Microsoft reportedly will cut Xbox 360 price

Microsoft plans to cut the price of its best-selling Xbox 360 Pro model by $50 to $299 in the next few weeks, the Hollywood Reporter reported, citing anonymous sources.

The price cut for the Xbox 360 model with the 20 gigabyte hard drive will come before the video game industry's biggest trade show, E3, taking place in Los Angeles on July 15-17, the report said.

Rumors of the Xbox price cut swirled on popular gaming blogs Joystiq and Kotaku last week. The two sites received snapshots of Kmart and RadioShack flyers advertising the $299 price.

A Microsoft spokeswoman declined to comment on the report.

Microsoft last cut the price of the Xbox Pro in August, from $399 to $349, prior to the release of Halo 3 the following month.

A cut to $299 would make the Xbox 360 Pro $100 less than one of the console's major rivals, Sony's PlayStation 3 with a 40GB hard drive.

Microsoft is locked in a three-way competition with Nintendo's Wii and the PlayStation 3, which comes with a high-definition Blu-ray video player.

Story Copyright © 2008 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.

[The_Decider]

It is still in 3rd place, at any price.

[amarkj]

Yay! Cheaper is better! 3rd place? What are you smoking!?

[The_Decider]

Wii and PS3 both outsell this badly designed and already obsolete pile of fecal matter. That makes it third place.

[Mr. Bloggerific Himself]

Decider=Dedoucher

Yeah, worldwide sales to date the 360 is in second place to the Wii, and has almost double the console sales of the PS3. Total revenue, software, excessories, hardware, marketplace (not profit) for the 360 is more than the PS3 and Wii combined since system launch. The 360 also currently has over a 50% market share of total revenue on a month to month basis. The 360 currently has the record once held by the first xbox of an over 7 game attach rate per console. There's all kids of numbers out there, but I'm not attaching the links cause I'm a work and can't access those sites. The Wii sells a lot of systems, unfortunately past Wii sports (which comes with the system and the "Wii"mote packaged-in game Wii play, nothing other than a small number of games have sold well at all on the Wii. People by it, but buy no games. The PS3 has a game attach rate of some 3 games per system (which is actually respectable, but nothing compared to the 360). People who buy the 360 are serious about gaming, the others, I would say are mainstream (casual) gamers in general (I'm not saying ALL), just most. That's what the numbers show...Ok, I'm done. Flame on.

[Llib Setag]

Hurry!
Act today!
While supplies last!

Buy Windows Vista & get a FREE XBOX & ZUNE!

losers....

[blabtech]

It it goes cheaper, then I think more will buy instead of buying a PS3, just for the price. Wii users might buy it too because it would only be $50 more, but Wii is a total different gaming experience.

http://blabtech.blogspot.com

[GotGamedotcom]

In my opinion, I think 360 sales are due for a downturn or at least stagnation. The Wii appeals far more to the casual gaming market which is due to become the largest demographic in the video game industry. The PS3 also has an edge now that Blu-Ray has pretty definitively won that particular battle. Microsoft has also been hinting at a new generation for its Xbox coming in 2011 or 12. This all bodes pretty badly for Xbox 360 sales. However, the 360 has a large following based in its Live content and may still have a few years of fighting power left.