Posted on Thursday, August 07 2008 @ 0:00 CEST by Thomas De Maesschalck
Word is going around that Microsoft
intends to drop the price of its Xbox 360 Arcade console to $199 in September.
In a bid to boost sales of its Xbox 360 game console, Microsoft Corp. reportedly plans to drop the price of the entry-level version of the system to $199, starting next month. The price-cut will help to sell considerably more Xbox 360 hardware on the domestic market. However, Microsoft still needs additional software to improve popularity of its console both in Europe and the U.S.
According to news-stories by Ars Technica and VGChartz web-sites, starting from the 7th of September, 2008, Microsoft will sell Xbox 360 Arcade for $199, Xbox 360 Pro for $299 and Xbox 360 Elite for $399. The price-cut is set to coincide with the release of Square Enix's Infinite Undiscovery and 2 weeks before Harmonix/EA's Rock Band 2, which are titles exclusively developed for the Xbox 360 platform.
Sales of Microsoft Xbox 360 have been slowing down for some time now, partly because of the success of Nintendo Wii, partly because the company has to offer new games so that to attract attention of various gamers. The price-cut along with the launch of two potentially popular titles may skyrocket popularity of the game console. Furthermore, in case sales of the X360 really increase considerably, it may catalyze Nintendo, which sells its popular Wii for $249, to also reduce the pricing.
