Microsoft Xbox Console Sales Double After Price Cut

[Gazz]

Microsoft Xbox Console Sales Double After Price Cut (Update1) By Dina Bass Sept. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Microsoft Corp. doubled sales of the Xbox 360 video game machine last weekend after cutting the price by as much as 29 percent to narrow Nintendo Co.'s lead. Retailers reported a 100 percent increase in sales for all models compared with the previous weekend, Redmond, Washington- based Microsoft said in an e-mailed statement. Some models sold at six times the previous weekend's rate. The company didn't say how many were sold. The Sept. 5 price cut gave Microsoft a model that costs less than Nintendo's market-leading Wii for the first time. Sony Corp.'s PlayStation 3, making inroads with new games and a Blu-ray DVD player, also beat the Xbox 360 in U.S. sales in June and July, according to NPD Group, a Port Washington, New York-based research firm. Microsoft rose 34 cents to $26.44 at 4 p.m. New York time in Nasdaq Stock Market trading.

[interman]

So what would be enough?

[Gazz]

Originally Posted by interman

So what would be enough?

The goal of MS is too maintain higher sales then the PS3 in North America, their home market. Last week they sold 51,978 versus PS3's 72,479. If they maintain double sales troughout this week (even that is going to be hard since launchday and the first weekend are the busiest times) they will be at 100.000+ at best. Previous pricecuts on the 360 (in Europe) and PS3 (250% in America) have proven to give a boost off 20% and aproximatly 45% (PS3) for an extended period at best.

20% isn't even enough to outsell the PS3 in America and the wave of negative press surrounding that will drop sales even further. From my pov MS cheapened it's image too much in a desperate attempt to get Wii owners and PS3 owners to the same console without a well thought out marketing plan or enough recent games to support it.

I also read they are going to dissamble ensemble studios.. Why they would kill the (name off the) best gamestudio they have is beyond me.

[Richard_Rahl]

Ensemble studios, isn't that the team behind Age of Empires (1) ?

[interman]

Yeah. They're working on Halo Wars right now, and they're being relocated when that's done - probably into some other franchise at some other studio.