Microsoft Raise The 360′s Price in The UK
You thought it was a price “cut”? Me too after reading the hundreds of articles saying the price was down. It turns out what everybody seems to be doing is reading and re-writing the Microsoft Press release.
The Arcade is a simple enough one to explain. They came out and went “blah blah we want your money and we’re going to blame the economy because you’re too thick to look it up yourself” then hiked up the price by £30. That was fairly simple, but things get complicated when you deal with their newly announce Elite price cut.
The “Elite” now costs £200 which is “down” from the original price of £230. The £170 Xbox Pro has been discontinued. But wait, if the economy is causing the Arcade bundle to go up £30, how are they able to cut the cost of the Elite? Well, my friend, let me tell you.
The only difference I could find between the Elite and the Pro is the colour of the console, the hard drive and the fact the Elite came with an HDMI cable. The new Elites don’t come with an HDMI cable. This means it’s fair to say the new Elite is a coloured Pro with a larger hard drive, and another £30 price increase.
Amusingly, Aaron Greenberg has said that the reason the new Elites don’t come with an HDMI cable is because us plebs don’t view them as costing so much any more. In the past they were dirt cheap, but we all thought they were costing loads and getting a good deal. Now we have all caught on to it, Microsoft can’t be arsed including the cable so they’re not going to.
Microsoft are very cunning with these things aren’t they? They’ve raised the prices and everybody is now declaring it a great price cut.
News Tags: cost, Greenberg, Microsoft, price, UK, Xbox
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But they had to announce a price cut to counter Sony’s price cut, that’s how the console war work.
I feel pretty bad about Microsoft scamming people by saying this is a price cut. Of course thanks to all those news blogs out there that mainly focus on press releases they can get away with it.
Para, not to be a dick, but it was planned for holiday. It had nothing to do with Sony.
@Ron Workman: Yeah, right. Also sarcasm.
It leaked out months ago. Even before the PS3 drop. Stop being an idiot mindless gamer that doesnt understand these things take months. Seriously. Companies dont always do something because someone else is. Virtually anyone with console sales knowledge has more or less know the 360 was coming down for many months. That also doesnt mean Sony dropped its price because of the 360 either.
@Ron Workman: I know of the leaks and I also know that the first part of my comment was sarcasm.
Also to say that console pricing has nothing to do with the rival console is a bit naive. And as far as the price drop timing goes: Why would Microsoft drop the price now after raising it just two weeks ago in the UK?
I didnt say it had nothing to do with it. Microsoft actually did not raise the price. Some Euro retailers did on a closeout model because they can. I found retailers with 60GB models in stock at the same pricepoint. Hell, Kmart had 60gb and even 120gb hard drives on closeout this week for $20 bucks if you could find them. To assume MS did this because of Sony, or Sony did it because of MS means you assume that they someone communicate who is going to make something cheaper. Now, if there were no plans and magically MS dropped the price, then yes, you would be right. This clearly isn’t the case. It has been in the past though.
@Ron Workman: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/ms-increases-arcade-360-price-in-uk
Ironically BestBuy, Futureshop, and Walmart here in Toronto are bundling Elites with the wireless adapter and three games for $329.00. The usual bundle for the Elite is GTAIV for $299.00
@ParaParaKing: And did the arcade increase? NO.
@Ron Workman: It did in the UK. The price of an Arcade went up £30.
@Ron Workman: Thank you for not even reading the title of my link. Not to mention the article on this page.
@ParaParaKing: Sorry Im getting it confused with the US. You win the console war o holy internets. Microsoft is fucking everyone. Especially us. People fighting about it online when nobody here is actually going to buy any arcade bundle. We are sooo getting fucked here.