Price drops for late 2008...whats your guess?

[swlovinist]

As the console and portable wars go on as they have been, price drops will probably occur. With the up coming third year of the 360 in November, and the two year mark for the Wii and PS3, will we see a price drop on any of them? In my opinion, I see the following happening this holiday. Sony has the most to gain from a price drop. Xbox 360 could move some more systems getting below $299. The wii is sitting nicely at $250. I also think that the PSP could benifit from a price drop as well this holiday. What is your predictions this fourth quarter?

PS3 $350(40 GB)
360 $299(20 GB)
Wii $250
DS $130
PSP $150

[zektor]

My predictions are as such:

40GB PS3 will stay at $399, but will be more tempting as will be including a dual shock 3 and a game....possibly GTA4.

360 w/20 GB will be at $299

Wii stays at $249.99, but the pack in title changes.

DS will lower to a "magic" $99 price point and will sell incredibly through the Xmas season

PSP will stay at $169 and $199 respectively, but will sell well due to the fact that there will be multiple color releases and console/game packs...starting with the GOW Chains Of Olympus Red console and moving forward.

Yet another company enters the videogame console arena as well :)

Heh...felt just like the Q man for a minute there :)

[Leo_A]

I predict no price drops for 2008 besides perhaps the PS2 slim getting a $99 price in the United States.

[nestlekwik]

I've been told by a GameStop manager the Xbox 360 Arcade will drop to at least $250 this holiday season. I don't know how much stock to hold in it, but he seemed pretty sure about it. We'll see.

As for the DS, it's entirely possible, but not yet confirmed, a new version will be available. I could see a new version or Lite bundles hovering at standard prices and perhaps the Lite dropping to $99, but only if a new system design is introduced.

As posted above, I also could see the PS2 dropping a tad for one more serious holiday season on the market.

Overall, though, I'm going to think it's going to be like the past few years where the price stays the same, but you get more for your money (pack-in titles, special controllers, etc.).

[dgdgagdae]

Where's Anthony1 when you need him?

[chrisbid]

with fuel costs going up and a weakening dollar, it's unlikely we will see any price drops (maybe the PS2) this year

[DeputyMoniker]

I've been told by a GameStop manager the Xbox 360 Arcade will drop to at least $250 this holiday season. I don't know how much stock to hold in it, but he seemed pretty sure about it. We'll see.

And how the hell would he know that? It's way too early for him to know anything about a holiday price drop. He's making a guess. He may be right but it certainly wouldn't be due to having access to inside information.

[Lerxstnj]

The question is... How much for an Xbox 360 with motion controller, Blu-Ray player, and no RRod/overheating? I predict we will get these by X-mas, but won't be cheap.

[nestlekwik]

And how the hell would he know that? It's way too early for him to know anything about a holiday price drop. He's making a guess. He may be right but it certainly wouldn't be due to having access to inside information.

Of course he's making a guess. I never said it was true. Next time I see him I'll be sure to ask how he comes to this conclusion.

[Oobgarm]

I predict no price drops for 2008 besides perhaps the PS2 slim getting a $99 price in the United States.

Sounds about right to me.

[Berserker]

I'm kind of hoping they'll start dropping prices on some more of these Wii titles.

[7th lutz]

There shouldn't be price drops for next generation systems at this time.

I can see the Ps 2 having a price drop.

[Trevelyan]

bah, I hope the PS3 comes down in price over here in the UK, just a wee bit.

A PS3-GTAIV bundle was £320-ish in the UK, which is about $600. I think. I hope the MGS4 bundle is a bit cheaper tbh.

[DeputyMoniker]

If PS3 sales rise enough, the price wont drop. If things still aren't working out very well, I think they will drop it. Sony isn't dumping their resources into the BD race anymore so hopefully that will free up some cash to help get PS3's off the shelf. I don't know any more than anybody else here but that's my guess. I'm hoping for a $299 40GB but I doubt that will happen. Maybe $349. Price reduction isn't always good for business. Sometimes a high price makes people want it. Six Flags learned that the hard way.

[backguard]

Wii stays at $249.99, but the pack in title changes

maybe we will see some new bundles (like the old nes "action set" with the light gun or the "power set" with the power pad). it would be cool to see some sort of wii fit bundle.

[The 1 2 P]

The PS3 will need another price drop in the US if they hope to cetch up to the 360. And the 360 will drop in price to stay competitive. The Wii will not drop in price this year, but thats a given.

