Xbox 360 Price Cut By A Third

HMV and GAME have dropped the price of the Xbox 360 Arcade down from the RRP of £159.99 to £109.99 GBP.

The retailers, who are probably keen to cash in on the holiday console rush, have introduced the deal which includes the console, a wireless controller and a month's Gold subscription to Xbox LIVE, for around a third off the usual price.

[Maticus]

It's almost worth picking one up just in case your current one gets the RROD.

[Xeoset]

Well while it is now unlikely due to the newer revisions, at least you can guarantee the new one wouldn't go.

[StanLee]

Saw an earlier article where the XBox 360 was the most sort after console during the holiday season in the UK. It seems retailers are practically giving the console away this holiday season.

[darthv72]

Obviously it isnt an "official" drop from MS but still a really nice price. People who want to play the best of both worlds should get one.

[SilentNegotiator]

"Xbox 360 Price Cut By A Third on a UK retailer website"

Oh, wait! What am I thinking? THAT won't get enough hits!
"Xbox 360 Price Cut By A Third"

[Anon1974]

If it was doing great, retailers would be more than happy to take people's money. Dropping the price by this much either says they're blowing out inventory or having trouble getting gamers in the door.

[Rampant]

either way, game developers that put their game on the 360 wins.

:D

[hate_me]

haha.....not that transparent anymore old friend. I think you are a bit lost --->..............funny oak you
cool those of you that dont own a 360 yet, get this then you have a few more pounds left for your piggy bank to get a ps3... and uncharted 2. awesome game, awesome deal

[Anon1974]

Suspicious when accounts that have been dormant for over a year suddenly spring to life again and start referring to posters as "old friend" while they take personal shots at you. If that doesn't scream "HEY! HEY MODS! Dupe account over here! Dupe account!" I don't know what does.

Anyway, how about you try sticking to my comments and leave the personal jabs out of this, 'K partner?

So, if I'm to read your opposition to my comments correctly, you're saying the 360 is just fine and this retailer just simply doesn't like money all that much which is why it's selling 360's probably below cost. Is that about right?

Edit Below: Exactly my point. So they're either blowing out inventory or simply trying to get people in the door. Considering that analysts believe the 360 is currently being sold at a loss, I'm sure cutting the cost by a third is causing HMV and GAME to take a loss as well. Maybe it's just to get people through the door but having done my time in retail I'm guessing it's much more about moving inventory that can't move itself. Have we ever seen how the Arcade is selling? More likely that particular model needs a little help out the door.

Either way, I agree with you, bubbles up. It's good marketing. The 360 is a great machine. I pick up a friend's copy of ODST from school tomorrow to try over the break and I can't wait to give it a go.

[IdleLeeSiuLung]

"That's odd. I thought the 360 was doing good in the UK.
If it was doing great, retailers would be more than happy to take people's money. Dropping the price by this much either says they're blowing out inventory or having trouble getting gamers in the door." -darkride

But imagine, the hottest item on sale with limited units. Imagine the amount of people flocking to the retailer. Why bother discounting something that isn't as sought after? It won't generate the same of hype and "free" marketing as we see this article made it here!!!

Imagine that, smart marketing....

[StanLee]

Silly wabbit. Retailers drop the price on the console so that consumers will spend 4 times as much on software. Please let me know if I should explain anything else to you. 'Kay Sweetie? :D

[Alcon Caper]

StanLee is correct. Money is made with software and peripherals (and sub fees), not with the sales of the actual consoles.

[Captain Tuttle]

You get 'em in the door and make your money on games and accessories.

[hate_me]

so I created a "duplicate account" a year ago to put my master plan in action this week by using this duplicate account to take personal jabs at you....a silly little fanboy. Im awesome! My teacher in 7th grade always told me I couldn't plan for the future...well in your face Mrs.Oldride.

again, awesome deal, I think that I have to put in an order for this myself, let my current 360 rest a bit

[Trebius]

They're almost GIVING them away...

