Microsoft UK Director: "We'll Spend Tens of Millions"

[fitbabits]

If any further proof were needed that Microsoft is switching focus away from North America to the UK and Europe in a bid to win the hearts and minds of consumers in the face of the increasingly popular PlayStation 3, then let this be it:

Senior regional director of Microsoft UK Neil Thompson has told MCV that the recent price cuts are the opening gambit in a peak season which will see “tens of millions” spent on marketing the Xbox brand.

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From today, the 60GB model will now cost the consumer just £169.99 – ten pounds cheaper than market leader Wii.

“We think that for high definition entertainment Xbox is first choice,” said Thompson.

“We’ve been talking to all of our retail partners about what we’re doing at Christmas and we’ve been very bold and ambitious about how successful we think we can be.

Once you get to the price points we’re now at, the mass market can see the opportunity to step into the HD world.

“On marketing we’ll spend tens of millions – we’re going to engage in a very bold promotional push from now until Christmas.”
The price cuts will absolutely help, but will it be enough to alter the minds of skeptics in the UK and Europe? Time, and tens of millions of pounds, will tell.

Source (http://www.mcvuk.com/news/31825/Xbox-spending-tens-of-millions-on-Xmas)

[Demo_Boy]

And Best buy is selling Pros in Canada for @ $269 -- $10 less than a Wii.
That's pretty awesome.

Why even bother to sell the Arcade? I guess it is a nice price point... @ 199 but lacking the HD...

It will be interesting to see if Nintendo makes a price adjustment or thinks they are selling to a sufficiently different customer and just holds the line.

Has the Wii ever had a price drop?

[fitbabits]

And Best buy is selling Pros in Canada for @ $269 -- $10 less than a Wii.
That's pretty awesome.

Why even bother to sell the Arcade? I guess it is a nice price point... @ 199 but lacking the HD...

It will be interesting to see if Nintendo makes a price adjustment or thinks they are selling to a sufficiently different customer and just holds the line.

Has the Wii ever had a price drop?

The Wii hasn't been dropped in price, nor do I expect this will make that happen. The PS3, though...?

[Demo_Boy]

Let me know if links like this aren't kosher & I'll remove. Did I miss this second price drop announcement?
Pro:
http://www.bestbuy.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?logon=&langid=EN&sku_id=0926INGFS10098283&catid=23383
Price:
$269.99

[Demo_Boy]

BBuy is showing $399 for the 80GB PS3 w/o back compat
It does not show if there is a pack in either.

[TrackZero]

Why even bother to sell the Arcade? I guess it is a nice price point... @ 199 but lacking the HD...

As someone who's used many arcade systems now (no, I have a standard pro myself), I'll keep saying there's absolutely nothing wrong with them. The cases where you really need the HD space when you look across all the games on the console is very small. It's also targeting the offline market, people who will not be touching DLC. I don't see what's so difficult to understand about markets, other than your own, needing a product for themselves. Hardcore gamers are not the centre of the universe, even though we'd love to think it.

[menage]

I thought UK was already pretty 360 focused. It's the rest of Europe (the Sunny part especially), which is the problem.

[karak]

If any further proof were needed that Microsoft is switching focus away from North America to the UK and Europe in a bid to win the hearts and minds of consumers in the face of the increasingly popular PlayStation 3, then let this be it:


...Switching focus? I never got that. I thought they were just putting more into Europe than before. But switching focus? Are they not seperate entities with their own budgets?

[Grifter]

I don't see why anyone who is interested in gaming overall would buy a Wii instead of a 360 at this point.

If all's you want is a fun little party machine to show off to your technology illiterate friends a few times a year then by all means grab a Wii but any one who wants more than 6 worthwhile games spanning multiple genres for cheap you only they have two choices, the PS2 or the 360.

[Demo_Boy]

Retailers in the thread linked were complaining that 360s were not moving at all and customers had been scared away by reliability issues.

[Talon-]

Microsoft wants to sell more consoles.

This [your town]'s best weather team at 11.

[oldjadedgamer]

I never understood the European market. They have such weird gaming tastes... after all the Sega Master System outsold the NES over there.

[bean19]

Price drops always help, though I'm not sure what pricepoint is mass-market in Europe.