mac tanaguchi
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| 4/13/2002 10:05:09 PM |
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i'm really considering buying an xbox, but i heard that there are rumors that sony and microsoft will be lowering the prices of their systems to $200 to try to cut in on nintendo. i've heard that if it were going to happen, it would probably be sometime in may during the e3 conference. does anyone have any info regarding this?
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Robin S
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| 4/13/2002 11:04:31 PM |
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As you mentioned, everything is still in the rumor stage- there has yet to be any official press releases from either Sony or Microsoft at this point regarding the issue. The closest I've seen to any tangible information would be those made by Wall Street analysts saying that it would be a good move for either company, and an especially vital one for Microsoft if it would want to sell more consoles in the Asia and Europe markets. Personally, I would like Microsoft to lower the price on their units worldwide, as it would help promote the development of more games.
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Ju Park
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| 4/13/2002 11:09:45 PM |
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i read that also in the gamers.com newsletter a few days ago, but i dont see it happening. It was one of 5 or so possibilities that the editor was putting forward. I dont really like reading it anymore because all he ever talks about is PS2 stuff. Back to the price drop, theres no official word out about it and i dont think it would be too great of an idea because MS is already sustaining losses on the sale of xbox consoles right? they have to ask themselves if the gain in profits from games is enough to cover the cost of a price decrease. If the profit per game was in the range of $20, then that means thats there needs to be indications that people will buy 5 games with their console to justify a price drop. Of course in reality its a lot more complicatd than this because they have to factor in inventory, human resources, image and all that other stuff. I suppose its plausible if xbox sales are far below expectations, but i would think it rather unlikely
Edit:
Also consider the fact that profits do not all go back to MS. The retailers and warehousers all take a cut. Although i dont know how much exactly, its got to be enough to sustain the lease on the property, pay the wages for tyhe workers, take care of taxes and other costs, then lease a little profit over for the owner.
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Andrew Lin
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| 4/14/2002 11:37:42 PM |
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I haven't heard any of the rumors, but i would doubt that MS would drop the price of the XBOX right now. if they plan on doing it, it would be during a time when a lot of people shop so that they can really get the most bang for the buck.
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Matt Spangler
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| 4/15/2002 9:51:27 AM |
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My take on it is this, if the XBOX's are still selling
well and I am Microsoft, I'm not going to drop my price unless Sony
does. Now will Sony drop their price? That is much more of a possibility to
me since the PS2 has been out for 1 1/2 years already and you know they want
to hurt XBOX business if they can. But at the same time if PS2 sales are still strong
then why would Sony drop the price? I think the X-factor is Nintendo. If Nintendo's
system was selling better than it is or phenomenally then you would see
the price drop from Sony and MS. Also, the second half of 2002 will see a HUGE number
of AAA titles for the GameCube. Sony and MS are aware of this so perhaps they will drop
the prices as an early reaction to that percieved threat. Its hard to say, but
with the current market and that sales of consoles for all 3 are brisk then don't hold
your breath on price drops yet...but you never know!!
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Shannon Daugherty
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| 4/15/2002 10:34:36 AM |
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From what I have heard, Microsoft is already losing $100 profit on every X-box by selling them at $300. I doubt they will lower the price anymore, unless the sales really drop.
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Walter Lee
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| 4/15/2002 10:37:59 AM |
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All Video Game Consoles lose money. They make the money on the games
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Song Tran
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| 4/15/2002 3:08:10 PM |
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some technical guys told me that those xbox n ps2 system will never drop because it is low as it is already, but i don tknow, my sister say it was gonna drop after christmas n she works n the mall, so he might be right
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J J
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| 4/15/2002 3:28:03 PM |
Avg. Rating: 1 by 1 Users |
does anyone have any articles stating that MS will be lowering the price of the xbox? i am very curious as to why they would lower it, and by how much. any articles that talk about this would be fine. thanks.
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Blah Blah
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| 4/15/2002 3:36:19 PM |
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I have no articles offhand that can help you, but from reading recent analysts' reports from Europe and Japan (the guys at the Gaming Age forum love these things), I think that a price drop for the Xbox will most likely occur in those regions first. Sales have been rather pitiful there and these analysts are saying MS won't get anywhere without a significant price drop. In the US the Xbox is still enjoying a roughly 100,000 unit lead over GameCube, so I don't anticipate a drop here unless Sony drops. As for that, I hear it's likely that Sony WILL execute a drop and a Nintendo spokeperson has already said that they will follow suit if such a drop happens.
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Jesse Martin
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| 4/15/2002 3:53:21 PM |
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The word from CNET.com is that SONY is lowering the cost of the PS2 by $100. It's about time that they do!! I mean, the PS2 has been out in the US for a good 1 1/2 years now. As for the Xbox... nope, no price cuts. They are lossing over $100 on each unit they sale already. Luckly, software sales are offsetting that lose. As for the GameCube, Nintendo is thinking about lowering the cost. With the PS2 at $200, GameCube won't be able to compete without a price cut.
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Song Tran
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| 4/15/2002 3:57:42 PM |
Avg. Rating: 1 by 1 Users |
i heard that too, but we wont know till we see it, n e thing can happen
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haibin lu
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| 4/15/2002 4:10:18 PM |
Avg. Rating: 1 by 2 Users |
Which one is better, PS2, XBox in terms of game playing?
