Xbox 360 to be lowest-price next-gen video game console
One of the the biggest selling points of Nintendo's Wii video game console since its launch nearly two years ago has been that it was the lowest-priced of the trio of next-generation machines, which also includes Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3.
To date, the Wii costs $249, while the lowest-priced Xbox, the so-called "Arcade," retails currently for $279. An 80GB PS3 sells for $400.
But Microsoft said Wednesday that it will drop the price of the Arcade on Friday to $199, breaking through what some have said is the all-important psychological price level of $200. At that price, industry observers say, the market opens up to mass levels of consumers.
Microsoft will also drop the price of its 60GB Xbox to $299 and its "Xbox Elite," which has a 120GB hard drive, to $399.
"The fact that the Xbox 360 is now cheaper than the Wii is definitely a big shift in the market," said Aaron Greenberg, director of product management for Xbox 360.
The news has been rumored for some time and was first reported as fact Wednesday by BusinessWeek.
For Microsoft, this is a crucial step along its path toward winning the next-gen console wars. At E3 in July, the company said in no uncertain terms that it will win the battle, at least with Sony. It hedged its bets on out-selling the Wii, which has been dominant over the last several months, according to industry analyst NPD Group.
In fact, BusinessWeek reported that Don Mattrick, senior vice president of Microsoft's interactive entertainment business unit (and the person who had been on-stage at E3 and committed to winning the generation), said that he doubted the Xbox could catch up to the Wii at this point.
"I'm not at a point where I can say we're going to beat Nintendo," Mattrick told BusinessWeek. "We will sell more consoles this generation than Sony."
Of course, some have said that the appeal of the Xbox, despite being the first to hit 10 million units sold in North America, is still limited and that over the next few years, the PS3 will eventually catch up to and surpass the Xbox.
Until now, Nintendo has shown little interest in lowering the price of the Wii, and thus its profit margin. And while Sony has effectively lowered the price of the PS3 by offering only an 80GB version for the same price as what was previously a less-powerful version, it has little room to maneuver on price given that it is still subsidizing the PS3 at its current level.
By comparison, because the Xbox has been out a full year longer than both the Wii and the PS3, it has already achieved efficiencies of scale that have allowed it to slowly lower the Xbox's price.
To date, the 60GB Xbox has done about 60 percent of total Xbox 360 sales, said Greenberg, with the Arcade and Elite models each accounting for about 20 percent.
But with the Arcade's price dropping below $200, Greenberg said he thinks that model is "now picking up steam."
"Over 75 percent of all console sales historically were sold below $200," Greenberg said. "We know that there's tens of millions of PS2 owners who bought their systems when (the PS2) hit $199."
In other words, Microsoft is hoping that at $199, the Arcade can become the next PS2 and sell well over 100 million units.
Daniel Terdiman is a staff writer at CNET News covering games, Net culture, and everything in between. E-mail Daniel. 
Do you mean the current 20GB model?
The Arcade version is really great and at this price point, you really start to see the differences between the two consoles. The Xbox is really the smarter choice as it just gives you so much more.
Nonsense!
The 360 Arcade us by far a better console than the cheap, low tech Japanese trinket Wii.
Even the original XBOX us more powerful then the Wii.
The 360 Arcade is not only far more powerful than the Wii, the 360 Arcade can run every single 360 game exactly like the 360 Pro, including super games like Gears of War, Halo 3, GTA IV, COD 4 etc.
@ MamaGlue :" dont understand that the reason people buy the wii is because of its innovative gameplay and it differs from the other consoles "
The Wii is about as "innovative" as a 2000 PC, and far lewss powerful. The "waggle" has been around for years, before Nintendo went and licensed that technology from an outfit in Texas called Gyration..
Even the Microsoft Sidewender games control from over 10 years ago, had the same motion control in it that the "wiimote" has.
This generation, companies decided to penny pench consumers who already suffering in this poor economy.
That said who would want to buy the arcade... the 200$ ps2 still gave you the EXACT same ps2 that people paid for before... if not better constructed.
The arcade is not the same as the more expensive xbox... now when the full xbox gets under 200 then you can say something.
Let's see $450 for a 120 GB XBOX 360 Elite or $199 for a Super Nintendo. Who got a better deal?
If you want a system just to play "console games," Sony has one for you. The PS2. Still going strong, with new games still being developed for it. And that comes for a penny pinchers price of $129 last I saw.
*Hippie Voice* It's all a state of mind man *Hippie Voice*.
Microsoft is not 'going to fall' and they are NOT a tyranny. The only thing that is going to 'fall' are your expectations of Microsoft, unless you want to look like a COMPLETE idiot every single time you post.
As soon as "next-gen" games stop using bloom and an overabundance of grey and brown.
Also, I feel sorry for anyone buying an Arcade edition while expecting a full gaming experience-- without a real hard drive, a great deal of games(never mind DLC) aren't going to work so well, period.
If you are not on Live, exactly why should you not buy an Arcade, which plays Gears of War, Halo 3 etc in exactly the same way as a Pro does?
