Xbox 360 price drops may force Sony to follow suit

by Andrew Yoon { Mar 11th 2008 at 4:00PM }

Yesterday, Microsoft surprised the games industry with a significant price cut in the European territories. Our own UK-based writer, Jem Alexander, noted that the price drop was "tempting." (However, he still hasn't given in to buying a 360!)

Strategy Analysts' principal analyst, David Mercer, commented on the situation. He believes that this will force Sony to play a price cut of its own in the territory: "Sony will be nervous that the PS3's recent sales surge may fizzle out now that the premium Xbox 360 undercuts the PS3 by £40, and the cheapest Xbox model is almost half the price of a PS3."

The PlayStation brand is exceedingly strong in Europe, and is one of the most crucial territories for Sony in this generation of the console war. We believe that Sony's not going to take Microsoft's price drop lightly.

Tags: europe, price-drop, xbox-360

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Michael K. @ Mar 11th 2008 4:11PM

stupid worthless microsoft, all they do in the videogame industry is get in the way

Ryan @ Mar 12th 2008 8:54AM

Yeah! Who wants PS3 price drops when we can all pay more for them?

I wish Microsoft had never "gotten in the way". Then we could all be paying $1000 for our PS3's instead of $400 or less! I hate having saved all this extra money to spend on games, I wish I could have paid more for mine!

Hotaru99 @ Mar 11th 2008 4:18PM

Personally I hope its true, since its been said the US price of the 360 will drop too, the US ps3 price will drop as well. Mabye that white one will be cheaper. If it is, I may actually get a PS3 finally.

seedaripper1973 @ Mar 11th 2008 4:16PM

excuse ones french...but fuck em!
if you wanna buy a 360 'elite' (and i use that term lightly) then do so...but dont come crying to me....
i mean for 40 quid extra you get more benefits from the ps3 (blu-ray,HDMI1.5,bluetooth,mouse and keyboard support,web browser,free online play and on the older models card readers) sorry did i mention 'reliability'?
ahem...come and have a go M$ if you think you're hard enough... ;)

P-dub @ Mar 11th 2008 4:18PM

PSN: SamuraiBubba
The Dreamcast had a price drop too, and look what happened to it. A price drop won't do anything if the product is inferior. This is just a sign that MS is beginning to realize the PS3 will dominate this year.

seedaripper1973 @ Jun 11th 2008 4:27PM

p.s it takes a friggin eon to make any form of bloody comment on here! any chance of having logged in membership such as C+VG or PSU? so i can post insta stylie? ya ken!

Zombie Huggles @ Mar 11th 2008 4:37PM

Do it Sony, drop the price! Keep the momentum up. You said you were playing a 10 year game, well here's a chance to show some faith in that strategy. I'm sure Sony won't be reading this...but still...do it.

Oh yeah, 360 sucks...

Kruegmeister @ Mar 11th 2008 4:45PM

Competition is Good for us Consumers.
As Long as Microsoft doesn't Swallow up all the Competition like they Did with Windows. Windows used to cost under $100 now it costs over $300 5 years Later.

John @ Mar 11th 2008 9:01PM

You can still get OEM Windows XP at PC Club for $100! I had to do it-- was using Linux, but needed video editing. Using Sony's Vegas software, of course, bwah hah hah

Mike @ Mar 11th 2008 4:51PM

The 360 is a hunk of junk. The Arcade and Core even more. I mean come on, they can't play Burnout Paradise online, or GTA IV for christs sake, two of the biggest games this year.

Microsoft have no clue. They price the 360 to try and compete with the Wii, but it's not about price, it's about winning the consumer over. The Wii has done that, all people remeber the 360 for, is it's crippling unreliability, and it's "not as good as the PS3 factor".

leiwei @ Mar 11th 2008 5:12PM

You gotta realize MS is a business company that emphasizes more on marketing than Q&A. They're lowering the prices of the 360 for GTA4 and they know they'll make money off the uninformed consumer masses that purchase an Arcade or Core thinking they can play loads of games. For those that purchased the Core/Arcade, MS will be making money off the accessories (hd, headset, etc) that will be purchased for the Core or Arcade 360s.
MS is very sly when it comes to marketing. I remember when the PS3 was being launched in Paris or England (PS3F had this covered) and MS had a boat on the river with a big Xbox 360 banner on the side to show to all the crowd that was waiting in line for the PS3.

rotnapple @ Mar 11th 2008 5:02PM

After losing 3 360 consoles to the red ring bullshit, and having traded the last one in for a PS3, let me just say that the price for a 360 will never be low enough cause in 3 months you'll be sending that shit back to em to get it fixed. The machine is garbage. I don't care who says what about the 360, it is complete trash and you all know it.

never$$hort @ Mar 11th 2008 5:13PM

The 360 will still be overpriced even after the price drop... Shit, I wouldn't even take that hunk of junk for free, I think most rational people wouldn't buy it either knowing that POS has a 2/5 chance of crappin' out on them, except 360fanfags of course, they'll continue to get ass raped by M$ with great pleasure until the bitter end.. and that bitter end is fast approaching.

