Microsoft drops Xbox 360 console prices
Cheapest model's tag cut by $80, to $199
By Danny King -- Video Business, 9/4/2008
SEPT. 4 | Microsoft is cutting the price of its Xbox 360 Arcade, the cheapest version of the model, by $80 to $199, effective Sept. 5. Prices on the Xbox 360 Pro and Xbox 360 Elite will be reduced by $50 to $299 and $399, respectively.
The price cut signifies Microsoft's efforts to narrow the gap with Nintendo and Sony's next-generation console systems, which had July U.S. sales of 555,000 units and 224,900 units, respectively, NPD Group said last month. Microsoft moved 204,800 Xbox 360 units that month.
Overall, July's games hardware sales jumped 17%, to $446.9 million.
"We are thrilled to be the first next-generation console on the market to reach $199, a price that invites everyone to enjoy Xbox 360," Don Mattrick, senior VP of Microsoft's interactive entertainment business, said in a statement.
For the most recently completed quarter, Microsoft's entertainment and devices division cut its operating loss by 85% from a year earlier to $188 million, as the unit's sales jumped 37% to $1.58 billion on increased Xbox sales, the company said in July.
