Project Natal price to launch with room to drop

by James Ransom-Wiley on Oct 7th 2009 11:03AM

Speaking at the First Annual Microsoft Open House in Manhattan yesterday, E&D Division prez Robbie Bach danced around the issue of pricing the company's upcoming motion tech for Xbox 360. "Relative to Natal, we'll see how the pricing/costs work out," Bach said. "But I think people should expect it to be like other things: We work through the price curve, just like we have with other products."

Though muddled, Bach's comment does not suggest that Natal will hit retail costing an arm and a leg (geddit?), but rather the device's launch price will be set high enough for significant discounts to go into effect over time. Using Wii as the bad example, Bach emphasized that Nintendo's launch price and its new discounted price aren't notably different. "When you start at $249, I don't know that a [price drop to] $199 -- I don't know how much difference that's going to make in the marketplace," Bach observed. "We'll see."

Tags: first-annual-microsoft-open-house, microsoft, pricing, project-natal, robbie-bach, Xbox-360

Reader Comments (91)

*Cross my heart* Hoping that it won't get too pricey.

Yes, eNrique, Microsoft; the company that had a long run of the cheapest priced console on the market.

Call my crazy, but I think you'll be able to skip buying the wi-fi add-on for your Project Natal.

That is, if you even prefer gaming over wi-fi in the first place.

You don't need any of that to play games.

Oh, the flawed "360 is more expensive" argument.

Guess what? Not everyone needs a wi-fi adapter, hd dvd drive, and controller recharge kit. Xbox Live is also optional. I know some people who would just buy the 360 Arcade and nothing else. And if you buy the $299 version, the hard drive concern goes away.

I don't need a Wi-fi adapter or HD DVD drive. I buy Live because it's cheap and it's the best online gaming there is.

Ironically, I never play online "for free" on my PS3, but always play online games on the 360. The PS3 is a great value now at $299 (I got mine when it was $400), but it is still $100 more of an entry price making it that much more money to even play games at all on the console. I'm not saying its a bad value, but it is the most expensive console on the market while the 360 is/was the cheapest (now the Wii as well) for games of the same quality.

"the flawed "360 is more expensive" argument."

WTF? since when was it flawed?!... RIGHT NOW, for the same price you get alot out of a PS3 then you do with a 360. No matter what way you spin it.

you are correct. I don't need bluray, wifi or a huge HDD. But i have it, and its a FREE CHOICE to me, the consumer, not to mention how big Bluray has helped make games even bigger and better.

the only flawed argument is the 360 fanboys who still try to defend something that everyone else gets for free... and i do mean EVERYONE.

Natal is going to be $150 at least

so in other words it's going to cost $300 for the thing itself, but it'll only read your arms. you'll have to pay $100 more if you want your legs in the mix.

i love your console, but i'm so tired of your bull, microsoft.

I'm sure if they put it $150 with a few bundled games it will sell well. Anything above that and I know I would wait for a price drop.

Same here, but I'm always waiting on price drops when it comes to significant buys. Including Natal.

I dunno, man. I don't think many people will be willing to fork over 150 bucks unless this thing has some completely awesome games.

Looking back at the games I've really enjoyed in the last year or so (Batman, Killzone, Midnight Club) or games I'm looking forward to (Uncharted 2, Tekken 6, God of War), I don't see how any of these TYPES of games (Yes, I realize some of these are PS exclusives, so won't see project natal, which is why I said "types" of games) could benefit much from Natal. And if Natal just ends up a peripheral that let's you play a bunch of mini-games (like eye-toy and PS-eye) I can't see spending $150 on it. They're going to have to come out with some really revolutionary software.

I think this is going to be the sweet spot. Much more than $150 and it is too close in price to the Wii. They won't price it much cheaper since people will still buy it at $150 and they can recoup some development cost, and in a few months we'll see it at $120 or so and maybe below $100 for the holiday crowd.

Although given the massive balls they have to charge as much as they do for a repackaged harddrive maybe Natal could go over $150.