Only way theyll gain momentum to keep up with the Ps3.

[madpuppy]

"It's almost worth picking one up just in case your current one gets the RROD."

Yeah, that is what people that bought Yugo cars used to say/do, cheap enough to buy 2 so WHEN one breaks down you will have a backup...shame like the 360, the backup didn't last very long either.

[green]

So can you explain the reason why ASDA (one of the largest supermarket chain in the UK) dropped the price of MW2 before it launched from £50 to £26? Is it because they were under the belief that MW2 will not sell?

Common sense is not so common after all.

[pixelsword]

perhaps they played the multiplayer before pricing?

Just kidding, though; if they drop the price of the 360, I don't see a reason to hate them for it: it's a grand chance to buy one if you're in England if you so choose.

[yippiechicken]

who cares why they're doing it? Cheaper stuff is great for all of us!

[Anon1974]

I see we agree then. They're most likely taking a loss on the hardware to get people in the door.

Considering you're agreeing with my point, don't you think you're being kinda snotty about it?

But still, you really think it's to sell software? HMV is a music store, not a video game store, and I understood markup on software really wasn't all that much for retailers. That's why the whole "used games" sales is such a big deal, because retailers make far, far much more on used games then they do selling new games.

@ Green. Why did they drop the price of MW2 from £50 to £26? I dunno, because they were raping people by charging £50 and no one else was? Seriously, who buys a game for £50? I don't know about you but in Canada that would have worked out to $90 for that title, which is outrageous. Most retailers sold MW2 for $60 or less, or roughly 30£.
So to answer your question, I'm guessing they dropped their price because no one would have bought it for 50£ when everyone else was charging only 30£.
You're right about common sense not being so common. :)

[gta2800]

PS3's rarely go on sales like that. I always see retailers trying to get rid of their 360's by selling them dirt cheap. Most sought after? Yes, if it was the most sought after I'm pretty sure retailers would want to sell the console way below MSRP. It seems more like people aren't buying them so retailers have to almost give them away for free just so people will take em lol

[green]

and for someone that claims to be 35 years old you sure dont know a single thing about business 101.They slash the price of a HOT COMMODITY to ensure that when consumers decide to buy that product, it would be their store that they will choose. Also by dropping the price, it is most likely that the consumer will most likely by 1,2 or 3 other products that the store sells.26th of december is around the corner and it is the UK's equivalent to black friday, so great deals have already started pooping up left, right and center.

The is a common business strategy taught in business schools and employed by every big retail outlet out there.But as i have always said in regards to you, commonsense is not so common.

@gta2800: Based on my experience in the retail industry in the UK, it is 8/10 times the hottest commodity that gets the best deals. The reason for this is that if they all sell the product at the same price, then what is going to be the differentiating factor that will improve the foot flow of people that will choose their store to buy the product? So price or bundles is what they resort to.

And who said it does not happen to the PS3?I am in Oxford, and gamestation was selling a PS3 slim in September for £220 with 2 games.Why? because in september, the ps3 slim was the most sought after console.

[vhero]

its all in time with the mass bannings MS are not stupid they probably have something to do with this aswell. If you don't buy this as a replacement console. Or your mother buys an arcade version for you for christmas I really feel for you.

[KRONie]

I heard that a year ago when i was still considering grabbing a 360.
Then, all my friends who had 360 got RROD's within 2 months, and i bought gaming PC instead.

[commodore64]

This is just awesome news for UK gamers.
When has it been cheaper to play classleading games with an included xboxlive gold subscription?

What with much improved xbox reliability, an ever expanding catalogue of stupendously awesome exclusives and most often superior multiplats, the 360 truly presents an awesome christmas purchase for gamers.
Simply put, an amazing deal.

I would guess that the retailers are pricing the console at a loss to attract christmas buyers into their store, knowing full well that any loss they make on the reduced price will be recouped by suggestive upselling and cross-selling in 360 games/accessories and incidental buying.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wik...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wik...

