people that hasn't bought yet. Look at all the people out there that won't be getting a ps3 or xbox 360 anytime soon because of the higher price, atleast with a price drop of $50 to $100 for the 360 the leap into nextgen gaming wouldn't seem as intimidating and would give microsoft that much more market share than they wouldn't have gotten without a price drop.
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It is 'A', but who gives 'A' crap?"
Phonetically it's 'AN' but by the rules it's 'A'. This is because Xbox starts with a vowel sound, and for that reason it sounds weird to precede it with another vowel sound. Would you say 'an x-ray' or 'a x-ray'? For the record, a quick google search of those two terms shows use of 'an x-ray' outnumbering its counterpart 3:1.
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For example: a bike, an icecube, a pedantic comment, an off-topic reply.
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So we shouldn't put demands on the systems we want? What, are you retarded? If that was the case everyone should buy a Wii instead of whining "i want better graphics!!11"
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As in I'll be there in a minute, no wait, make that an hour.
Hour begins a consonant, but it begins with a vowel sound, so you use "an".
"Xbox" begins with "eks", which is a vowel sound. Is "an xbox". Just like it's "an X-ray".
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Honestly, if they wait until 2008, I think it'll be too late. The best time to make a break would be this year. Make yourself stand out from the competition, and/or force them to adapt. And please please please release a larger hard drive.
Now if you're Sony, I would consider bundling games and/or accessories, and lowering the price (which is a must!). I'm not sure games alone are enough to justify such a high entry cost. Since there is hardly any software, this one is still a question mark.
Nintendo really doesn't have to do anything just yet. They're actually sitting pretty this year. It would be interesting to see a Wii/DS Lite bundle by Christmas though.
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and just for the record:
"For the record, a quick google search of those two terms shows use of 'an x-ray' outnumbering its counterpart 3:1"
just proves that the majority of the internet is pretty much retarded. Use reliable sources when you prove a point, not a garbage pile, no matter how big it is.
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is that what i said? let me go back......hm, no, didn't say that. are YOU retarded?
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"For the record, a quick google search of those two terms shows use of 'an x-ray' outnumbering its counterpart 3:1"
just proves that the majority of the internet is pretty much retarded. Use reliable sources when you prove a point, not a garbage pile, no matter how big it is."
No, this proves how the majority of native speakers speak. The 'x' in both 'Xbox' and 'x-ray' is pronounced as 'ecks' (a vowel sound) whereas in 'xylophone' it's pronounced 'za' (a consonant sound). In general, native speakers of English will avoid making two vowel sounds in a row.
Oh, and for the record, www.xbox.com uses 'an Xbox' uniformly. So ... shut up because I'm right?
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linguists frequently use Google-as-corpus. but then you are probably much smarter than them. and know more about language as well.
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Or in other words, if I don't want a console that sounds like a vacuum cleaner, I'm a spoiled brat? Maybe, after all, YOU are retarded."
are you done retarded spoiled bitch? hahaha actually dude, i would kind of like to see that stuff too, but i (along with millions of others) are already satisfied 360 buyers. that's what made you sound like a spoiled bitch. never satisfied with anything unless it's the best or at least better than someone else's (that's the way it came across). and if your 360 sounds like a vacuum cleaner, you seriously need to get it checked. because NO 360 sounds like a vacuum cleaner unless it has serious issues.
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BUT I do agree that accessory mark-ups are terrible. $50 for a controller is ridiculously high. $100 for the wifi adapter is pretty bad, too.
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on a side note i think the new cheaper xbox 360 should have a virtual chuck norris to kill all the annoying b@stards on live...and the dude that started the grammar thing...chuck should get him too...
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