"Also, I feel sorry for anyone buying an Arcade edition while expecting a full gaming experience-- without a real hard drive, a great deal of games(never mind DLC) aren't going to work so well, period."
Hey Einstien the Arcade is supposed to compete with the Wii and last time I checked the Wii only has 512 MB of flash memory. So there isn't a disadvatage not having a hard drive. Considering the 360 is VASTLY technically superior, is upgradable if/when one wants to add a hard drive and is now $50( or 20%, however you want to look at it ) cheaper than the Wii, we'll see the Wii's popularity wane.
Nonsense!
The 360 Arcade us by far a better console than the cheap, low tech Japanese trinket Wii.
Even the original XBOX us more powerful then the Wii.
The 360 Arcade is not only far more powerful than the Wii, the 360 Arcade can run every single 360 game exactly like the 360 Pro, including super games like Gears of War, Halo 3, GTA IV, COD 4 etc.
@ MamaGlue :" dont understand that the reason people buy the wii is because of its innovative gameplay and it differs from the other consoles "
The Wii is about as "innovative" as a 2000 PC, and far lewss powerful. The "waggle" has been around for years, before Nintendo went and licensed that technology from an outfit in Texas called Gyration..
Even the Microsoft Sidewender games control from over 10 years ago, had the same motion control in it that the "wiimote" has.
The fact is, it doesn't matter how "powerful" a system is. The main people who even care about the system's "power" are developers and the so called "gamers" who seem to only enjoy bleeding edge graphics but mostly bragging rights to having the most "powerful" console. Which is all too often the reason of, I'm better than you because I have _____ and you have something that sucks, attitude.
Even though I have played all of the new consoles, I still find myself occasionally going back to play older games. Why? Not because they are more "powerful" consoles, that's for sure. The Super Nintendo has defiantly been surpassed by handhelds in power since then. The games are fun, they are "games", not a motion picture.
You see anyone in the know has seen the Wii for what it is, a game cube repackaged with a motion control And it does appear that the rush is slowing to a trickle for that one, you can find them anywhere now. Now what is going to happen with the low priced Xbox360, motion control enabled and new games for the holiday season. Literally Wii has shot itself in the foot, what backup do they have?
and of course MS will be bringing their next gen console to market in 2 years tops.
Man this is going to be beautiful. Blood on the TV screen, with all those ps3 and Wiis squealing like stuck pigs at a slaughter house.
What the heck you talking about?
You get exactly the same gaming expreince with the Arcade as you get with a Pro, if you don't use XBOX Live, which over 30% of 360 owners don't use.
If you are not on Live, exactly why should you not buy an Arcade, which plays Gears of War, Halo 3, GTA IV etc in exactly the same way as a Pro does?
Take your disinformation campiagn elsewhere.
The Wii succeeds because its simply a different way of having fun, and that's part of its appeal--and why it sells well among seniors unlike the other game consoles.
Remember, there are over 140 million PS2 users out there and another 25 million original XBOX users out there, most of whom bought their consoles after the price hit under $200, who are just waiting to ugrade.
The huge 140 million PS2 installed base is simply not interested in a Wii that does not have the top PS2 games like GTA, DMC, FF, etc, and has crap graphics and gameplay, and is full of kiddie games with names ending in "dogz", "catz" etc.
They will upgarde to the 360 and PS3 when prices fall low enough to the same prices they bought their PS2s at.
Nah, people just want a Wii because they want to see their girlfriends shake their booty around like the Wii Fit Girl hahahahaha
Remember, there are over 140 million PS2 users out there and another 25 million original XBOX users out there, most of whom bought their consoles after the price hit under $200, who are just waiting to ugrade.
The huge 140 million PS2 installed base is simply not interested in a Wii that does not have the top PS2 games like GTA, DMC, FF, etc.
The 360 has been out sold in 2008 almost every month of 2008, even with a price drop in July the PS3 still outsold the 360.
The 360 has peeked IMHO. Between the massive RROD problems, and the failure of HD-DVD the PS3 is just more attractive.
The PSN network has kept improving to the point that while Live is still better its note $50 a year better. Another thing is games. The 360 had the game lead big time. Now the big hitting 3rd party games (COD4, Battle Field BadCompany, Rock Band, Fallout...etc) are releasing at the same time on the PS3. The PS3 exclusives are kicking in now (MGS4, Socom) and for the media center geeks you can upgrade your HD in 10min using notebook hard drives. So for $99 you pickup a 320gig drive off of newegg, vs MS raping you for a proprietary 120gig drive on the 360. You can fit a lot of movies on a 320gig drive.
PS3 will pass the 360 in Mid 2009 at the latest, in the US, and from what I have seen its already surpassed them Europe.
The 360 has been out sold in 2008 almost every month of 2008, even with a price drop in July the PS3 still outsold the 360.
The 360 has peeked IMHO. Between the massive RROD problems, and the failure of HD-DVD the PS3 is just more attractive.