With regard to the 360 specifically, I can't help but think that with deals such as the above and next year, with Natal, Halo reach and ME2, Microsoft will be extremely well positioned to capture far more profits and marketshare than its competitors would have admitted was possible at the outset of this generation.
Impressive.

[Anon1974]

Easy there, buddy. No need to throw a tantrum, especially considering you're agreeing with exactly what I said. Did you even read my comment? I said they're most likely doing it to get people through the door. You're arguing the same point as I am, yet getting upset at me over it!

And then you accuse me of lacking common sense? You argued the same point as me, brainiac! They're taking a loss to get people through the doors. That one of the two scenarios I described. Sheesh!

Methinks it's time to switch to decaf.

[Leord]

Wow, that is a massive change!

[AndyA]

That's a pretty good deal. Tempted to get another one myself as a backup.

[Dorjan]

holy badman!

[Fyzzu]

Dammit. I want to buy myself a spare at this price :|

[u got owned]

wow! good deal.

[rrquinta]

That is a good price... especially since it includes the LIVE subscription.

[Ninji]

I'm glad I don't have to buy backup consoles.

[spunnups]

disagrees for speaking the truth my friend, IMO who cares.

anyway, yeah with the PS3 you can backup your files with an external hard drive, can the 360 or Wii say that?

That's another way to avoid having to buy a backup.

[D4RkNIKON]

I love how you guys are getting disagrees. People just hate to hear truth when it discredit's their beloved console.

[ASSASSYN 36o]

You must be new to consoles. The 360 has a detachable external HDD and the data can be transferred to another HDD or memory card.

[Dread]

@sounups

i'll pretend that u really don't know this and correct u

the 360's hard drive can be removed from the machine and used with any 360. Consequently, if ur 360 RROD's you can still use ur saved files with ur new 360.

however, i really think ur just another sony fan boy spreading bull.

(sorry if ur not, but here at N4G, due to the extremist nature of the sony fans who post, you have to assume that people who say these things have bad intentions.)

[gamingisnotacrime]

that the back up console might be a good idea. Is not the optimal situation, but when one is playing those sweet games, Gears 2, Mass Effect, Splinter Cell, Halo Reach, etc is easy to forget the hastle of dealing with faulty hardware. Games are at the core of the 360, and the PS360 combo is fantastic

Edit
I forgot to mention the Jasper model, it runs cooler and uses less voltage (12.1 A) so i hope it solves the issues of previous models so that i can play the hell out of 2010 amazing lineup (and 2009 multiplats)

[spunnups]

That's fine, your right I didn't know that. I did own a 360 until the PS3 came out. But having to buy another system because your scared your current one might die is ludicrous and a waste of money IMO

[pixelsword]

I think everyone (especially a bonehead like me) could learn a thing or two from such manners.

My personal opinion is that it's good to buy all consoles, but I'm a little skiddish about buying a back-up because that does not make me feel confident about my initial purchase; but I already had a console failure before, so I do understand the logic behind it.

[Xi]

because you same kids troll every 360 thread.

[The Killer]

you will definitely not find a ps3 with extra accessories for 110 GBP!!

before someone say that this price but is not from MS then i will ask him then from who?? HMV will not buy a 360 for 160 GBP and sell it with extra at 110 GBP!!

it is true that this move is not MS official price cut but its a desperate move by MS to increase the sales in this season without making official price cut, so they give to some retailers cheap 360s!!

i wonder whats next?? 360 that cost 50 GBP?? or maybe free??

this shows how strong the ps3 is doing that its shaking the entire base of the 360 market and even owners!!

one sign of a dieing console is when it starts mass price cuts one after the other, because if price the only thing left for 360 then the 360 is finished!! however this is not the case but 360 is going to this direction!

