makingmusic476 said:
But see, Sony is desperate. Microsoft is not. I can't see MS forgoing quite a bit of profit just for fear of Sony winning one holiday season. They didn't bother much in 07, and I don't see why the would now. In 07, they did a 12.5% price drop (6% in the case of the Core, though they changed it to the Arcade around that time, iirc), and hoped Halo 3 would hold the fort. They waited to substantially change the price when they were in a better position to do so, and when they truly needed to do so, a year later. Now, the 360 is performing better than ever. MS is in a rather comfy position, and I don't think they'll worry too much about one holiday season given how much money the 360 is probably bringing in at the moment, and could bring in over that period. Sony is in catch up mode. MS knows this, and realize that they have plenty of time to react to Sony's moves as a result. If Sony performs so spectactularly this holiday season that they need to worry about it, they'll just do something big for holiday 2010. Even if the ps3 performs amazingly well this holiday, MS will still be in the lead by millions. I don't thing we'll see the 360 Pro dip below $250 this year, if it goes that low. Arcade may drop to $179. |
Halo 3 did carry Microsoft through the 07 holiday season, and the price differential helped them. The PS3 barely made any ground inspite of the massive price cut, such is the value of that series. They didn't need to act then. Microsoft is stronger during the holiday season with the lower price of their console and greater U.S. sales relative to Europe, Sony is stronger during the year. They cannot afford to lose a holiday season by any great margin because they would then lose the normal weeks in the follow year by quite a substantial margin as well. Furthermore they have more incentive to increase their userbase substantially, especially relative to Sony's PS3 because Xbox Live is quite the money spinner for them and they can afford the hardware losses short term for long term gains.
The Xbox 360 cannot sustain last years great holiday feats quite likely without a price drop. Furthermore its a perfect opportunity to take advantage of a Sony price drop by forcing them to take a bigger hit from the drop by performing one of their own so the PS3's sales would not rise as quickly as Sony would expect and damaging their overall margins to enforce a status quo where Microsoft can both profit and increase the distance between the two consoles.
Tease.
