MS's Not-So-Secret Weapon

First of all, I'm not going to make some fanboyish comment about how this is going to guarantee the 360 wins this gen, but it definitely gives is a big advantage:

 Its upcoming price drop.

Its all but confirmed that sometime between now and the release of Halo 3, MS is going to drop the price of the Core and Premium 360s (and possibly the Elite). All common sense points towards that price drop being $100, based on the fact MS already makes a profit of $70+ per 360 sold. Why is this so important? It makes the 360 the cheapest console available, with a $199 Core and $299 Premium. This coming with the Wii still in short supply and the PS3 now only available at $600, meaning that neither can compete with the 360 at their full potential. Consumers are going to go into Best Buy or EB or whatever store and see that there are no Wiis and the PS3 (where it is in stock) is still damn expensive. Meanwhile the core 360 would cost $50 less than the Wii and the premium will cost half the price of a PS3. Couple that with the release of games like Forza 2, Too Human, Mass Effect, Halo 3 and this years upcoming sports titles (which are a big draw for casuals, despite system and score) and the 360 is a very good looking deal.

Your thoughts?

Your thoughts?

pundog

A $100 price drop is very optimistic.

they wouldn't drop the price of the 360 now. there will be a lot of people buying systems once halo 3 is released. by th time the hype dies down for that that game, and xmas is over, MS will come out with a pric drop, thus booming sales a bit for a little longer. its the same reason the ds is still 129.99, why drop the pric when its still selling so well?obviously im not comparing the two in the form of sales (the 360 has been lacking lately) but with the release of halo 3 & i'd assume some holiday bundle, it'd be foolish of MS to drop the price when 70-90% of those people will still buy a 360 for a 100 bucks more for halo 3 and other upcoming games. then once sales start to stagnate and hype dies down, MS drops the price and boom, they've made money in 07 & still selling through mid 08.

EDIT: that may be hard to understand. in short; MS is going to ride the halo 3 hype train and holiday sales until it dies down. making as much profit as they can along the way. then when hype dies down, they'll announce a price drop. you never drop the price of your product when you'll most likely still make most of the sales at a higher price.

I'm pretty sure $250 is kind of a magic number for video game console sales. Anything more than that and people look at it cross eyed. I think it would be best if they knocked the premium down to $300 and ditched the core. That would make the system look much better to casuals who have been waiting for GTAIV before they invest in a next-gen system. Otherwise MS is taking too much of a chance with the Wii and PS3 and might completely lose its headstart. If they are aggressive this holiday season they have a chance to put the word XBOX up there with Nintendo and Playstation in the public discourse.

they wouldn't drop the price of the 360 now. there will be a lot of people buying systems once halo 3 is released. by th time the hype dies down for that that game, and xmas is over, MS will come out with a pric drop, thus booming sales a bit for a little longer. its the same reason the ds is still 129.99, why drop the pric when its still selling so well?obviously im not comparing the two in the form of sales (the 360 has been lacking lately) but with the release of halo 3 & i'd assume some holiday bundle, it'd be foolish of MS to drop the price when 70-90% of those people will still buy a 360 for a 100 bucks more for halo 3 and other upcoming games. then once sales start to stagnate and hype dies down, MS drops the price and boom, they've made money in 07 & still selling through mid 08.

 

EDIT: that may be hard to understand. in short; MS is going to ride the halo 3 hype train and holiday sales until it dies down. making as much profit as they can along the way. then when hype dies down, they'll announce a price drop. you never drop the price of your product when you'll most likely still make most of the sales at a higher price.

Kook18

That would be like MS shooting itself in the foot. Too soon for a price drop sorry.MrHoboX

i think MS has plenty of room for a price drop.

They actually make money off their system, unlike sony.

And how about this, lets say about half of the xbox live users buy something from market place that is at LEAST 1 dollar a day, or even every few days, thats at least 3 million dollars MS just made. And what if people buy something that is 5 dollars or more? that's 15 million dollars in a day.