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Joseph Hsieh
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| 4/15/2002 5:15:57 PM |
Avg. Rating: 3 by 3 Users |
As much as I want to believe in the economics of pricing strategy, I think Microsoft will focus on getting more and better games than trying to undercut its competitors. If price is *that* important to consumers then they are of the wrong kind (remember the XBox demographics is generally 16-30 Males - group of people who are advid gamers and have the highest expendable income). And, they would have chose an alternative by now - ie your little brother or sister. You can get a Dreamcast for $50, do you see me rushing out to buy one?
Microsoft's price point will most likely continue to match Sony's prices, if one drops the price the other will follow suit, so in the end neither would prefer to do that (call it cooptition, think about OPEC and the oil tycoons or the Airlines industry). Since both company have substantial financial backing, they have little advantage of trying to undercut each other (a la Cold War economics when the US drove the Soviet Union into bankruptcy to effectively "win" because US's had a better capital structure to finance the "war"). So pricing is not an effective strategy when you have an ogligopoly (aka: an industry with large players and a high barrier of entry).
What Microsoft should and continue doing is delivering on the "value" of XBox, thats the only way for them to become profitable in this endeavor, and you do that in the game industry by having great games - period. I think the XBox is in great position to do that, it has so much power and features already in the box!
The only "pricing" strategy that I think XBox can employ (listen up Management Consultants) is to offer the XBox at a substantial price point and bundling a one-year contract on the new XBoxLive - the same model that the cellular industry have been doing for a long time. That way they get residual income (monthly fees after the 1st year), customer retention (once you get XBoxLive you won't go elsewhere), and value (it will be hard to compete with a package like that).
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Brian Papa
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| 4/15/2002 5:31:03 PM |
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Jesse...Nintendo dropping the price of Cube? I doubt that... they are already cheapest...and even if Sony does drop their price, Nintendo has actually decided to make GAMES for the system this year,and a bunch of damn good ones at that, so I don't think they'll have any problems moving systems as the year goes on.
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Jesse Martin
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| 4/16/2002 11:10:06 AM |
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Brain... I get CNET new sent to my Pocket PC everyday, and a couple of days ago they said Nintendo is seriously thinking about lowering the price of the GameCube to keep up with the PS2. Face it, even though the GameCube does have some pretty good games, the system is lacking. It doesn't play DVDs, you can't backup games (as far as I know), and you can't even play a regular audio CD in it. The system does have some pretty good games.... but PS2 has a lot more! Besides, the GameCube is really kiddy if you ask me. Does Gamecube have Max Payne.... or Grand Theft Auto?? How about the Final Fantasy series. Is the GameCube backwards compatible with Nintendo's old systems?? NO, you can't but PS2 you can!!!
Nintendo may cut GameCube's price - CNET NEWS
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Brian Anderson
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| 4/16/2002 4:29:58 PM |
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The statement above that all game consoles lose money is incorrect. Sony just recently announced that they started turning a profit on the consoles after selling something like 7 or 9 million of them. Xbox however is still losing heavily on their consoles, and would probalby feel some hurt if Sony did lower their price. I would expect to see PS2s for 199 any month now, but I'm not sure if MS will follow suit or not. I am not even sure if MS planned on making money off of XBox at all, they are spending way too much on their ad campaign. They might just be trying to get their feet in the industry so they can make money off the next generation of systems.
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Brian Papa
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| 4/16/2002 8:04:42 PM |
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Jesse you didn't listen to a thing I said.
I said that they are COMING OUT WITH games... a lineup that, so far, looks to be the best for the holiday season. I know that PS2's lineup right now kicks GameCube's butt, but come the holidays it will be a much closer race.
Being kiddy also has nothing to do with it. This thread is debating whether or not the prices of hardware are dropping, not the content of the games. That is another discussion for another thread... but I'll briefly mention that you must not be aware of Resident Evil, Eternal Darkness, WWF Wrestlemania X-8, and Metroid Prime.
As far as DVD/CD capabilities... nobody that hasn't bought a system yet really cares about those. Seriously, those are all just superfulous features that having nothing to do with gaming and probably moved a lot of systems at launch, but won't sell systems anymore.
Hardware bells and whistles get systems sold during launch, but not as time goes on. That's when the quality of software gets systems sold.
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Simon Parsons
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| 4/16/2002 8:42:06 PM |
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Similarly to the PS2, Nintendo designed the Gamecube to be cheap to make and sell. The units cost less to manufacture, and also to ship.
The result is that Nintendo could afford to drop the price to keep their edge.
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Robin S
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| 4/16/2002 10:56:55 PM |
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Here's something to munch on:
"Game publisher urges Xbox price cuts" posted by CNET
Apparently, a major game devloper for the Xbox, THQ, is publicly saying that Microsoft should lower the price of the Xbox to mainly get it into more homes to compete against the PS2 (among other reasons too I suppose). Microsoft is issuing it's quarterly report on Thursday, so hopefully they'll provide some sort of information into any future Xbox price cuts.
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