More Xbox 360 UK price drops unlikely 'for many, many years'

by Ludwig Kietzmann { Nov 3rd 2008 at 3:00PM }

Considering that Microsoft dropped the price of the Xbox 360 in September, it's unsurprising to hear the manufacturer's head of gaming and entertainment in the UK, Stephen McGill, delay a further price drop until "many, many years in the future." In fact, he probably -- and secretly -- thought the interviewer was being a bit of a cheapskate.

McGill told Videogamer that the encheapened Xbox 360, including the £129.99 Arcade model, currently represents "great value." He noted, "And I think the value not only comes from the price of the console but the content. With NXE launching and obviously that's free for everyone, and the portfolio. There isn't a better range of games and entertainment, basically fun, on any other platform, and we're incredibly affordable." Should you disagree on the incredible affordableness of it all, McGill was also the bearer of sad suspicions. "We're a great price now. I'm not dropping the price for many, many years in the future I would suspect."

Tags: Price-Abuse, Price-Cut, Price-Drop, Price-Eviscerate, Price-Slash, Price-Slaughter, Stephen-Mcgill, UK, Xbox-360

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Dr. @ Nov 3rd 2008 3:07PM

Well tagged, Ludwig...

Superstar90 @ Nov 3rd 2008 3:24PM

I'm gonna have to write you up for not meeting your per article pun quota, I'm disappointed Ludwig.

However, nice work with the tags.

Slaziman @ Nov 3rd 2008 3:27PM

If it's anything like the rest of Europe, I feel it's pretty cheap already.

Haggard @ Nov 3rd 2008 3:54PM

£130 for an arcade is damn good value. Ignoring the fact that it doesn't have a hard drive, it's about what you'd have paid for a PS2 the christmas before last.

And indeed, a Wii costs £170-80 here (if you can find one).

knighty (GT: ZeraKnight) @ Nov 3rd 2008 4:31PM

And now they give you a 512mb memory card, it's definitely possible to get by if you're not interested in demos/large pieces of DLC. Even the premium is what......£150 now?

Haggard @ Nov 4th 2008 3:18AM

About £160 in truth, but for 60 gig in it rather than the original improvement of only 20 gig thats quite impressive.

Sackolantern PSN ID: johnnynumber5 @ Nov 3rd 2008 3:30PM

I wouldn't expect another price drop on the 360 unless Sony moves more consoles this holiday season and catches more ground. The only we saw this last price drop was to try and recapture more marketshare. For the time being it has absolutely worked.

kizzeo @ Nov 3rd 2008 3:37PM

The pound has fallen sharply, steadying at £1 = $1.6 (Compared with $2 earlier in the year), meaning that the xbox 360 is actualy getting cheaper for us (More expensive dollar means higher import costs)

Dante G @ Nov 3rd 2008 4:24PM

If it happens like it did last time the xbox 360 only has 2 more years of life before the next xbox comes and they stop selling the 360.

In other words: 2 years of no more price drops. Seems possible to me.

Mr Khan @ Nov 3rd 2008 5:22PM

Since they actually own the rights to all the machine's components, they probably won't drop the platform like a hot potato again

That was only because the Xbox continued to hemorrhage money even in its last days

Snowblind @ Nov 3rd 2008 5:25PM

The original was replaced so quickly because they needed to start turning a profit - which the 360 is doing. MS have also said they thing upgrading the dashboard and adding in so many new features is something they can do regularly, rather than bringing out a new console so regularly.

I think Sony will be the first to launch a new console this time, but either way.. When one of them does, the rest will follow.

Dante G @ Nov 3rd 2008 6:13PM

Well, if MS can make a slimmer 360, with cheaper costs and less likely to malfunction, they could keep selling the 360 for a few more years. But I don't know. Maybe they'll just release a 720 with BC and stop producing the 360.

So far the only system that I recall co-existing with its big brother is the ps2. And that's because it's still very profitable for sony.

@Snowblind

IMO the PS3 is the most future proof console so I don't think we'll see a PS4 anytime soon.

xxn00bxx @ Nov 3rd 2008 4:35PM

End of Xbox 360 product life cycle confirmed. Expect new Xbox late 2009.

Superstar90 @ Nov 3rd 2008 4:47PM

Your name fits your comment like a nice pair of jeans.

Arcticfox400 @ Nov 3rd 2008 4:50PM

that would seriously suck

Kye - Capcom DF @ Nov 3rd 2008 5:20PM

That's good. Any cheaper and they'd start to look like a day time hoe.

Mr Khan @ Nov 3rd 2008 5:24PM

Unless they're presuming that Nintendo will never drop the Wii's price, i doubt this is true

At the point where they are, cheaper than both competitors at the high and low-end models, they could sit pretty through the end of the generation conceivably, but this bars any pressure coming from either