MS has plenty of room for a price drop 

they might do some kind of package like package a game and/or maybe a controller or some kind of package for $349 USDMedjai

Premium 360, PGR3, 12 months XBL, GRAW, 1250 MP, extra wireless controller, and for a while they included Gears.

[QUOTE="Medjai"]they might do some kind of package like package a game and/or maybe a controller or some kind of package for $349 USDpundog

Premium 360, PGR3, 12 months XBL, GRAW, 1250 MP, extra wireless controller, and for a while they included Gears.

yeah I was thinking they would package PGR3 some market place point and maybe a controller and drop the price $50 but that might be asking too much

they wouldn't drop the price of the 360 now. there will be a lot of people buying systems once halo 3 is released. by th time the hype dies down for that that game, and xmas is over, MS will come out with a pric drop, thus booming sales a bit for a little longer. its the same reason the ds is still 129.99, why drop the pric when its still selling so well?obviously im not comparing the two in the form of sales (the 360 has been lacking lately) but with the release of halo 3 & i'd assume some holiday bundle, it'd be foolish of MS to drop the price when 70-90% of those people will still buy a 360 for a 100 bucks more for halo 3 and other upcoming games. then once sales start to stagnate and hype dies down, MS drops the price and boom, they've made money in 07 & still selling through mid 08.

 

EDIT: that may be hard to understand. in short; MS is going to ride the halo 3 hype train and holiday sales until it dies down. making as much profit as they can along the way. then when hype dies down, they'll announce a price drop. you never drop the price of your product when you'll most likely still make most of the sales at a higher price.

Kook18

 it's hard to say it in better words. 

 i'm guessing sometime in late spring/early summer 2008 is when we'll see the price drop.

they wouldn't drop the price of the 360 now. there will be a lot of people buying systems once halo 3 is released. by th time the hype dies down for that that game, and xmas is over, MS will come out with a pric drop, thus booming sales a bit for a little longer. its the same reason the ds is still 129.99, why drop the pric when its still selling so well?obviously im not comparing the two in the form of sales (the 360 has been lacking lately) but with the release of halo 3 & i'd assume some holiday bundle, it'd be foolish of MS to drop the price when 70-90% of those people will still buy a 360 for a 100 bucks more for halo 3 and other upcoming games. then once sales start to stagnate and hype dies down, MS drops the price and boom, they've made money in 07 & still selling through mid 08.

 

EDIT: that may be hard to understand. in short; MS is going to ride the halo 3 hype train and holiday sales until it dies down. making as much profit as they can along the way. then when hype dies down, they'll announce a price drop. you never drop the price of your product when you'll most likely still make most of the sales at a higher price.

Kook18

[QUOTE="Kook18"]

they wouldn't drop the price of the 360 now. there will be a lot of people buying systems once halo 3 is released. by th time the hype dies down for that that game, and xmas is over, MS will come out with a pric drop, thus booming sales a bit for a little longer. its the same reason the ds is still 129.99, why drop the pric when its still selling so well?obviously im not comparing the two in the form of sales (the 360 has been lacking lately) but with the release of halo 3 & i'd assume some holiday bundle, it'd be foolish of MS to drop the price when 70-90% of those people will still buy a 360 for a 100 bucks more for halo 3 and other upcoming games. then once sales start to stagnate and hype dies down, MS drops the price and boom, they've made money in 07 & still selling through mid 08.

 

EDIT: that may be hard to understand. in short; MS is going to ride the halo 3 hype train and holiday sales until it dies down. making as much profit as they can along the way. then when hype dies down, they'll announce a price drop. you never drop the price of your product when you'll most likely still make most of the sales at a higher price.

pundog

[QUOTE="pundog"][QUOTE="Kook18"]

they wouldn't drop the price of the 360 now. there will be a lot of people buying systems once halo 3 is released. by th time the hype dies down for that that game, and xmas is over, MS will come out with a pric drop, thus booming sales a bit for a little longer. its the same reason the ds is still 129.99, why drop the pric when its still selling so well?obviously im not comparing the two in the form of sales (the 360 has been lacking lately) but with the release of halo 3 & i'd assume some holiday bundle, it'd be foolish of MS to drop the price when 70-90% of those people will still buy a 360 for a 100 bucks more for halo 3 and other upcoming games. then once sales start to stagnate and hype dies down, MS drops the price and boom, they've made money in 07 & still selling through mid 08.