@darthv72

so retailers would like to lose 1 third of the profit because the 360 is the most wanted console this Christmas??
http://n4g.com/NewsCom-4450...

please give me some logic why HMV and GAME will like to lose such money if they bought them for 160 GBP why will they sell them for 110 GBP when the demand is there according to studies??

[young juice]

i distinctly remember patcher saying something about a price cut,but people just ignored him.

[darthv72]

a desperate move by the retailers. Not MS as you understand it isnt "official".

Perhaps they are inundated with units and want to sell them. Sounds like typical business to me. I say, get one and stop being one sided. Play the best of both as many have already done (myself included). Since having both I have not been disappointed by any new release for the lack of having a system to play them on.

[Rampant]

Microsoft: Drops price 50£
Sony: Drops price 100$

First post fails =(

[darthv72]

The more units you sell hardware wise means the potential to sell more pieces of software. Everyone knows the $$ to be made is from the content, not the delivery. So you have a few stores selling the unit at a loss. They end up selling way more titles at a gain to make up for it. Standard business 101.

[testerg35]

Oh... so who's move was it to give away a PS3 for every Bravia TV? Desperate?????

[NewZealander]

killer who cares if the price cut was from MS or not, at the end of the day Christmas shoppers love a bargain, its just a retailers price cut...so build a bridge already.

[4point7BillionLoss]

DIET PS3 spike in sales replaced by Xbox 360 spike in sales ...

Stupid droids backed a lame horse ... maybe if some of you bothered to buy yout GOTY's it would do better !!!!

[Capt CHAOS]

"before someone say that this price but is not from MS then i will ask him then from who?? HMV will not buy a 360 for 160 GBP and sell it with extra at 110 GBP!!"

You think that retailers ever buy products at RRP?

[Capdastaro]

Fanboy or not...

You cannot deny that is a good deal... If its a Jasper.

[Mike134nl]

But for Americans this would convert to 180.05$

[silvacrest]

assuming its not a sh!tty refurb or an older model its a decent price

shame about the lack of a hard drive

[ingrando]

its still to expensive

[evilmonkey501]

considering you'll buy 4-10 over the next 4 to 5 years...

[avengers1978]

What I'm hearing is a bunch of people that already own one buying a spare or replacement, not people that don't have one rushing to get one because of the low price. BTW the newer ones still fail it just is at a 30% rate compared to over 50%, and the 30 is a claim from MS only time will truely tell what the real fail rate is of new 360s.

[darthv72]

there has never been an official statement from MS about the percentage of failed units. All these polls and reports from claim adjusters are merely their point of view in assuming the percentage.

The same was true with sony and the DRE for the ps2. Only they know for certain as there was never a disclosure of actual statistics. I am sure sony knows just how many ps3's have YLOD but we will never know.

For now we can exaggerate numbers any way we see fit. Personally I don't really care. I just know my units are working and if they fail I know it will be covered by MS. I can't say the same about Nin, Sony or even Samsung (my plasma died 3 days after 1 yr warranty). It could be the luck of the draw if you know what I mean.

[pixelsword]

Whatever console I got I got the bad: YLOD, RROD....

...everything except 1080pHDTV. :(

[Dirk Benedict]

I am sorry, I can't hear the bots over the Final Fantasy XIII battle music.

[acere]

up to this date i havent buy anything related to xbox360 and im not going start now for all i care they could sell them at 49.99 i still dont want them

[Bubbles_Kitty_Cat]

Thanks for sharing.

[ASSASSYN 36o]

Yes your opinion is so important to the us and even MS. Thx for sharing.

[acere]

no body wants this console i sure dont want 1 even if is free, u would need to invest extra money to have a decent gaming console , sorry i allready did this when i choose the ps3

[labwarrior]

It is really the ultimate gaming deal of all time and then some

Also you get to play all multipltforms at their best (as always with the best console hardware and GPU around), like FF13 for example

And then, there are the unique XBLA titles to look forward too

[Trebius]

Here! Have a cookie!

