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Forums - Microsoft - 360 In The Drivers Seat to Start Console Price Cuts This Year, says Pachter

snakenobi on 02 February 2011
Darth Tigris said:
snakenobi said:
Gojimaster said:

Snakenobi, there is no way that Kinect will have a $50 price-cut this soon.  Not going to happen.

M$ is going to have a very easy time keeping above last years numbers until the 1-year mark of when they released the Slim.  360 sales were in the toilet last year until the Slim was released.  After that, 360 dominated.  With a price-cut, 360 may be able to stay even or slightly above last years numbers. 

PS3 desperately needs a price-cut in NA.  Hopefully all these exclusives spike PS3 sales, but it appears that America is pretty decided that they prefer 360 at this point. 

Fudge-Pacter still seems to think the Wii is going to release an HD console within a year so which is why he can't predict whether there will be a Wii price-cut this year.  That is sad.  If the Wii was down 25% and still beating the 360 when it was up 40% there is no need to release a Wii 2 yet.  I don't know why Pacter doesn't get this... years sales and stocks might go up, but it would be a huge risk for Nintendo and could spell disaster if they release too early. 

MS is going to have an easy time until June but will Kinect be the same new cool device,no it won't as its been on the market for one year by that times so they will need a booster and that they can easily provide.

Pachter doesn't think that a Wii HD will come now,he has said that Ninty will try to do something else and compete directly with PS4 and 720


1) Kinect came out in November 2010.  It will be out a year in November 2011, not June 2011.

2) Kinect not being the new cool device anymore?  Is that like the Wii not being the new cool device after it's first holiday in 2006? Where sales dropped off significantly in 2007?  That's what happened, right???

REPLY 1)yeah kinect came out in november,i know that but the pricecut i was talking was also for the FALL QUARTER only(OCT-DEC)

REPLY 2)Kinect will stay cool but not as cool as the last year..

and don't even compare it with Wii

Wii came out in November but really took off in 2007.It had great sales in 2006 but that time the attention was kind of shared by PS3 but in 2007 the Wii popularity really took off.

also Wii was a full console from the starting at $250 not like KINECT plus 360

another thing is the Wii was seen from the start as a fun (for casual gamers) which 360 wasn't,it was more of a hardcore console

and wii didn't have as big marketing push as the one Kinect got

 

so what i'm saying is that Kinect will still be BIG and sell alot,but over time a products coolness and popularity drops plus taking into the consideration the past of a console,things can change.

so what i'm predicting is KINECT will be big at $149 but they will see a drop(from the big levels last year) that they can compensate but dropping the price.



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Aprisaiden on 02 February 2011

Honestly i see SONY and Microsoft in the same situation when it comes to price cuts, and both will probably do $50 price cuts on all there models hoping to keep sales flat this year.

 Nintendo on the other hand is in an awkward situation -- any price cut really needs to be at the end of the year and then they are still likely to end up down YoY ~20% with a price cut. Nintendo need something new to keep the Wii selling well and distractions with the 3DS won't help.



ramses01 on 02 February 2011

This is an interesting question.  MS is really in the driver's seat here.  Not only do they have a vastly better cost structure, they have a massive source of additional revenue in Live and a second, highly profitable hardware piece in kinect.  The calculus for MS becomes very interesting when they balance lost hardware profits with increase software sales, royalties, and Live revenue.


Sony is between a rock and hard place.  They probably aren't making any money on hardware on a fully loaded basis (on a manufacturing cost alone yes, fully loaded probably not) right now so any price cut will dramatically impact the bottom line in the US. 

Nintendo is making massive bank on each Wii and still selling tons so they probably won't want to cut either.

All in all, it is not a foregone conclusion that any of the consoles will see a price cut.  There certainly isn't a clear strategy reason to do so.  Without access to internal numbers, there is no way to tell the optimal response for each company.



Darth Tigris on 02 February 2011
snakenobi said:

REPLY 1)yeah kinect came out in november,i know that but the pricecut i was talking was also for the FALL QUARTER only(OCT-DEC)

REPLY 2)Kinect will stay cool but not as cool as the last year..

and don't even compare it with Wii

Wii came out in November but really took off in 2007.It had great sales in 2006 but that time the attention was kind of shared by PS3 but in 2007 the Wii popularity really took off.

also Wii was a full console from the starting at $250 not like KINECT plus 360

another thing is the Wii was seen from the start as a fun (for casual gamers) which 360 wasn't,it was more of a hardcore console

and wii didn't have as big marketing push as the one Kinect got

 

so what i'm saying is that Kinect will still be BIG and sell alot,but over time a products coolness and popularity drops plus taking into the consideration the past of a console,things can change.

so what i'm predicting is KINECT will be big at $149 but they will see a drop(from the big levels last year) that they can compensate but dropping the price.

Yes, Kinect started hot and had the supply (for the most part) to appease those that wanted it.  It has cooled down already as the holiday season ended (like everything else has), but it is still selling about as much (or more some weeks) than the dedicated consoles.

As for the Wii comparison, the reasons you gave as to why its not a viable ones are simply your opinion and not something that those without a dog in the race agree with.  It has increased sales of the 360 substantially.  But you're right, sales will cool and likely spike and back and forth.  But overall the odds are very good that it will grow.  

And remember, the Wii had all of these same complaints leveraged against it in early 2007 and went on to have a historic year.  Many thought it peaked, but then it went on to have an even BETTER 2008.  So all this talk about Kinect cooling off significantly and not having any further success like we've seen already?  It comes off more like wishful thinking from most instead of proper impartial analysis of its performance, its reputation and its outlook.



snakenobi on 02 February 2011
Darth Tigris said:
snakenobi said:

REPLY 1)yeah kinect came out in november,i know that but the pricecut i was talking was also for the FALL QUARTER only(OCT-DEC)

REPLY 2)Kinect will stay cool but not as cool as the last year..

and don't even compare it with Wii

Wii came out in November but really took off in 2007.It had great sales in 2006 but that time the attention was kind of shared by PS3 but in 2007 the Wii popularity really took off.

also Wii was a full console from the starting at $250 not like KINECT plus 360

another thing is the Wii was seen from the start as a fun (for casual gamers) which 360 wasn't,it was more of a hardcore console

and wii didn't have as big marketing push as the one Kinect got

 

so what i'm saying is that Kinect will still be BIG and sell alot,but over time a products coolness and popularity drops plus taking into the consideration the past of a console,things can change.

so what i'm predicting is KINECT will be big at $149 but they will see a drop(from the big levels last year) that they can compensate but dropping the price.

Yes, Kinect started hot and had the supply (for the most part) to appease those that wanted it.  It has cooled down already as the holiday season ended (like everything else has), but it is still selling about as much (or more some weeks) than the dedicated consoles.

As for the Wii comparison, the reasons you gave as to why its not a viable ones are simply your opinion and not something that those without a dog in the race agree with.  It has increased sales of the 360 substantially.  But you're right, sales will cool and likely spike and back and forth.  But overall the odds are very good that it will grow.  

And remember, the Wii had all of these same complaints leveraged against it in early 2007 and went on to have a historic year.  Many thought it peaked, but then it went on to have an even BETTER 2008.  So all this talk about Kinect cooling off significantly and not having any further success like we've seen already?  It comes off more like wishful thinking from most instead of proper impartial analysis of its performance, its reputation and its outlook.

wii did even better in 2008 but it had all those things which i mentioned too

kinect won't cool off significantly,just saying without a boost it will come down a bit from the outrageous levels it was this holiday season.