 

EDIT: that may be hard to understand. in short; MS is going to ride the halo 3 hype train and holiday sales until it dies down. making as much profit as they can along the way. then when hype dies down, they'll announce a price drop. you never drop the price of your product when you'll most likely still make most of the sales at a higher price.

Kook18

i thought after elite all premiums were to be made same as elite...

someone plz explain that to me thx

i thought after elite all premiums were to be made same as elite...

someone plz explain that to me thx

TheFozan

[QUOTE="Kook18"][QUOTE="pundog"][QUOTE="Kook18"]

they wouldn't drop the price of the 360 now. there will be a lot of people buying systems once halo 3 is released. by th time the hype dies down for that that game, and xmas is over, MS will come out with a pric drop, thus booming sales a bit for a little longer. its the same reason the ds is still 129.99, why drop the pric when its still selling so well?obviously im not comparing the two in the form of sales (the 360 has been lacking lately) but with the release of halo 3 & i'd assume some holiday bundle, it'd be foolish of MS to drop the price when 70-90% of those people will still buy a 360 for a 100 bucks more for halo 3 and other upcoming games. then once sales start to stagnate and hype dies down, MS drops the price and boom, they've made money in 07 & still selling through mid 08.

 

EDIT: that may be hard to understand. in short; MS is going to ride the halo 3 hype train and holiday sales until it dies down. making as much profit as they can along the way. then when hype dies down, they'll announce a price drop. you never drop the price of your product when you'll most likely still make most of the sales at a higher price.

pundog

why on earth would they drop the price before Halo 3, a very likely system seller? Oh and i doubt they are making $70 on each console...need a link for that one for me to believe.VideoGameGuy

EDIT

why on earth would they drop the price before Halo 3, a very likely system seller? Oh and i doubt they are making $70 on each console...need a link for that one for me to believe.VideoGameGuy

Its alreayd been established by numerous sources, that they make about $70+ on each premium model sold. Google is your friend.  

[QUOTE="VideoGameGuy"]why on earth would they drop the price before Halo 3, a very likely system seller? Oh and i doubt they are making $70 on each console...need a link for that one for me to believe.rappid_rabbit

Its alreayd been established by numerous sources, that they make about $70+ on each premium model sold. Google is your friend.  

was i just called a fanboy? :lol:Kook18

I believe so, yes.  

[QUOTE="Kook18"]was i just called a fanboy? :lol:WickeeKing

I believe so, yes.

it's a tough call, either way ms is in a pretty nice spot, mostly due to the killer games they're going to be releases over the next 1/2 of the year.

May: Forza 2/Shadowrun

June: Mass Effect

July: ??? not sure there's alot of games slated for the 3rd quarter but who knows if it'll be july (might get blue dragon

Aug: Bioshock/madden

sept: Huxly???

Oct: GTA IV

Nov: ehh nothing good ever comes out in nov :oops:

And these are just a few games, there's alot of great titles to come out of the woodworks.

Anyway back to the price drop.  I think if MS were to price drop it would need to be durring the summer when sales are slow and that will boost not only the sales of the systems through the year but it would theoretically boost the sales of the software also.

Most people tend to foget that a console only wants to loose money per unit when it's selling in low numbers (like a launch), and they want to make sure they can keep up with demand when that price drops.

On the other hand there's really nothing forcing MS to lower it.  Sales are still pretty strong, and sony seems unable to lower their price.  MS is already extremely happy with the progess they made this gen, and they don't feel like they need to shut out the competition.