I mean it really makes no sense to me... why wouldn't anyone just want to spend $40 more for a PS3 and a peace of mind with the guarantee that the PS3 wont break???

Master X @ Mar 11th 2008 5:14PM

What Ps3 game has sold 8 million? 0
But Halo did on 360!!!!

Didnt huge PS games like Devil May Cry, Ridge Racer, Resident Evil, Soul Caulbir come to the 350?
YES

Doesnt the 360 have better excluives now and coming out?
YES

Doesnt the 360 have more RPGs coming out?
YES

Didnt the 360 get twice the support the xbox did?
YES

Didnt the Ps3 get a price cut before the 360 did?
YES

SDF members some people really want a gaming system and not a blu ray player

Popfrogs @ Mar 11th 2008 5:22PM

Nice trolling, but I'm not gonna feed you.

Tranando @ Mar 11th 2008 5:27PM

Are you insane? You honestly can't believe that rubbish you are posting..

watcher @ Mar 11th 2008 5:43PM

Better exclusives? LOL! Like what? All I respect on the 360 is the Gears of War series and Mass--oops, that's coming to the PC later this year so I'll be playing Mass effect without needing an X360.

Does the PS3 have great exclusives that will ONLY be released on the PS3?
Yes

Does the PS3 have more features right out of the box than the Xbox 360?
Yes

Is the PS3 catching up to the Xbox 360 at a record pace?
Yes

Is the PS3 currently outselling the X360 worldwide?
Yes

Is the PS3 line up for 2008 supercharged with killer titles?
Yes

In addition to having sweet truly exclusive titles, blu-ray playback, Home and DVR record capabilities on the way, not to mention being super well built, will the PS3 overtake the 360 in quality games and features in 2008?

HELL YEAH!

Phizzy @ Mar 12th 2008 3:10AM

Gears is on PC, too.

Swift @ Mar 11th 2008 5:23PM

Did someone say Blu-Ray.....why drop the price??? MS can drop their price because they don't have to pay for HD-DVD drives anymore......think about it.

myself @ Mar 11th 2008 5:27PM

What Ps3 game has sold 8 million? 0
But Halo did on 360!!!!
Em?Many series sold more than that that are releasing on the
ps3 if Motorstorm sold 4 mil, i can bet mgs4 will be on with more than 8...

Didnt huge PS games like Devil May Cry, Ridge Racer, Resident Evil, Soul Caulbir come to the 350?
YES
because the 360 didn't have great games to come to the ps3...LostPlanet,Eternal sonata came to the ps3...The others are exclusives that M$ is lacking from now

Doesnt the 360 have better excluives now and coming out?
YES
No,really noone cares for fable2(1st was letdown),2human(dmc4,gow3) and Halowars(starcraft2)
Doesnt the 360 have more RPGs coming out?
YES
No...And the biggest in on the ps3
Didnt the 360 get twice the support the xbox did?
YES
Because the xbox got killed to rush in the new gen,like the 360 will get.

Didnt the Ps3 get a price cut before the 360 did?
YES
Is that illegal?

SDF members some people really want a gaming system and not a blu ray player.
I have a gaming system that's gonna be strong even untill 2012 at that time the 360 won't even exist,that i play everyday cod4 for free and many others,and a next-gen movie format player(bluray) and i watch as many movies as i can on it...
Every normal person likes movies...

Matt @ Mar 12th 2008 12:02AM

I'm trying hard to make heads or tails of all your blabbering, but I do want to correct you on a few things. First of all, Motorstorm sold about a million copies and 2 million were bundled in the 80gig system. Not quite the same thing. Secondly, MS and Sony are obviously competing, but they both have different strategies and visions. That is why 360 won't exist in 2012 because Xbox 720 is launching holiday 2010.

BlackBeltJones @ Mar 11th 2008 5:27PM

There is a good reason to own each system of this gaming generation (console and handheld), people need to give up this "one is better than the other" internet squabble. They're all fun that's all that matters.

whoooo @ Mar 11th 2008 5:33PM

Ha this is funny. Every time there is good news for the 360 all the PS3 fanboys get into a frenzy. The funny thing is that you say the 360 fans are bad. Wow you are pathetic, I really got nothing to say. My advice is do everyone a favor and kill yourself or just accept the fact you wasted good money,I did. Or you can enjoy your Blu-Ray player/ door stop and leave it at that.

watcher @ Mar 11th 2008 5:43PM

LOL! With your HD-DvD player being worth less than steamed crap and the X360 being outsold worldwide by a "Blu-ray player/ door stop" You M$ Fanboys need all the good news you can get.

playasofdarkness @ Mar 22nd 2008 7:59AM

Ps3 out sold xbox 360 for 2 months, and now you talking? Wtf. It good that xbox being outsold dumbass, that mean not alot of 360 getting rrod so bad that people have to buy a new one. And one more thing, do you know that Ps3 outsold a console that 1 years older than itself by 24000. If you want to compare, then compare the xbox 360 at this time last year with the ps3 right now and see who sell more. Get your fact straight dumb ass.

