zippyjuan
06-11-2007, 03:18 PM
http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/multimedia/display/20070610235102.html
But no talk yet about any price cut to help them do that.
Microsoft Wants to Sell 90 Million Xbox 360 Game Consoles.
Microsoft Aims to Broaden Xbox 360 Demographic
Category: Multimedia
by Anton Shilov
[ 06/10/2007 | 11:51 PM ]
Microsoft Corp. have admitted that its Xbox 360 game console is not selling as good as Nintendo Wii because of the price, however, it said that although the company wants to sell 90 million of its latest game consoles, it has no plans to cut the price of the Xbox 360 shortly.
While both Microsoft Xbox 360 and Sony PlayStation 3 mostly appeal to hardcore gamers, Nintendo Wii are aimed at more casual buyers. As a result, the latest console from Nintendo attracts those, who would never pay attention to PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360, not only because of complicated games, but also because of the price.
“We are well aware that the sweet spot of the market is really $199. Wii costs $250 and makes a strong value proposition. When mom walks into the store and sees she can get a console with a game for $250, she sees it as a $300 value. They’ve done a good job,” said David Hufford, a director of Xbox product management, in an interview with Bloomberg.
Mr. Hufford was rather quick to clarify that his commend did not signal a price drop and said that the Xbox 360 was selling “well” at current price-points, $299, $399 and $479. Nevertheless, Xbox 360 price reduction is inevitable, even though, this should rather be made earlier rather than later, claims Peter Moore, corporate vice president of the interactive entertainment business in the entertainment and devices division of Microsoft Corp.
“If we don’t make that move, make it early and expand our demographic, we will wind up in the same place as with Xbox 1, a solid business with 25 million people. What I need is a solid business with 90 million people,” Mr. Moore said.
Given that the price drop was not directly confirmed, it is impossible to say whether the company actually reduces the price by Christmas. Considering that now Sony’s PlayStation 3 still costs considerably more than Xbox 360, the world’s largest maker of software still has better position than its direct rival. Nevertheless, without an affordable Xbox 360 machine and games that are aimed at children and casual gamers, it is hard to imagine how Microsoft plans to attract 90 million customers to its latest game console.
Microsoft executives said early this year that “due to unsold inventories in stores”, they expect to ship a total of 12 million Xbox 360 gaming machines by the end of the fiscal year in June, down from their previous target of 13 million to 15 million
And in other news, Sony finally hit one million sales in Europe.
Sony PlayStation 3 Hits One Million Milestone in PAL Regions.
One Million PlayStation 3 Sold Across PAL Countries
Category: Multimedia
by Anton Shilov
[ 06/10/2007 | 11:48 PM ]
Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) said that one million of end-users have acquired Sony PlayStation 3 gaming machine in all countries. Even though one million sell-through units seems to be quite an achievement, not everything is that bright.
“Early last week we went through the one million mark on PS3. And we did that in nine and a half weeks. That was faster than both PS2 and PSOne. And I think that the analysts out there will also realise that it’s faster than our brothers and sisters in the competitive world,” said David Reeves, president of SCEE, in an interview with MCV web-site.
Despite of the fact that PAL regions that are services by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe have considerably higher population than the U.S.’s 300 million (population of the European Union alone was estimated to be 728 million back in 2005), it took nearly ten weeks to sell through a million of PS3 game consoles. It was earlier estimated that in the U.S. customers acquired one million PlayStation 3 machines in about 8 weeks.
SCEE earlier said that that on the launch weekend of PS3 it sold about 600 thousand of consoles, which means that during the following weeks the demand towards the new PlayStation have been gradually decreasing, an alarming fact for Sony. Though, not a surprising one, as the PlayStation 3 carries an unbelievable price tag for PAL regions.
Initially Sony only sells higher-end PlayStation 3 version of the console, with 60GB hard disk drive, for €599 ($777) in the most of the markets and for pricing close to that in variety of countries (UK – £425 ($837), Ireland – €629 ($816), Australia – AUD 999.95 ($777), New Zealand – NZ 1199.95 ($840)).
Sony PlayStation 3 console is based on the Cell processor developed by IBM, Sony and Toshiba, the RSX graphics chip by Nvidia Corp., wireless network and Bluetooth connectivity and is equipped with Blu-ray optical disk drive. There are two versions of the PlayStation console available in the USA and Japan: one is equipped with 20GB hard disk drive and priced at $499, another features 60GB hard drive, card reader and some other improvements and is offered for $599.