[Obama]

I find this heater still pretty expensive. What do you guys think?

[lindquist]

3rd time I've seen that joke today here in N4G.
You guys are pretty clever!

[red2tango]

The PS2 didn't even have a low price like that in its 4th year. Well Microsoft will soon have to give away 360s to keep up with the PS3.

[DuneBuggy]

Just a couple points if I may.

Point 1) The PS2 didnt have the competition that the PS3 has endured since it launched,so why act surprised that Sony wasnt quick to drop its price then? Note how the Wii JUST dropped 50 bucks after being out for...3 years???

Point 2) It seems you relish the fact that some retail stores took it upon themselves to sell more 360's at a lower price. So tell me..How do you feel about a competitors console that not only reduced the price in HALF in less than 3 years,but also redesigned its SKU (at considerable development costs), and spent huge $$$ on a re launch campaign???

I wouldnt assume MS or Sony has a lock on second place this gen.

[Socomer 1979]

even the ps2 has kept thier demand high in its 4th year.
all signs are pointing to new console for the 360. lets hope microsoft stays in the game and not discontinue the xbox 360.

[labwarrior]

Let's get real, 360 is selling like hot cakes, and the best exlusives and deals are yet to come

[Trebius]

*pets you*

Its ok, boy...

Its ok...

[labwarrior]

RANK / TITLE / PLATFORM / PUBLISHER / RELEASE MONTH / UNITS

1 / Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 / 360 / Activision / Nov 2009 / 4.2 million

2 / Wii Fit (w/ Balance Board) / Wii / Nintendo / May 2008 / 3.5 million
3 / Wii Sports Resort (w/ Wii Motion Plus) / Wii / Nintendo / Jul 2009 / 2.4 million
4 / Wii Mario Kart (w/ Wheel) / Wii / Nintendo / Apr 2008 / 2.2 million
5 / Wii Play (w/ Remote ) / Wii / Nintendo / Feb 2007 / 2.1 million

6 / Halo 3: ODST / 360 / Microsoft / Sep 2009 / 2 million

7 / Pokemon Platinum Version / DS / Nintendo / Mar 2009 / 1.9 million

8 / Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 / PS3 / Activision / Nov 2009 / 1.9 million

9 / Madden NFL 10 / 360 / Electronic Arts / Aug 2009 / 1.5 million
10 / New Super Mario Bros. Wii / Wii / Nintendo / Nov 2009 / 1.4 million

As for the future titles, i can't think of a single game other than FF13 that i want badly for my PS3, when i could not do without Fable 3, Mass Effect 2, SC, Alan Wake etc upcoming for my 360

@ Trebius

Name ONE deep enough game coming to PS3, other than FF13
I will be waiting ... count out the movie Heavy Rain and the simplistic mindless action titles like GOW3

[Trebius]

You're trying so hard to justify your purchase lol...

Theres no games to look forward to on Ps3? ok -_-

I guess the 360 is the way to go...

Thank you for showing us the light my friend!

lol

You're pathetic.

[bjornbear]

looks like someone's homework assignment o.O

A+ for effort

F+ for conent

[ForROME]

When the 120GB Elite goes 199, Ill def get one, for my old xbox games alone plus some Halo and Mass Effect 199 is a sweet spot.

[Socomer 1979]

if it were $40 dollars.
i still wouldnt pay for gold xbox live though and i would pirate all the games for it.

what im trying to say is... I dont even want or need a xbox 360. Like Why? I got a PS3 dammit.

[testerg35]

Man.. you gotta love the way people think. When Sony lowered their prices from the original $600 to now $300, what was the reasoning? Right.. it was because "it cost lower to make the PS3". It couldn't be that after 3yrs, Sony was still in 3rd place and was barely gaining ground on the 360.

Now, whenever the 360 has its price lowered, its because MS is desperate!

[bjornbear]

but HOW LOW you sell your console at that given time.

