Those of you surfing the net today in search of hot games news may have seen many sites rumouring a price cut - to £99 - due for Microsoft Xbox in the UK before this Christmas. Well there's been a statement from MS today, and the company has neither confirmed nor denied a future price slash. Microsoft UK stated: “We have made no announcements regarding a price drop for Xbox in Europe. We are very happy with where we are in Europe – we are a strong number two in the industry, have innovated and succeeded with Xbox Live, and have a fantastic lineup of titles on the way like Doom III, Forza, Full Spectrum Warrior, Fable and of course Halo 2. We’re well positioned for a strong 2004.”
Note the slightly more informative nature of this quote, rather than MS's usual "...we don't comment on rumours" stance. Curious stuff...
Note the slightly more informative nature of this quote, rather than MS's usual "...we don't comment on rumours" stance. Curious stuff...
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Comments
Joji 21 May 2004 20:21
1/10
Very cloak and dagger. Looks like MS are playing poker face with us. If they just came out and said it, they could start a trend, though it looks like they are gonna hold off til xmas. Guess it would make more sense to try steal some sales (or preorders), from PSP and DS in the new year. I can see an Xbox dropping to about 80 quid to match GC, question is will Nintendo respond with a further cut?
If a cut came early, I'd say about Sept (maybe announced at ECTS and just before xmas) for Xbox. All guess work ofcourse. We'll see soon
If a cut came early, I'd say about Sept (maybe announced at ECTS and just before xmas) for Xbox. All guess work ofcourse. We'll see soon
bulwer 22 May 2004 16:10
2/10
It all depends on how many more machines they think they will shift. Microsoft have never really been heavily into loss leaders - if they were then Windows wouldn't cost so much. The main motivation for lowering the price would be the hope of most of the new buyers joining Live. If they could finally sort out their differences with EA then this would be a lot more likely.
I suppose that the processors in XBoxs are obsolete now which may make them cheaper to make and may induce Microsoft to cut prices.
I suppose that the processors in XBoxs are obsolete now which may make them cheaper to make and may induce Microsoft to cut prices.
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DoctorDee 22 May 2004 16:12
3/10
David Bulwer wrote:
>It all depends on how many more machines they
>think they will shift. Microsoft have never
>really been heavily into loss leaders - if they
>were then Windows wouldn't cost so much.
Windows is their cash cow. If they loss-leadered that, they'd go bust. There is no follow up sale.
With the Xbox, if they give it away, they'll make their money from the subsequent software sales - and from Live.
Anyhow, Micros*ft have enough money, it's your soul they're after now.
And the EA differences are sorted. There was a story, right here http://spong.com/x?cid=446
>It all depends on how many more machines they
>think they will shift. Microsoft have never
>really been heavily into loss leaders - if they
>were then Windows wouldn't cost so much.
Windows is their cash cow. If they loss-leadered that, they'd go bust. There is no follow up sale.
With the Xbox, if they give it away, they'll make their money from the subsequent software sales - and from Live.
Anyhow, Micros*ft have enough money, it's your soul they're after now.
And the EA differences are sorted. There was a story, right here http://spong.com/x?cid=446
crafty bison 22 May 2004 16:26
4/10
The price cut has worked absolute wonders in the US, with sales overtaking those of PS2, so I'd say it's only a matter of time until we get one.
crafty bison 22 May 2004 16:27
5/10
I don't think MS will go as far as £80 - after all it costs them £250 to make each one! I think £99 would be a reasonable price point.
Pandaman 22 May 2004 23:01
6/10
You silly Brits and your "pounds"!
exportgold2k 23 May 2004 03:54
7/10
well if they are gonna drop the price later in the year there not gonna announce it 4 or 5 months in advance. that would hurt the sales leading into the price drop.
bulwer 23 May 2004 07:54
8/10
Windows is their cash cow but it helps sell Office, Autoroute, Flight Sim, Visual Studio et al. If they keep milking the cash cow there may come a day when Linux or something similar starts to make serious inroads.
config 23 May 2004 10:52
9/10
David Bulwer wrote:
>It all depends on how many more machines they
>think they will shift. Microsoft have never
>really been heavily into loss leaders
?
IE is/was a loss-leader to get Windows users "into" Microsoft's Internet content delivery - IE/Outlook/WMP/Netmeeting/Messenger. What exactly is this loss leading to? Digital Rights Managed content, of course. With (nearly) everyone now WMP9 on their desktop, Microsoft are in the enviable position of being able to offer publishers (movie, music or games) a channel to their market thar no other content delivery system can. When those same publisher want to sell their content on-line, who do you think they are going to approach..?
>I suppose that the processors in XBoxs
>are obsolete now which may make them cheaper to
>make and may induce Microsoft to cut prices.
They are custom CPUs though (P3 variants), so it's difficult to say if they'd be cheaper. Plus, even it they were stock P3s, it's doubtful that Intel still make them, which means MS would surely have to cough up top dollar to keep that die in production.
Personally, I think the Xbox price cut is an attempt to get Sony to jump the gun. If the PS2 was dropped in price, Sony would have nowhere to go next year. When Xbox2 is released, Sony will have to have something in its arsenal to tempt its people in its direction. I suppose htey could give PS2s away with two tokens from boxes of Cheerios...
G.
>It all depends on how many more machines they
>think they will shift. Microsoft have never
>really been heavily into loss leaders
?
IE is/was a loss-leader to get Windows users "into" Microsoft's Internet content delivery - IE/Outlook/WMP/Netmeeting/Messenger. What exactly is this loss leading to? Digital Rights Managed content, of course. With (nearly) everyone now WMP9 on their desktop, Microsoft are in the enviable position of being able to offer publishers (movie, music or games) a channel to their market thar no other content delivery system can. When those same publisher want to sell their content on-line, who do you think they are going to approach..?
>I suppose that the processors in XBoxs
>are obsolete now which may make them cheaper to
>make and may induce Microsoft to cut prices.
They are custom CPUs though (P3 variants), so it's difficult to say if they'd be cheaper. Plus, even it they were stock P3s, it's doubtful that Intel still make them, which means MS would surely have to cough up top dollar to keep that die in production.
Personally, I think the Xbox price cut is an attempt to get Sony to jump the gun. If the PS2 was dropped in price, Sony would have nowhere to go next year. When Xbox2 is released, Sony will have to have something in its arsenal to tempt its people in its direction. I suppose htey could give PS2s away with two tokens from boxes of Cheerios...
G.
auzdafluff 24 May 2004 12:51
10/10
Joji wrote:
>If a cut came early, I'd say about Sept (maybe
>announced at ECTS and just before xmas) for Xbox.
>All guess work ofcourse. We'll see soon
In the spirit of guess work then, i'd have to say a combined release of Halo 2 and a price cut to 99 quid would be not only a good idea but also something that would be very hard for Sony to combat, as someone has already said that Sony can't lower the price to 99 quid without being backed into a corner for when the Xbox 2 arrives.
>If a cut came early, I'd say about Sept (maybe
>announced at ECTS and just before xmas) for Xbox.
>All guess work ofcourse. We'll see soon
In the spirit of guess work then, i'd have to say a combined release of Halo 2 and a price cut to 99 quid would be not only a good idea but also something that would be very hard for Sony to combat, as someone has already said that Sony can't lower the price to 99 quid without being backed into a corner for when the Xbox 2 arrives.