But no talk yet about any price cut to help them do that.
Microsoft Wants to Sell 90 Million Xbox 360 Game Consoles.
Microsoft Aims to Broaden Xbox 360 Demographic
Category: Multimedia
by Anton Shilov
[ 06/10/2007 | 11:51 PM ]
Microsoft Corp. have admitted that its Xbox 360 game console is not selling as good as Nintendo Wii because of the price, however, it said that although the company wants to sell 90 million of its latest game consoles, it has no plans to cut the price of the Xbox 360 shortly.
While both Microsoft Xbox 360 and Sony PlayStation 3 mostly appeal to hardcore gamers, Nintendo Wii are aimed at more casual buyers. As a result, the latest console from Nintendo attracts those, who would never pay attention to PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360, not only because of complicated games, but also because of the price.
“We are well aware that the sweet spot of the market is really $199. Wii costs $250 and makes a strong value proposition. When mom walks into the store and sees she can get a console with a game for $250, she sees it as a $300 value. They’ve done a good job,” said David Hufford, a director of Xbox product management, in an interview with Bloomberg.
Mr. Hufford was rather quick to clarify that his commend did not signal a price drop and said that the Xbox 360 was selling “well” at current price-points, $299, $399 and $479. Nevertheless, Xbox 360 price reduction is inevitable, even though, this should rather be made earlier rather than later, claims Peter Moore, corporate vice president of the interactive entertainment business in the entertainment and devices division of Microsoft Corp.
“If we don’t make that move, make it early and expand our demographic, we will wind up in the same place as with Xbox 1, a solid business with 25 million people. What I need is a solid business with 90 million people,” Mr. Moore said.
Given that the price drop was not directly confirmed, it is impossible to say whether the company actually reduces the price by Christmas. Considering that now Sony’s PlayStation 3 still costs considerably more than Xbox 360, the world’s largest maker of software still has better position than its direct rival. Nevertheless, without an affordable Xbox 360 machine and games that are aimed at children and casual gamers, it is hard to imagine how Microsoft plans to attract 90 million customers to its latest game console.
Microsoft executives said early this year that “due to unsold inventories in stores”, they expect to ship a total of 12 million Xbox 360 gaming machines by the end of the fiscal year in June, down from their previous target of 13 million to 15 million
And in other news, Sony finally hit one million sales in Europe.
Sony PlayStation 3 Hits One Million Milestone in PAL Regions.
One Million PlayStation 3 Sold Across PAL Countries
Category: Multimedia
by Anton Shilov
[ 06/10/2007 | 11:48 PM ]
Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) said that one million of end-users have acquired Sony PlayStation 3 gaming machine in all countries. Even though one million sell-through units seems to be quite an achievement, not everything is that bright.
“Early last week we went through the one million mark on PS3. And we did that in nine and a half weeks. That was faster than both PS2 and PSOne. And I think that the analysts out there will also realise that it’s faster than our brothers and sisters in the competitive world,” said David Reeves, president of SCEE, in an interview with MCV web-site.
Despite of the fact that PAL regions that are services by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe have considerably higher population than the U.S.’s 300 million (population of the European Union alone was estimated to be 728 million back in 2005), it took nearly ten weeks to sell through a million of PS3 game consoles. It was earlier estimated that in the U.S. customers acquired one million PlayStation 3 machines in about 8 weeks.
SCEE earlier said that that on the launch weekend of PS3 it sold about 600 thousand of consoles, which means that during the following weeks the demand towards the new PlayStation have been gradually decreasing, an alarming fact for Sony. Though, not a surprising one, as the PlayStation 3 carries an unbelievable price tag for PAL regions.
Initially Sony only sells higher-end PlayStation 3 version of the console, with 60GB hard disk drive, for €599 ($777) in the most of the markets and for pricing close to that in variety of countries (UK – £425 ($837), Ireland – €629 ($816), Australia – AUD 999.95 ($777), New Zealand – NZ 1199.95 ($840)).
Sony PlayStation 3 console is based on the Cell processor developed by IBM, Sony and Toshiba, the RSX graphics chip by Nvidia Corp., wireless network and Bluetooth connectivity and is equipped with Blu-ray optical disk drive. There are two versions of the PlayStation console available in the USA and Japan: one is equipped with 20GB hard disk drive and priced at $499, another features 60GB hard drive, card reader and some other improvements and is offered for $599.