NEWS - Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Xbox 360 Price Cut in Australia
The advertisement pictured, which features in the latest Australian Kmart catalog according to The Sydney Morning Herald, suggests that the Xbox 360 Pro will be slashed from its current recommended retail price of AUD $579 to AUD $499 from July 3.
Now, new reports from consumer sites GameSpot and IGN have confirmed the reduction.
Microsoft’s Jeremy Hinton told GameSpot that the reduction has nothing to do with competitive pressure. "This is a strategy we’ve had for some time," he said. "Decisions are made not necessarily around what the competition are doing. And from our point of view, the last 12 months have been very successful--more dollars have gone through retail tills on Xbox 360 products than both of our competitors."
It has been heavily rumored this week that Microsoft is preparing to cut the North American price of the Xbox 360 Pro by $50 to $299. The rumor was given weight by a recent US Kmart ad before seemingly being confirmed by a major retailer and other industry sources.
Prominent analysts also expect a North American price cut to be introduced shortly, telling Next-Gen that such a move is likely required if Microsoft intends to fend off competition from Sony’s rival PlayStation 3 console.
Microsoft has chosen not to comment on what it labels "rumor and speculation".
Source: http://www.next-gen.biz
