Microsoft Confirms Xbox 360 Price Drop in Europe
Microsoft made official the expected price cut on the European Xbox 360 on Monday, likely reacting to the declining dollars as well as sales of PS3s and Nintendo Wiis. Of course, you'd better make sure you wait until Friday to buy.
From the press release:
From Friday, 14th March, Xbox 360, which includes a 20GB hard drive and one wireless controller, will have an ERP of £199.99 - a saving of £50 on the current ERP. The Xbox 360 Elite, which comes with a massive 120GB hard drive enabling consumers to store huge quantities of content downloaded from Xbox LIVE™ Marketplace as well as their own music, will have an ERP of £259.99 - a saving of £40. The Xbox 360 Arcade console, perfect for those wishing to make their first foray into the gaming and entertainment world of Xbox, will have an ERP of £159.99 - a saving of £40.In Euro markets, the new prices will be €199 for the Arcade, €269 for the Premium, and €369 for the Elite console. This is an across-the-board drop of €80 and brings pricing more in line with what U.S. buyers pay.
For example, the Arcade version, which sells for $279 in the US, sells for the equivalent of $306 in Euro markets and $322 in the U.K. (at the time of this writing). Compare this to the prior converted prices of $429 in Euro markets and $403 in the U.K.
This goes further: it makes the Xbox 360 cheaper than the Wii in Europe. The Wii sells for £179 in the UK and €249 in Euro markets. Still, as I've said previously, it's all about the fun - though at these prices you'd expect the Xbox 360 to see a unswing in sales.
2 comments:
I think you are right about this price cut not having an affect in sales. I personally think the Xbox 360 Arcade is a joke. Even with it being cheaper than the Nintendo Wii, I just don't see it offering the amount of fun that the Wii offers. However, the lowering of the Premium price does put it into competitive range, but I don't see the Xbox 360 capturing any first time games.
Xbox 360 should think about lowering its prices a lot more considering that you have to pay for all the attachments like wi-fi adapter, xbox live pass(for online gaming), wireless controlls, etc. My ps3 comes with all these and its still a better value plus it has six-axis wireless controlls simulating the wii in some ways and blu-ray which sony would not allow microsoft to have no part of after it demolished the now non needed hd dvd attachment for you boxheads. xbox needs to make more of their services free then they might have a chance to compete with sony in the long run as far as the next gen systems go.
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