The PSN network has kept improving to the point that while Live is still better its note $50 a year better. Another thing is games. The 360 had the game lead big time. Now the big hitting 3rd party games (COD4, Battle Field BadCompany, Rock Band, Fallout...etc) are releasing at the same time on the PS3. The PS3 exclusives are kicking in now (MGS4, Socom) and for the media center geeks you can upgrade your HD in 10min using notebook hard drives. So for $99 you pickup a 320gig drive off of newegg, vs MS raping you for a proprietary 120gig drive on the 360. You can fit a lot of movies on a 320gig drive.
PS3 will pass the 360 in Mid 2009 at the latest, in the US, and from what I have seen its already surpassed them Europe.
Not gonna happen.
Not with PS3
sales in Japan falling like a rock to below 9,000 a week.
Already, the 360 has outsold the PS3 in Japan in August so far, according to Media Create sales figures.
With JRPG Infinite Undiscovery coming out next week on the 360, and Last Remant coming out in Novermber, and no major PS3 games lined up in Japan for the rest of the year, plus the solid 360 price cuts just announced, the 360 sales in Japan for the rest of the year, are going to be at least as compatetive as those of the PS3 in Japan.
Not even close.
Over 90% of the orginal XBOX(and PS2) sales were made when the price hit under $200. The 360 was on sale for $400 for 22 months, and then only had a price increase when the Elite was launched.
You never reach the mass market when you sell a console for $400 and above.
Most 360 sales are going to come after the price hits under $200, especially when the Pro hits under $200.
Most 360 sales are yet to come. If the 360 has already sold over 21 milion units selling for $400, just think how many more it can sell when the price hits under $150 like the current PS2.
In Japan, the 360 has already outsold the original XBOX long ago, and is on track to sell at least 3 times as many as the original XBOX by the end of this cycle.
Then, consider that after a launch just 1-2 years ago, the folks at Sony want the PS3 to last 10 years (that's at least 2017). See: http://www.engadget.com/2005/07/25/ps3-expected-to-live-10-years-in-the-market/.
Are you serious? Before PS3 catches up to the 360, if it even can after this price drop, Microsoft will already have announced a new console to come while Sony is still hanging on to a 10 year old technology. I don't care how advanced they say the PS3 is today, there is just no accounting for all the technological leaps that happen annually. There will be a new console war before the PS3 catches the 360, especially with this price drop. The question will be, will Sony admit they need to jump in with a new console of their own or hold onto a PS3 technology that by that time will be 5+ years old while a new 360 or Wii version will be coming out...
The Cell processor is scalable, which means when they do decide to make the PS4 its going to have the same architecture; CELL. The Cell's architecture allows it to be scaled and you can simply add cores to the already existing design without the need for the Devs to learn a new way of programming. By then all the Devs will have mastered the Cell and while the Devs for the new Xbox are struggling to get good graphics out of the new tech, the PS3 will be coming out with games that EQUAL that of the new Xbox.
Also, the PS4 will be able to compete or surpass the 2nd Gen Xbox 720 games, because the Cells architecture would already widely be known in the Dev community.
Who knows maybe the new PS4 will just be an "upgrade" to your PS3 for a rock bottom price that MS wouldn't be able to compete with.
What kind of consumer buys a device so they can use it later? I'll buy a PS3 when the tech actually matters, it's not like they'll stop selling PS3's in the future. You guys are just thick for buying it now, and are making excuses.
I have the 360, and play games... NOW. Not later. So while you wait, blinded by brand loyalty and sheer ignorance, I'll play my console and it's great games. Then IF the PS3 rebounds and builds a good volume of games, I'll join in and we'll be in the same place... except the PS3 will be cheaper for me... and you would have missed out on a good 360 library. Until then, have fun waiting.
RRosal:Your point about getting revenue out of consoles is vaild. However, you make the point that Microsoft is just trying to screw everyone by getting a new console out each 5-6 years because it will cost everyone money. This thinking is flawed. If Apple had not made numerous generations of its iPod, do you think people would still be buying the first generation iPod over the Zune or other more advanced models? Think the same thing about the iPhone - innovation in technology is a must to stay alive. If you as a company (be it Microsoft or Sony or Nintendo) do not come out first to market and make your own existing product obsolete with a new and improved one, some other company will do it for you - it's a basic understanding of product development and marketing.
Perhaps when they stop being next gen? The XBox360 and PS3 have yet to be fully utilized by developers.
Traditionally speaking it takes until just about the very end of a consoles life span before the true power of these systems is fully utilized.
I mean look at GTA IV. It got backtracked 6+ months because Rockstar/Take-Two (one of the best studios in the world) couldn't get it working the way they wanted on the PS3. And you question these consoles status as still being next gen?
- by megustansalchichas September 4, 2008 12:16 AM PDT
- godspeed you nerds. you really think which is the 'best' machine matters? the product just has to make a profit. after that it's all cake coming out of your salary (more like minimum wages) and going into nintendo, microsoft, and sony's pockets.
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