Although Microsoft is doing quite well in North America and Europe, sales of the Xbox 360 in Japan have been nothing but abysmal. To show how desperate they are, the company announced a price cut of the console in the country by about 13 percent. The Xbox 360 will be sold for 34,800 yen (US $304) starting November 1, down from 39,975 yen (US $348). That’s the price for the premium model, with the Core model going for 27,800 yen ($240).
This comes after Sony cut prices on the PS3 by $100, marketing two $399 and $499 models in all regions. The Wii currently sells for around 25,000 yen ($219) in Japan.
The very trusty and reliable mole over at Ars Technica has dropped details that Sony will drop the price of both its consoles - PS2 and PS3 - this Holiday season. Their informer is saying that the 80GB PS3 will be sold for $499, while a new 40GB model would be introduced at $399, with Spider-Man 3 on Blu-ray thrown in on both packages.
He also notes that the PS2 price will drop down to a more palatable $99, which has been expected for a long time now. Sony is expected to make these announcements at this week’s Tokyo Game Show. However, until the company makes such announcements, these are to be taken with a grain of salt.
Although the company denied any price cuts just a few weeks ago, Sony’s European division has announced that the PS2 will now retail for €130 (£95) in the region; the price of the 8MB memory card for the console has also had its price cut to €20.
The price reduction can be attributed to “significant advances in manufacturing efficiency” which has seen global shipments of over 106 million units worldwide.
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