I think Sony removing the B/C hardware from the ps3 was the first step towards a price drop. That thing alone costed about $50 dollars. IBM has also started making Cells with 65nm waffers in march, and that should drop the cost of the processor from $89 to $60. Don't think that sony is static, when MS drops they will follow shortly, despite their claims their price isn't influenced by competitors. lordxymor

[QUOTE="rappid_rabbit"]

[QUOTE="VideoGameGuy"]why on earth would they drop the price before Halo 3, a very likely system seller? Oh and i doubt they are making $70 on each console...need a link for that one for me to believe.VideoGameGuy

Its alreayd been established by numerous sources, that they make about $70+ on each premium model sold. Google is your friend.

Well in that case LINK

Actually $75 on each premium.

[QUOTE="pundog"]

Your thoughts?

cakeorrdeath

A $100 price drop is very optimistic.

When did you become a mod? 

I'm waiting for $100 price drop, MS had cut mfr. costs of the 360 by 40% in an article i read many months ago. Which means it should be way more come Fall/Winter. P.S. I like how people are saying "no way, too soon" and then you see people thinking Sony will drop the PS3 to $400 by Christmas :lol:X360PS3AMD05

Well I think a price drop is highly likely..just to spur sales...But with the 60GB model at $600, I dont think it will drop more that $30-$50.

The only way Sony is going to drop it by $100, is to have a "Limited Time Only" sale. That would ensure a spike of sales for the 2007 holiday season.

MS will pull the price drop trigger when Sony drops theirs...MS is in actually a very good position. 

[QUOTE="X360PS3AMD05"]I'm waiting for $100 price drop, MS had cut mfr. costs of the 360 by 40% in an article i read many months ago. Which means it should be way more come Fall/Winter. P.S. I like how people are saying "no way, too soon" and then you see people thinking Sony will drop the PS3 to $400 by Christmas :lol:rappid_rabbit

Well I think a price drop is highly likely..just to spur sales...But with the 60GB model at $600, I dont think it will drop more that $30-$50.

The only way Sony is going to drop it by $100, is to have a "Limited Time Only" sale. That would ensure a spike of sales for the 2007 holiday season.

MS will pull the price drop trigger when Sony drops theirs...MS is in actually a very good position.

[QUOTE="MrHoboX"]That would be like MS shooting itself in the foot. Too soon for a price drop sorry.pundog

But why take a 30$ loss when you can make a 70$ profit and still sell almost as many, fact is, the 360 is still cheaper than the PS3 and the Wii cant come close to it for a game library, atm.  Halo3 will sell alot of systems, might as well make +70 on them, rather than -30.  You wont see a price cut on the 360 til just after Christmas, and even then it'll mostly likely be a 50-60$ drop not 100.

[QUOTE="WickeeKing"]

[QUOTE="Kook18"]was i just called a fanboy? :lol:Kook18

I believe so, yes.

[QUOTE="Kook18"][QUOTE="WickeeKing"]

[QUOTE="Kook18"]was i just called a fanboy? :lol:VideoGameGuy

I believe so, yes.

[QUOTE="VideoGameGuy"][QUOTE="Kook18"][QUOTE="WickeeKing"]

[QUOTE="Kook18"]was i just called a fanboy? :lol:Kook18

I believe so, yes.

Firstly, price drop isnt very close at all, why? Heres why

- They are making a $70 profit on the Prem WITH the old CPU. Right now, they are phaising it out, but whatever they have produced they are using in the consoles, cant just throw them away. = \ As for profit on the Core, they are to a much larger degree considering people ALWAYS buy a memory card, which again has a large profit margin

- When the 65nm does roll around, profit will be even higher. In that time, they are going to try and cut back on as much of the losses they have made since the orignal XBOX.

- Halo 3 rolls around in November and sales will SHOOT up, price drop wont help it all that much, might as well bank no the success.

- Christmas period so sales are high as it is and with Halo 3 around, sales are going to be even better

Nonetheless, a price drop would probably is plausible around the end of the XMAS period, but its most likely after that when sales are dead. 

Does anyone else think that the core is going to be dropped?secretsaiyan007