UltraZLS1 @ Mar 11th 2008 5:38PM

exactly...but sometimes it is fun to just argue instead...lol. especially when u are bored and have no life

UltraZLS1 @ Mar 11th 2008 5:44PM

Wow I didnt know you could play

MGS4
GT5
GOD of War 3
Haze
Killzone 2
Littlebig planet
FF13
Resistance 2
Tekken 6
COD4
Home

all with just a doorstop? Thats simply amazing

DV8ing1 @ Mar 11th 2008 9:00PM

Firstly I must point out I love my PS3 but I play my 360 alot more. This is because ...

Wow I didnt know you could play

MGS4 -Not out
GT5 - Not out
GOD of War 3 - Not Out
Haze - Not out
Killzone 2 - Not out
Littlebig planet - Not out
FF13 - Not out
Resistance 2 - Not out
Tekken 6 - Not out
COD4 - Is out but playing on live
Home - Not out

So I will play my ps3 alot more this year but not yet...

SharpShoote @ Mar 11th 2008 9:18PM

Atleast the PS3 has exclusives >_>. All the 360 fans have to look forward is timed exclusives of pc games.

Hyams @ Mar 11th 2008 5:45PM

Someone please do something about the spamming trolls.

John @ Mar 11th 2008 9:10PM

Hey UltraZLS1! Check out what you said: "The ps3 has no games" - an obvious lie-- what are we all playing? "the graphics suck"-- Ratchet and Clank, Heavenly Sword, Dirt (superior on the ps3), Motorstorm and Drake's (to name a few) don't exist, right? "It can not be programmed for" (ignoring the grammar-- I cite the above examples, again) "PSN sucks" (unqualified statement-- how does it suck?) "it is overpriced," really? A blu-ray player with wireless, bluetooth AND a paralell-processing game machine? It's curious to me how people like you DEFEND Microsoft. Read some history, man. Pop your collar. Get The Man's foot up off your neck, already.

45nm @ Mar 11th 2008 9:55PM

WOWO, look at all this trolling bs coming from both sides XDXDXDXDXD.

Honestly, it's people like you who make me ashamed of owning either console. You call yourselves adults yet act like children when it comes to videogames... I love this site for the amount of usefull content that it brings to either camp but a trolling filter would be maybe the next step...Yes this is P3F or X3F but can't you guys just use all that energy for positive fanboyism, like making a shrine or something for you r console?

Frank @ Mar 11th 2008 10:32PM

Just to play devil's advocate here:

Why is it when MS drops price, its an act of desperation (according to this site)

But when Sony did it recently, it's not desperate?

leiwei @ Mar 12th 2008 1:11AM

IMO I think Sony's price drop was out of desperation, while the other price drop and increased hd bump was due to lowered production costs. I believe like most people speculated, that MS's price drop is due to GTA4 coming out and Sony's [stronger] 08 lineup. Take that and throw in the NPD sales figures of Sony's PS3 catching up (when most of us expected it to be just due to Xmas sales) and we can see why MS might want the throw in the price drop just to maintain the general market share.

Sony's lineup is stronger IMO. People tend to stick with what's tried-and-true (e.g. I'd play Starcraft 2 over Empire Earth because it's all about Blizzard).

UltraZLS1 @ Mar 11th 2008 11:43PM

Oh damn i thought all those games were being played right now...im sorry mr. obvious

get your head out of your ass DV

Matt @ Mar 12th 2008 10:04AM

Face it, you got burned. haha, not out, not out, not out, that was hilarious and so true.

Phizzy @ Mar 12th 2008 3:14AM

John, don't describe the PS3 as a blu-ray player with a games machine built-in...

UltraZLS1 @ Mar 12th 2008 12:33PM

Hey JOHN I was being sarcastic with the ps3 burn post...Im a ps3 fan.

I got burned? because he figured out that all those games are not out yet? thats not even what I meant or where the conversation was going...why would I mention already released games...your a fucking moron.

I used the word COULD...which in the english language can be used to refer to things in the past or hypothetical and or conditional situations. The PS3 could play them if they were out...thats all I meant. And the biggest games are yet to come...thats why I listed them.

Wow im so defeated

Iridium @ Mar 12th 2008 4:56PM

Well I figured that I would post something intelligent and the real reason why Microsoft lowered the price of the 360 in Europe.

If anyone noticed the value of the dollar has been dropping like crazy to the Euro. Microsoft can actually lower the price of the 360 in Europe by 20% and make almost the same or more profit selling the box at a lower price than they did last year.

Sony can not follow suit because the value of the yen has kept up with the value of the euro. Every time the value of the dollar drops Microsoft makes more money by selling consoles elsewhere.

Ever @ Mar 12th 2008 7:17PM

What I've never been able to understand is the animosity and the general lame attitude Sony and MS fanboys take towards each other. What's the big deal if MS does this or if Sony does that? What kind of huge impact does it have on either side? Who the **** cares? As long as you enjoy your console and you get the games you want then all is well, fanboyism shouldn't be a way to showcase you lack of poor social skills.
Maybe I'm just too old school of a gamer to understand why being a**holes to one another is cool.
Enjoy your freaking games.