pastapadre
08-07-2007, 04:30 AM
Pretty interesting that they targeted this point for the price drop because of Madden. Should strengthen even more the 360's hold on the sports gaming market.
http://kotaku.com/gaming/it.s-official/microsoft-drops-xbox-360-price-286600.php
The rampant speculation, the endless images of circulars, the bogs of "insider emails" are all correct: The Xbox 360 is getting a $50 price drop starting this Wednesday, Microsoft announced tonight.
As of Wednesday the Elite will be $449, the Halo Limited Edition Xbox 360 (when it hits) will be $399, the standard will be $349 and the core will be $279.
The price drop is meant to be timed to the upcoming release of Madden 08, said Aaron Greenberg, group product manager for Xbox 360, as a way to grab up all of those Playstation 2 Madden fans who haven't yet upgraded to the Playstation 3.
"Madden is the number one selling game, and we felt like that was the right title to lead with," he said. "We know Madden will bring a lot of PS2 owners into the store and that's a specific reason for this timing. We feel we have the showcase platform for Madden this year and with this drop we hope to be the home for those gamers this season."
Greenberg said that the decision to time the price drop with the release of Madden has been in the works for a very long time and that the 360 price drop has nothing to do with the recent PS3 pricing flux.
"We've had this on our plans for a long time, an extremely long time," he said. "We did not make this decision even heading into E3, this is all based on before hand. We had the first media briefing (at E3) so we could have been the first to announce it, but it was never on our calendar. The benefit of pre-planning, of having this time, outweighed being one-upped, perhaps, at E3."
Greenberg pointed out that the 360 has been the same price for 21 months, the longest any console has maintained their launch price.
http://kotaku.com/gaming/it.s-official/microsoft-drops-xbox-360-price-286600.php
The rampant speculation, the endless images of circulars, the bogs of "insider emails" are all correct: The Xbox 360 is getting a $50 price drop starting this Wednesday, Microsoft announced tonight.
As of Wednesday the Elite will be $449, the Halo Limited Edition Xbox 360 (when it hits) will be $399, the standard will be $349 and the core will be $279.
The price drop is meant to be timed to the upcoming release of Madden 08, said Aaron Greenberg, group product manager for Xbox 360, as a way to grab up all of those Playstation 2 Madden fans who haven't yet upgraded to the Playstation 3.
"Madden is the number one selling game, and we felt like that was the right title to lead with," he said. "We know Madden will bring a lot of PS2 owners into the store and that's a specific reason for this timing. We feel we have the showcase platform for Madden this year and with this drop we hope to be the home for those gamers this season."
Greenberg said that the decision to time the price drop with the release of Madden has been in the works for a very long time and that the 360 price drop has nothing to do with the recent PS3 pricing flux.
"We've had this on our plans for a long time, an extremely long time," he said. "We did not make this decision even heading into E3, this is all based on before hand. We had the first media briefing (at E3) so we could have been the first to announce it, but it was never on our calendar. The benefit of pre-planning, of having this time, outweighed being one-upped, perhaps, at E3."
Greenberg pointed out that the 360 has been the same price for 21 months, the longest any console has maintained their launch price.