Geldorn said: Squilliam said: Million said: Unfortunatley that is a series of weak sources and approximations , in reality you have no idea how much Microsoft their consoles cost neither do you know how much the PS3 consoles cost currently. Whatever the case Microsoft aren't going to be making alot of profit of these consoles if they are actualy making a profit. Microsoft continues to drive down the cost making it look like the cheap option and continues to support the PS3's image as the higher spec , premium console. it apears the Microsoft has ditched the pursuit of profitability and is instead gunning for marketshare .     Weak arguments huh? Isuppli is actually a credible source. Also if a chip is 50% smaller it likely costs ~50% less to make. (Assuming similar yields) which in this case is true as the process is mature. If people know that an Xbox 360 plays games exactly the same as a PS3 it actually makes the PS3 look overpriced rather than the Xbox 360 looking cheap. Btw - The Xbox 1s image as higher spec/reliable/bla didn't help it.   iSuppli are analysts. They have no more credibility than any other analyst firm, like say the one that hires Mr. Pachter, widely known his 'super-accurate' reports. Your other argument works both ways - people are seeing the Xbox 360 as a cheap toy, but they are also seeing the PS3 as expensive. In Europe (where this price cut is taking place) it seems the choice has already been made.   To recap the year in Europe so far: Wii sales >> PS3 sales >> Xbox 360 sales PS3 base price >> Wii base price >> Xbox 360 base price   Seems to me that the Xbox 360 being cheap is not helping it in the least.

Bahahahahahha! If they weren't credible then they wouldn't be in business. Isuppli helps companies bid on contracts by telliing competing companies the costs of components. They would actually have a pretty good idea what a capacitor costs and they surely can estimate with a good deal of accuracy the cost of the silicon and the manufacturing costs given the complexity of the board. The flipside of the coin is if people more likely see the PS3 as 'just' an Xbox 360 + Blu ray drive for movies then they will say you're paying xxx dollars for blu ray or if you don't want it you could pay xxx price to get the same capabilities.

how is this bad news for sony when it is ms that has been forced to drop the price of the already cheapest console in the market in order to compete? pure simple, it's ms that's in trouble here otherwise they wouldn't need to take these measures.

fayewong said: can you buy a external hardrive for the arcade version? The arcade version has no hardrive......... the heck? whats the point about buying it if you can't save things onto there but via memory card, isn't this last gen stuff?

 

Its for people not like you who don't have an HDTV and don't care about online.

obieslut said: All i have to say is what happened to the dreamcast. all this price drop is really doing is lowering the value of the 360 in the consumers eyes. the way they will see it in europe is we already had a price-cut and now they are putting it down again, soon they will bring it down again, so we will wait. to me the value of the 360 is just going to get seriously hurt by this. people must be thinking oh it must be really cheap and flimsy then. first we get the rrod so they all break down. and then the price just keeps getting lower and lower. i think this is going to backfire on microsoft in a big way. the produc is already cheap and is getting cheaper. to be honest it dont look like an expensive product. and many people may feel it doesnt have the quality of a n expensive product. the price is not what is killing the 360 in europe. the value of the 360 when down even more with this price cut. and oh yh just to say, you have been able to get the 360 from gamepro for like months and months now for like 130. i created a thread about i because i as shocked, and the Wii was selling for 150. with the pro at 170 and the elite at 230. but we have a lot of game store in wolverhampton so its probably just competition between the stores.

 

360 was at $350-400 for so long that I think price cuts only increase the value for the consumer... its viewed as a better deal. 360 is now near PS2 price; people know the 360 won't go down a whole lot more for quite a while.

KylieDog said: I may have to buy a 360 with these prices. Just as soon as it gets enough good exclusive games that I want. (before fanboys leap on that, I don't think the PS3 has enough good exclusive games either, I bought a PS3 for MGS4 only, and that turned out to be crap).

 

I wouldn't get one then; there arn't going to be a whole lot more exclusives that arn't simlar to games now... what future exclusives are you thinking of? I would get a 360 this fall; Fable 2 and BK and Viva Pinata are looking sweet to me, and alot of people are going to like Gears.

AT GAF, people are saying it's a Woolsworth price cut, NOT a MS price cut.

surely microsoft cant make money on this hardware

Squilliam said: "The Arcade Xbox 360 will drop to GBP 129.99, the Premium unit to GBP 169.99, and the Elite console to 229.99, according to scans from the upcoming Woolworts catalogue, photographed by Engadget." Converted to U.S again: GB - Arcade $130 - Premium $170 - Elite $220 US                                          - Arcade $232 - Premium $302 - Elite $393 Link - http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=235793 It looks like they were deadly serious when they said they were going to take 2nd place world wide and these pricecuts are a testament to that. Also it looks like the price-cuts in Woolworths were just a movement in the official prices. As these prices are pretty similar to the U.S prices before anyone who says that its desperate I think they need to consider that the price cuts bring them about level with the U.S prices.