[Slate]

Where's Anthony1 when you need him?

He left DP

[josekortez]

I don't think any of the systems are going to drop in price, but the flood of newly-released software will drop like a rock, especially with the third-party PlayStation 3 games that hardly anybody buys, of course with the exception of Metal Gear Solid 4 and Grand Theft Auto 4 that will stay expensive until 2009.

[videogameking26]

I think their is a chance if MGS4 dosen't sell as well as their predicting then the 40Gig will drop $50 at the most this fall, maybe see a price drop for the slim PS2 or Xbox 360...Wii is just fine were it's at and for both handhelds they will probably stay the same.

IMO I think they should drop the 360 Elite a $100 and sell the MGS4 80 Gig Bundle for $400 then they will start getting some sells for the ones who have yet to make the next-gen leap.

[Trevelyan]

On Kotaku they have just released predictions from an "analyst", called Michael Pachter, who was "speaking at the Electronic Gaming Summit this afternoon".

linkee http://kotaku.com/5010005/pachter-console-price-drops-this-holiday



(bah, they are now reporting also that the PS3 MGS bundle pack is getting a British release. http://kotaku.com/5010045/hey-britain-you-are-getting-the-gun-metal-gray-ps3
£329.99 = $650. Bring on the price drop.)

[ProgrammingAce]

On Kotaku they have just released predictions from an "analyst", called Michael Pachter, who was "speaking at the Electronic Gaming Summit this afternoon".

Pachter knows less about the gaming industry then anthony1.

[calgon]

probably ps2, they can probably get away with it being 79-89 and still selling like hotcakes well after companies stop making games for it

[Trevelyan]

Pachter knows less about the gaming industry then anthony1.

That bad? Well we'll just have to wait & see I suppose, I really hope the PS3 drops by £50 or so over here in Brit-land.

[Trebuken]

I believe Nintendo stated that they see no reason to lower the price as long as Wii's continue to sell at the rate they are.

Also Xbox 360 and PS3 manufacturing costs have gone down, I would guess that the PS3 more so. I expect a PS3 price drop, possibly after E3.
Sony needs to get more systems out the door to catch Microsoft and to gain ground on the PS2's declining sales.

I expect Microsoft will wait for Sony's price drop and go from there. Let's hope they do release a Blu-Ray model...

[Trumpman]

I really hope that the Xbox 360 Elite drops by $50. I want to get that one, but $450 is too expensive. Gah - why can't they just have one simple SKU?

[Captain Wrong]

Pachter knows less about the gaming industry then anthony1.

If you read the comments on that thread, they mention Kotaku doing a score card for the analysts and Patcher came out ahead of everyone else being right like 70-80% of the time, and one of the things he got wrong was very close to being right.

That said, I'd be surprised to see anything other than a PS2 drop, and even then, I'm not sure they need one.

[zemmix]

I vote for huge price drops, say $199 20gb 360. The 360 is how old now? In all these years the price really hasn't changed as far as I'm concerned. All the gamers that wanted to and were willing to pay the current high price for one already has, and twice for some to replace their broken units. Who's left to buy them? The moms will buy their kids Wii's which will have much better stock this Christmas and the more high tech/casual gaming connoisseur would go for the PS3 since it has bluray for only $50 more than the current price of a 20gb.

[ProgrammingAce]

If you read the comments on that thread, they mention Kotaku doing a score card for the analysts and Patcher came out ahead of everyone else being right like 70-80% of the time, and one of the things he got wrong was very close to being right.

Maybe i'm splitting hairs here, but i didn't say he was usually wrong. I said he doesn't know much about the gaming industry. He makes a lot of predictions that someone like anthony1 would make. Not exactly earth shattering.

Most of his hardware predictions, for example, are after the device has already gone to manufacturing. By that point the cat's out of the bag and the media is already receiving samples under NDA. Most of his "predictions" are well known to those "in the know" long before he reports them.

He's only gotten the press he has because he sends press releases straight to Kotaku and joystiq

[otaku]

Yet another company enters the videogame console arena as well :)

Heh...felt just like the Q man for a minute there :)[/QUOTE]

Which company do you think will enter? Sega? hehe man I wish.

A price drop for the DS would be a good move.
360 should drop about 50 bucks
I'd slash the price of the ps3 50-100 or start packing in some games with it
PSP-I think with more system colors and games the price isn't bad but if DS drops a 20-3o matching drop would be a good move