M$ packing Natal with ALL new consoles?

[heruamon]

steverhcp02 said:

heruamon said:

theword said:
If Natal is packaged with the 360, launch price is likely in the range of 400 - 450.

The recent $50 Elite rebates was a market test for MS. If consumer response was good, we can expect to see the drop make permanent soon. Some analysts expected such drop as early as Feb, Mar 2010. After that the $250 price will likey stay the same until 2011.

How much will Natal retail for when it launches is a big guess for everyone. We should not expect it to be packaged with the system for $299 however as this suggests Natal can be sold separately for $50, the price of a controller! This is too much wishful thinking.

Rather expect it to lauch separately for $150 - 250, putting the complete Natal Elite 360 package at $400 - $500. R&D cost for Natal is probably much more than most of us give it credit for. There are some cutting edge sci-fi like tech stuffed in there. Things like voice recognition, facial recognition, body gesture tracking and the associated AI, etc. are very difficult problems that MS and many others have been working on for more than a decade. So expect some of that R&D cost to be factored into Natal.

Sorry, but this makes no sense to be that M$ would launch EVERY 360 with Natal at $400-500, while PS3 will retail at $299 and Wii at $199.  They would effectively be using Sony's strategy this generation, and it didn't work at all...it is also the same strategy used last generation that didn't work.  If M$ launches every 360 with Natal, there's no way they price it at anything more than $299, imho.

Well, i posted this in another thread...but if you really think theword's post doesnt make sense, i have some links and some quotes from Bach concerning the pricing that point to him being 100% accurate in his analysis.

Taken from http://www.vgchartz.com/forum/thread.php?id=88432&page=2

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http://www.joystiq.com/2009/10/07/project-natal-price-to-launch-with-room-to-drop/

Just this quote alone makes me wonder. If hes saying a $50 drop from 250 to 200 for the wii isnt "noticable or substantial" This leads me ot believe Natal will cost much much more than some people are expecting.

He basically says the price model they are going for is a console price model because they havent "officially" dropped the wi fi dongle, which is $100

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/hardware/x/xbox360wirelessnetadapter/

The 120gb harddrive is still officially $150

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/hardware/x/xbox360harddrive120GB/default.htm

So if he is saying they will follow a price curve so drops are NOTICABLE it only leads me to believe the price of natal alone must be higher than $150 at launch, since hes saying the drops and price curve will reflect current products. We havent seen drops on $100 accessories from nintendo, the 120GB is STILL $150, 2.5 years later....so his quotes directly compared to their current price model leads me to believe Natal will be $200 stand alone, or else hes just talking to talk.

Im still standing pat, Natal will not be available as a unit right away to existing owners, bookmark my post, but if MSFT wants to bundle natal there is no way they can bundle it for less than $400 and sell it as a standalone based on the above quotes and proof of their pricing curve.

 

I'm sure M$ has talked strategy with it's closest partners, and roll-out of Natal, and the required support would be a topic of  discussion.  I can fully see M$ launching Natal as a standalone in the $129 price range with some "stock" software for current owners, but I think they are going to launch EVERY 360 with Natal, there's no way in hell they are pricing it at $400...especially when PS3 and Wii will be so much cheaper.  M$ has been very good about pulsing the market this generation, and if they believe that Natal is so wonderful, that they can price it $100 higher than the nearest competitor, they will be sorely mistaken.  The comment in the link you provide prove nothing with regards to launch price, but instead at the strategy for roll out...to me, launching a standalone at $149 even, and rolling it down to $99 eventually is probably mroe along the lines of what he's talking about.