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[gamewhooper]

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=11619

That's hot for me, but I don't really see why Microsoft would announce this. And if the PS3 costs $100 more to make than the 360 and Microsoft is still losing a good $80 or so, I wonder how much the PS3 will really be.

I guess it's Xbox 360 and Revolution for me then.

 

[Speevy]

Posted

 

[Mrbob]

Damn. The system must be really efficiently designed for them to have plan like this in place. Very interesting.

Drop to $249/$349 on PS3 release methinks. This is great news, though. It may force Sony to price the PS3 at $299.

 

[krypt0nian]

sorry - you're late

 

[Speevy]

It will force Sony to drop the price to $879.99

 

[Suikoguy]

It will force Sony to drop the price to $879.99

:lol :lol :lol

 

[Tarazet]

It will force Sony to drop the price to $879.99

*dies*

 

[orbital123]

My understanding is that they want to make a profit off the hardware within two years. I don't see how they could do that even with cost cutting methods for production and still make a profit by cutting the cost to the consumer at the same time. I don't think we will see a major price drop unless they know how much the cost of production is going to drop and it will be significant. Either way though it is good for consumers. I was planning on purchasing an xbox360 next year anyways when plasma and lcd tv's drop in price by half, it will be good to save some money on an xbox360 too.

 

[AndoCalrissian]

It would be interesting if it dropped every year, but I honestly think that will have more to do with how it sells, because if it sells like gangbusters at $400, what reason do they have to lower the price? Other than they might want to throw away free money.

I think it is really just wait and see, no matter what MS (or anyone else) says.

 

[Mrbob]

50 dollar price drop every year gets the core sytem to 99 bucks in 5 years. Seems reasonable to me.

 

[Agent Icebeezy]

It would be interesting if it dropped every year, but I honestly think that will have more to do with how it sells, because if it sells like gangbusters at $400, what reason do they have to lower the price? Other than they might want to throw away free money.

You must not watch how they do business up in Redmond then

 

[Kabuki Waq]

your telling me that a console will drop in PRICE EVERY YEAR?!

:shock

 

[Mrbob]

your telling me that a console will drop in PRICE EVERY YEAR?!

:shock

Tell that to Sony.

 

[Synth_floyd]

How is this news? MS, Sony, et. al. have historically dropped the prices of all their consoles about once a year. And the article says it's only "estimated" not definite. Sheesh.

 

[Kleegamefan]

The PS2 was $299 for a LOOOOOOOOONG time....

 

[monkeyrun]

but ... it's already free ...

 

[mrpeabody]

I think Ellie Gibson of gamesindustry.biz is putting words in Todd's mouth.

"We will wind up cost-reducing the product every year," Todd Holmdahl, corporate vice president of the Xbox product group, told Reuters.

COST is what Microsoft pays to make the console. PRICE is what you pay to buy the console. He is saying they will reduce the cost every year. He does not say anything here about the price. The article definitely says "price cuts", but they do not quote him saying that and are probably just confused.

ShackNews gets it right (http://www.shacknews.com/ja.zz?comments=38729):

A Reuters report indicates that Microsoft will be benefitting from manufacturing cost cuts on its Xbox 360 console on an annual basis, according to Xbox corporate vice president Todd Holmdahl.

Of course, none of this matters, because everybody already knows:

1) the 360 will get cheaper to make over time, just like every console
2) the 360 will drop in price over time, just like every console

These two things are as unstoppable as the motion of the planets in the sky.

 

[----]

He didn't say they would drop the price of the console every year, he said they would reduce the cost of making the system every year.

A company wouldn't announce that they are reducing the price of the system every year and they didn't. I've heard Holmdahl talk about yearly cost-reduction in other interviews as well. He's talking about how they struggled to be able to reduce the cost of manufacturing the Xbox and how that won't be a problem for Xbox 360. That doesn't mean they're going to immediately pass that savings onto consumers every year.