That doesn't make it any less desperate, MS isn't making any money on hardware, they are just digging their hole deeper hoping Sony will follow them down.

 

Username2324 said: Squilliam said: "The Arcade Xbox 360 will drop to GBP 129.99, the Premium unit to GBP 169.99, and the Elite console to 229.99, according to scans from the upcoming Woolworts catalogue, photographed by Engadget." Converted to U.S again: GB - Arcade $130 - Premium $170 - Elite $220 US                                          - Arcade $232 - Premium $302 - Elite $393 Link - http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=235793 It looks like they were deadly serious when they said they were going to take 2nd place world wide and these pricecuts are a testament to that. Also it looks like the price-cuts in Woolworths were just a movement in the official prices. As these prices are pretty similar to the U.S prices before anyone who says that its desperate I think they need to consider that the price cuts bring them about level with the U.S prices. That doesn't make it any less desperate, MS isn't making any money on hardware, they are just digging their hole deeper hoping Sony will follow them down.

Both the Premium and Elite are likely profitable. The Arcade SKU is also breaking even at those prices.

Squilliam said: Geldorn said: Squilliam said: Million said: Unfortunatley that is a series of weak sources and approximations , in reality you have no idea how much Microsoft their consoles cost neither do you know how much the PS3 consoles cost currently. Whatever the case Microsoft aren't going to be making alot of profit of these consoles if they are actualy making a profit. Microsoft continues to drive down the cost making it look like the cheap option and continues to support the PS3's image as the higher spec , premium console. it apears the Microsoft has ditched the pursuit of profitability and is instead gunning for marketshare .     Weak arguments huh? Isuppli is actually a credible source. Also if a chip is 50% smaller it likely costs ~50% less to make. (Assuming similar yields) which in this case is true as the process is mature. If people know that an Xbox 360 plays games exactly the same as a PS3 it actually makes the PS3 look overpriced rather than the Xbox 360 looking cheap. Btw - The Xbox 1s image as higher spec/reliable/bla didn't help it.   iSuppli are analysts. They have no more credibility than any other analyst firm, like say the one that hires Mr. Pachter, widely known his 'super-accurate' reports. Your other argument works both ways - people are seeing the Xbox 360 as a cheap toy, but they are also seeing the PS3 as expensive. In Europe (where this price cut is taking place) it seems the choice has already been made.   To recap the year in Europe so far: Wii sales >> PS3 sales >> Xbox 360 sales PS3 base price >> Wii base price >> Xbox 360 base price   Seems to me that the Xbox 360 being cheap is not helping it in the least.   Bahahahahahha! If they weren't credible then they wouldn't be in business. Isuppli helps companies bid on contracts by telliing competing companies the costs of components. They would actually have a pretty good idea what a capacitor costs and they surely can estimate with a good deal of accuracy the cost of the silicon and the manufacturing costs given the complexity of the board. <---> The flipside of the coin is if people more likely see the PS3 as 'just' an Xbox 360 + Blu ray drive for movies then they will say you're paying xxx dollars for blu ray or if you don't want it you could pay xxx price to get the same capabilities.

 

Ok, iSuppli is reasonably accurate - though definitely not as accurate as you'd have them be, they're analysts, not people with the actual BOM price list. (And IIRC MS and Sony both shot down that list as being inaccurate)

On the other hand, the end prices for the 360 you've named where well, guessed up by you and have no credibility whatsoever. See, those $180/$230 figures are basically pulled out of thin air by someone who wants nothing more than paint an as optimistic picture for Microsoft (being a self admitted huge 360 fan) as possible. They're based on nothing more than a hobbyist re-evaluation of an educated guess made by an industry analyst. Not actual real world values.

Or in short: the $180/$230 figures are backed by fantasy and nothing more. Nice try, though.

--

Besides, in the real world my overview of who buys what in Europe is still valid, irrespective of whatever iSuppli figures you throw about.

Trying to spin that one away is not going to work. The Xbox 360 is already the cheapest console and it still doesn't manage to outsell any of it's competitors, including one who is over twice as expensive. Clearly price is not the key factor for low Xbox 360 sales in Europe and clearly lowering it even further is not be likely to have long term effects.