Anyways I'll not only be waiting on the price drop, but the games as well. I already have Wii so I'm going to need to see more than tacked on gimmicks and party games.

Chris made a good point in one of the last podcasts when he said the potential for it's uses along with the controller can be very cool. I really can't see my self getting it unless the games made for it are amazing / innovative.

The success of Natal rests on the developers and this will either be a huge product for Microsoft or another peripheral taking up space in a bargin bin.

Anything over $50 and it'll flop. There is NO WAY anyone will be buying a device that didn't come with a system to begin with. Only select games will use it. It might even be a huge waste of money even at $50.

Maybe $30 if I'm feeling generous. There are too many good games out there already, and I wouldn't want to miss buying a single one for a goofy ass motion device.

Pip I really think you are wrong with that price point. People bought wii fit and rock band for their peripherals at a lot more money than you are willing to pay . So an add-on that will have uses than those won't flop because of being over $30 or $50. I think they have a bit more room than that.

You have to think in terms of how much it'll cost as a bundle with the system itself, though. I don't think Microsoft's aim in this endeavor is so much to cater to the existing base.

People spend a lot more than $150 on a couple dates.

Now imagine how many chicks you would get by them seeing you navigate the 360 dash like you were in the fucking future or something.

Chicks dig guys from the future.

Bet its $100-150 easy. No buy unless its below $50 and it suport a ton of games, since its a peripheral I don't need.

Until they have a game where it's a must-have, totally "game-changing" experience, I don't think I'll consider it.

I am not all that excited about it, I think it will take you out of the experience of the game if it doesn't work perfectly.

"No buy unless its below $50 and it suport a ton of games."

No buy unless it's below the average cost of a new game this generation?
Because you don't need it?
You don't particularly NEED a console either, why don't they price drop that for you?

Perhaps I should have been as passive aggressive as you when I bought my second car.

It's a piece of hardware that was an after-thought for the system. Pricing it cheaper than a standard game is the only way anyone will even bother. Games are too freaking expensive as it is.

wonder what that line would be like if applied to a mac.

no one buy unless under 500 and supports tons of games

Allow me to cut through the PR bull (I have experience).

Natal is going to be over 100 dollars, probably closer to 150. I guess gamers should be happy, seeing as this is relatively low for add-ons to consoles.

And this 'fifty dollars isn't a price drop' business is crap. If Microsoft cut the price of the Arcade to 150 they'd see a substantial rise in sales. Nintendo will see the same thing.

to be honest i think they'll see more sales due to the price drop also happening with a "new" wii fit. the price drop alone i don't think will do much, the consumer market is already so saturated with wiis that this will have nowhere near the impact it could have had a year ago. plus i think people are starting to catch on that 80% of wiis just gather dust after you've played it a few times.

The wii fit model actually might give guidance here. That device is pretty uninteresting on its own, yet the game is a huge seller at a near $100 price point. I bet Natal will be somewhere around $120 and will be driven by the same kind of purchaser who bought wii fit. At $120 with a decent game it would be something I would consider getting.

The key there is having the necessary software to move it. Microsoft could win big or fail hard on that front, i think. That's why i wish they were less secretive about it, so that we could get a better idea of the device's imminent success or failure.

I love my 360, but god is MS going to fuck us in the ass with natal. Just like the wireless routers and even selling faceplates for like 10 bucks. Still it will probably be bundled with a consoles which will lower the price if you dont have a 360 yet.

True, but natal has something going for that a wireless adapter does not. Market acceptance, MS is greedy, not stupid. They themselves claim the future of this generations console may rely on the shoulders of Natal. In that light, they wont price this thing into the stratosphere. They will price it at a point to where it looks premium but isnt out of reach for the vast majority of gamers.

Guess it doesnt matter though, we all know no matter how many of you complain about it being priced high everyone will still buy it because its going to be fun. Yeah noooobody will pay 150$ for a peripheral *cough cough* Rockband.....

