I dimly recall the Gamecube dropping in price by £40 BEFORE it was launched (to put it in perspective without having to go through a million different exchange rates, it launched in 2002 for a third of the price of the Bone in 2013).

Didn't PS3 have a similarly terrible launch? I definitely recall buying my launch PS3 off of ebay for about £80 (roughly $120-130) cheaper than the RRP, and that was less than two weeks after launch. And come to think of it, wasn't the same person- Phil Harrison- responsible for both the PS3 and the Bone's launch?