The price cut will be effective do not deceive yourselves. Franchises haven't helped Sony up until this point either. The console sold with a distinct lack of them, and those franchises didn't stop Nintendo from laying the smack down on Sony, or Microsoft putting up stiff competition for months. Time to come to terms with the fundamental shift.

You can actually smell the fear emanating from many posters in these threads its always the same thing. A price cut will not be effective. Well Microsoft's last price cut was very effective and very long lived. Sony actually had somewhere in the area of six price cuts or value increases. None of which were incredibly effective they merely rectified bad sales trends for short periods of time. Do not use Sony as your example a sales spike wasn't the effect of the Microsoft price cut last year. The sales jumped and leveled off on a higher plain. The only question is what higher level do you think the system will level off at.

Equally absurd is the notion that Sony should never consider making money on their product especially since their Trojan strategy has paid off. They no longer need this console to gain format acceptance. They no longer need to ensure survival. Sony isn't going to necessarily feel any pressure to cut their prices when they actually need to compensate for losses. Really its far fetched for a console to go for half price less then a year and a half after launch. Let alone a year which would be the case in Europe I suppose.

Basically Sony has already matched this upcoming 360 price cut they merely did it half a year in advance. They took the bullet then for obvious reasons, but why some think they are in a position to take another bullet is incredibly naive. You also better hope that Sony doesn't get in a price war with Microsoft. That is if your hoping for a PS4 eventually. They are not in a position to spend themselves into a victory, and be even remotely profitable on the platform. Were Sony to end this generation billions in the hole on consoles they would probably consider the market a very bad idea.

Ask yourselves this if the PS3 is so powerful. Why are you terrified by a 360 price cut. The answer is you know it would change things a lot, because you also know that not all gamers are rich. Those are the consumers that price cuts are extremely effective on. They want to play new games like Grand Theft Auto, and the cheapest console comes from Microsoft.

Finally the race is going to get very interesting in other regions.

DMeisterJ said: kingofwale said: smbu2000 said: kber81 said: Squall_Leonhart said: I hope Sony counter this with something, would make for some interesting Others numbers for a while anyway :D No. Sony needs to wait as long as possible with the price cut. In most european countries this move won't matter. In UK GT5P bundle will dash this little 360 offensive for sure. They will gain nothing. Hah, the bundle that doesn't even come with a full game??? Ask Nintendo if you actually need a FULL game in a bundle to sell like Hotcakes. ;) kingofwale = pwned If you don't know [Wii Sports]

Fixed that for you.

Wii sports is a full game. It's a mini-game videogame, like Mario Party or something like that. GT5P is just 30-40% of the actual GT5 game, which you will have to buy again if you actually want the WHOLE game. Totally different situation.

Besides my Wii didn't come with Wii Sports, I actually wanted the whole game so I went and bought it!

Tommie said: Munkeh111 said: kber81 said: Tommie said: Ur funny. Now that the 360's price is under that of the Wii and way under the PS3 sales will be doubled at least. You are dreaming sir. Take a look at weekly others chart. This brand simply doesn't sell outside UK. In most countries PS3 sells at least twice as good as MS's baby. People want games X360 doesn't offer and GT is one of these games.  Just take a look at spain's sales for last week I didn't say it would double the sales of the PS3's now did I? I said it will at least double their current sales, so that doesn't automaticly mean it will surpass the PS3 sales. Double sales in Spains is still well under that of the PS3's, but is still doubled.

 I wasjust proving Kber right, and I doubt that it will double sales in places like Spain, where they all love sony. It might improve sales in the UK, but the 360 Premium is already £50 below the PS3, so I think that it will have little impact unless it goes down to £200. There are already so many deals which add value, and forza, pinata and a wireless controller are basically thrown in here, so I doubt it will have huge impact

Tommie said: I didn't say it would double the sales of the PS3's now did I? I said it will at least double their current sales, so that doesn't automaticly mean it will surpass the PS3 sales. Double sales in Spains is still well under that of the PS3's, but is still doubled.

I meant there is no way to double X360's sales with this price cut. Price isn't a problem in rich EU. People love Sony brand here and their 1st party games. Also most X360 top games will hit PC sooner or later... (Bioshock, Mass Effect) It's a real bummer because PC gaming is still strong in many european countries (Germany etc.)

I'm not saying X360 suckz... I simply don't believe low price is enough for Europeans to buy 360 over PS3...

The UK belongs to the 360 (or at least the particular region I live in, and of course given the exception of the Wii) and Gran Turismo is a dying franchise that's been getting worse with every new title since the 3rd game. I know racers are a pretty popular genre here and I think many people have moved on from GT, there's so much better choice out there.

As for the 360 price drop, I want to see this in GBP, hopefully the previous rumours of the Elite dropping to £240 will be true, and if that is the case, I'm getting one maybe in a month or two at the most :D

Oh, and for the record, I'll be playing PGR and Forza ;)

It will make the race in Other more interesting. I'm surprised that MS didn't do it sooner, unless they were waiting (hoping?) for the news to spread that the more current boxs don't RROD (assuming that is true, of course).

If MS could convince people of that, AND then with this lower price, it could have a nice jump in sales. The real question isn't going to be answered in March. I think most any price drop brings in more sales. The real question is do sales then drop off in April/May and on, moreso than for the Wii or PS3.

What's that?

The 360 already had a price cut, was already cheaper than the PS3, and has been in last place for three months now?

Seriously, a price cut like this is too little too late, and will only get a few people who are sitting on the fence, especially since it will still be above mass market price point. There should have been a 100 dollar/euro price cut at the launch of the PS3 and Wii, and it should be around 250 or 200 right now.

Either way, the price isn't the only problem. There's also the fact that the console and most importantly, its game library, appeal almost exclusively to core and hardcore American gamers. Most of its games end up on PC anyway, and in Europe, PC gaming is still rather prominent.

Can we use the infamous line "360 has X amount of price cuts to stay competitive" + the "and released a year early" together yet?

x = 6