Mike, they claimed that digital downloads was the way of the future and then priced their hard drives at $150, so that puts a pretty big damper on your argument.

This thing will cost $150, at least.

There is no way in hell im going to pay $150.00 for this thing. Hell my Zune HD wasnt much more than that. If it is under $100.00 then we will look at it. If it is $80.00 or below most likely day one for me. I already have a PS3 and a Wii. I would love to play with Natal but no way in breaking $100.00 for it.

....And then 3 years later remove the cameras and call it Natal GO and sell it for the launch cost....seems to be working well for other companies.....

You were just looking for an excuse to say "GO!!!"... weren't you?

That comment made absolutely no sense and is definitely in the running for the dumbest thing I have read all day award.

It's still early though....

I would imagine Microsoft would have to consider Sony's price point for the PMC/PSEye bundle. It could be why they haven't announced anything concrete (that and the time left until launch).

With the competing motion schemes as different as they are, i doubt any of the companies are really going to take the others' pricing into consideration. The products are different enough that the different prices will probably be irrelevant.

I think regardless of the tech, they will deeply consider the price of the competitors since even us gamers are grouping everyone's product as "motion controls" of some sort. The general public will do the same, but probably barely know the difference between them. So, pricing of the competitors is important.

I was thinking it would be at least 130 probably more. Anyways no way I am buying this without trying it and being wowed. I doubt that will happen though.

Natal is a very exciting piece of tech. I look forward to seeing what developers do with it as time goes on. That being said, I was really expecting the price to launch under $100 - put the hardware in peoples hands so they'll buy the software. When Natal launches, there just won't be a lot of games supporting it making a high price point unsustainable - after all, it's only an accessory, not a new console. That would be like launching the vision cam at $100 - hell, that thing didn't do so well when launched at a reasonable price.

I think this device is set to do quite a bit more than the vision cam. I wouldn't use that as the marker for how Natal will pass or fail.

not really trying to use it as a direct comparison, but rather a conceptual one. Had the vision cam arrived at an unsustainable price, no one would have bought it (hardly anyone did anyway). If Natal arrives at an unsustainable price, and without a lot of software support, it too will fall flat, despite it's potential for greatness.

Man this shit going to be high as hell.

Although right now they couldn't give it to me for free until I see some decent (non embarrassing or pointless) game play.

Yeah shuttling back and forth, while raising my arms up and down doesn't exactly equate to fun haha what a funny video tho!!!

$80 with a game. same shit as that horrid eye of judgement bundle.

If the thing hurdles the $99.99 mark, I don't expect it to have a very good attach rate.

In other words, it will be expensive when it first comes out, but if you wait a bit they will reduce the price to something more appealing.

I really don't see this launching for less than $170. Think about how MS marks up their accessories, but on the other hand with their current accessories there are more trying to make a healthy profit with each sale rather than sell alot of them which they will want to do with this.

Why do all you guys think this is gonna cost $100-150? It's Microsoft you guys. This is the company that charges 100 bucks for a wireless adapter. We'll be lucky if it's $200-250.

its funny, because its true!

The Playstation camera is $40 new at gamestop, meaning I could probably find it cheaper online, and that camera has been proven to be able to do just about everything Natal can do. So if it's anything over $50 by itself, MS can take it and shove it up their ass. Specially when it's going to be used for nothing but shovelware for a looooong time anyway.

I'm pretty sure that MS had already demo'd more stuff for Natal within the first 30 seconds of announcing it than is already available for the Eye today.

It looks like Natal is something that MS once to tie in with the console itself (Minority Report dash controlling, etc), games that are not made specifically for it (burnout, games that use controller and natal), and not just a few gimmicks designed specifically for it.

Besides, does the Eye even do anything as simple as what was shown with that breakout game in Natal's first demo? I haven't ever seen it used for anything other than scanning cards, so I'm not really sure what all it does.

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Project Natal price to launch with room to drop

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