PS3 went from 600 to 300 in 3 years - lowest price here is 300

360 went from 280 (arcade) to 110 - lowest price here is 110

Also look at percentage cut:

PS3 - 600 >> 300 = 50% - half

360 - 280 >> 110 = 40% - less than half

not only is the arcade selling at a lower price than the PS3 ever did, it has also cut its price MORE in a smaller space of time than PS3...

So your argument doesn't function.

[testerg35]

I don't believe these are "official" price cuts from MS, but are from specific stores.

[TABSF]

How do you know than Microsoft has not made modifications to its console.

Just because the outer shell has not changed does not mean the components inside have not.
When Microsoft switched to the jasper chipset, they may of introduced A smaller manufacturing process CPU, GPU and memory modules.
Saved money on Optical and Hard Disk Drives.

May be they don't want to confuse customers anymore so they don't shout about it

I had the release 60GB PS3 (YLOD now got slim) and the 360 (RROD replaced) one year after release and found the cooling on both was poor, the problem with consoles is that there is no intake fan.

If I was to remove my intake fan on my PC and only use my outtake fans then the system would increase its temperature by 10c or more because there is no cold air in the system, also there is no cooling on both consoles for the HDD.

[TABSF]

It will be cheaper than the PS2 by January sales lol

Guess they want market share over profits but IMHO that is smart business sense.
Microsoft does not really care for the Xbox their baby is Windows.

The Xbox was named after the DirectX API "DirectX box"
The DirectX 9 logo also looks like a mix between the original Xbox and Xbox logo

[CARRIERHASARRIVED]

They don't need to worry about their console. Live is their baby, not the console. Aside form Live what did they stick to? Since last gen, does anything but Live and Halo still seem present? The tech in that machine was just pricy pc parts, and that was 4 years ago. They could sell it for less than a ps2, and it wouldn't matter at this point.

[LOLatURDUMBAZZ]

Patcher said the price would drop next month. This is no suprise from retailers. I think its a good deal, but lol they have to drop the price to pretty much nothin just to move the old systems.

[Allowen]

When retailers start to drop too much the price of consoles it can mean that a new console is on the way and they want to clear their stock asap.

maybe Project Natal will not come as an acessory for Xbox360 but a new VG.

Was just wondering bc it is funny that you can buy now an xbox360 at the price of a Ps2 lol.

[SonySoldier]

I can just see it now. The store employees trying to make a sale.

Store Employee: We have these 360's that we cant seem to get rid of, so we are selling them for a cheap price.
360 Fanboy: Three hundred bucks.
Store Employee: The 360 is responsible for catching a house on fire and killing the family that was sleeping in the middle of the night.
360 Fanboy: Two hundred bucks.
Store Employee: And when we get the 360's back from people returning them for their money back, we found evil spirits living in the xbox that will kill anyone that owns them.
360 Fanboy: Three hundred bucks.

[Campy da Camper]

but a little over $100? I might just drop that for SPC and Alan Wake. Figure, I would have spent 60 bones per game and I can gamefly em for chump change, that would justify the system purchase.

Hmmmm

[Drab]

LoL!!!

[devilhunterx]

Still too expensive for a foot rest.

[Mizz_mai]

Microsoft Ultimate Desperation Attack!!!!!!!!!!!! Engage!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! lol

[spinbot_lv1]

I guess there are too many xbox360 stoked that retailers need desperately to get rid of them.
microsoft need to compete with ps3 sales numbers.this is why I believe that microsoft sales numbers are refferred only to "sell to retailers" and not "sell to customers".So it's very likely that retailers' stock are full of unsold xbox360.

[CARRIERHASARRIVED]

Still...no..hard drive though..? :( That's not much of a deal if I need to spend another $120.00 on an additional hdd. The Mom and Pops that are xmas shopping might pick one up though, solely based on the price. I still think the Elite bundle is the best value.

[ExposingLames]

that trash still costs to much, even if it comes with the extended warranty to cover your first 7 RRoDs