Xbox the same price as GC in UK!

[DVFtaxman]

So now that the Xbox is selling for the same price as the GC in the UK how do you think this will effect GC sales? Effectively this makes the Xbox actually cheaper out of the box as you don't need the memory card with Xbox.
In my mind this could really spice up the whole contest, especially with the PS2 being SOOO much more expensive than either of the others!
.
.
BTW this is available from COMET with NO trade in(unlike some stores).

 

[Dave Baumann]

I wish you hadn't have said that...

http://www.comet.co.uk/cometbrowse/product.do?sku=836956

(Mmmmmmm....)

 

[DVFtaxman]

£171 with an extra official controller and a game isn't a bad deal, but the news is that the SEGA pack will be released at the old £159 price......or so the chap in comet said today!

ie Xbox, extra controller, SEGA GT and JSRF.

 

[Teasy]

So is this another XBox price drop?! Or is this £129 deal only at some stores?

 

[wazoo]

Lowering the price of a product is not bad from a consumer point of view. Lowering it every month is not a good way to impress the public.

 

[Johnny Awesome]

 

[Steve Dave Part Deux]

Enjoy it while it lasts. Once Microsoft establishes themselves you can kiss this "competitive pricing" goodbye.

 

[Mr. Angry Pants]

What exactly do you mean by that?

 

[Steve Dave Part Deux]

Microsoft won't let themselves bleed forever. Once they have a substantial following they will no longer have to lure customers with ruinous pricing schemes.

 

[Mr. Angry Pants]

Oh, ok. I thought that would be fairly obvious, but hey...

 

[Steve Dave Part Deux]

It's fairly under-handed as well.

 

[Mr. Angry Pants]

Under-handed? Er, again, I don't follow you. How is price cutting under handed? It's an integral part of almost any retail strategy.

 

[mech]

Exactly. And if Microsoft chooses to price themselves out of the market, then another competitor will come along and steal their sales.

 

[wazoo]

Enjoy it while it lasts. Once Microsoft establishes themselves you can kiss this "competitive pricing" goodbye.

of course. The difference is that we are dealing with a market where you are not forced to buy products for compatibility reasons like the PC market. Sales have already shown that the public is not buying the cheapest product (see DC or even GC), but the product they think will have the best support/life span.

Microsoft will not win by lowering its price every month like they do but by releasing product tht appeal to the masses (the problem is not even to have good products or not).

 

[Teasy]

So is this actually an official U.K price drop to £129 for XBox or just a few shops selling them cheap?

 

[Steve Dave Part Deux]

I think most people either buy what their friends have, or buy whichever system has a specific game they are particularly fond of.
Mech- I think you're underestimating how difficult a market this is to break into. There aren't even a handful of companies who would even consider dropping the kind of money that Microsoft has to make Xbox a success, and even fewer with the media ties to compete with Sony. I don't see anyone coming into the console market unless they're riding on the back of a major software house.

 

[Glonk]

So is this actually an official U.K price drop to £129 for XBox or just a few shops selling them cheap?

Come on Teasy.

The official price hasn't changed -- do you not know how to look for press releases or what?

There are different promotional efforts going on in all the regions. Like in North America, you basically get a free DVD Playback Kit now (with rebate) when you buy an Xbox up through Nov 1st, plus the upcoming Sega kit (which is mostly to get rid of an overstock of the games I believe), etc are all promotional offers.

 

[FiggyG]

Ok, I might be ignorant for not knowing, but what is this Sega Kit thing?

 

[pxc]

Ok, I might be ignorant for not knowing, but what is this Sega Kit thing?

http://www.gamepro.com/index.html?/microsoft/xbox/games/news/26580.shtml

"The new bundle, which launches in some stores as early as October 15, will include your basic Xbox console, one Controller S (that's right, an S—not that regular big honker), and a disc containing the full versions of Jet Set Radio Future and Sega GT 2002. All this for a mere $199.99."

Is this still a rumor or has there been an official press release?

I played the demo of Sega GT 2002 on the current XBM DVD and I didn't like it. I think it would be a better bundle if they put Gunvalkyrie in there instead of Sega GT.

edit: If you're in the US, it's pretty incredible how many games and other hardware are available for really cheap. AnandTech forums has a thread listing them all, updating the deals on an ongoing basis. I've bought 4 games that I wanted, each for under $20. http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.cfm?catid=40&threadid=851314

 

[Mr. Angry Pants]

Sega GT demo is poor compared to the final product.