Greenberg: Kinect pricing "speculative"

By Tom Bramwell Published 15 June, 2010

Real deals "not yet determined".

Microsoft's Aaron Greenberg has tweeted that pricing info for Kinect released by retailers is not accurate.

"No Kinect price announced yet, retail price estimates are purely speculative, final price & pack-in details are not yet determined," he wrote, hours after GameStop pointed to a $149.99 price for the add-on.

Microsoft said earlier tonight that Kinect will launch in the US on 4th November, has shown off a range of first-party launch games and listed third-party efforts, and has outlined software updates for the 360 interface that use Kinect.

However, it has avoided the pricing issue entirely.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (33) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Lusterpurge #1 2 years ago

    Judging by the fact they didn't announce the price and Kinect is coming out in November, I doubt they have the final price set in stone.

  • Steroyd #2 2 years ago

    They're definately waiting for Sony to announce the price first.

  • Shinetop #3 2 years ago

    Judging by the fact they didn't announce the price and Kinect is coming out in November, I doubt they have the final price set in stone.

    Either that, or they knew the price would be considered a dissapointment and didn't bother to announce the bad news until after the E3 news frenzy has died down.

  • AphoticCosmos #4 2 years ago

    This is marketing speak for "UK to get shafted again in price shocker!

  • Lee_Morris #5 2 years ago

    Exactly what I was thinking Shinetop. If the price was under $100 they'd be shouting it from the roof tops.

  • TheWretched #6 2 years ago

    He was in an Interview on the day of their "Cirque du Soleil" event and dismissed even Kinect as the true name... OBVIOUSLY he won't say "although we didn't mention the price of Kinect at the press event, it will be so and so".

  • macmurphy #7 2 years ago

    Yeah, have to say price is massive. Just because the odd lunatic will drop a k for a wii at Christmas, doesn't mean people don't vote with their wallets.

    The ps3 really struggled to start. This is especially true if they are trying to shift peripherals people can live without. It becomes even more telling when you remember that if the kinetic does launch at £100, by the time you have a couple of games for it you're looking at the same price as a new wii.

    If this is over a tonne I'm waiting for a price drop, and if everyone does that there's a chance momentum stalls. No one has one, so no one makes games for it, so no one buys one because there isn't a compelling reason to do so.

    This is a gross simplification, but I think the danger is real and Microsoft know this so are still unsure on the pricepoint. The one good thing about their xbox division is that they are traditionally willing to make losses to intall a massive user base. I think we may see the same here, the wii's success will make them realise that they need to get on board, regardless of short term results

  • Shinetop #8 2 years ago

    Yeah, have to say price is massive. Just because the odd lunatic will drop a k for a wii at Christmas, doesn't mean people don't vote with their wallets.

    Somebody payed a thousand pounds for a Wii?

  • andijames #9 2 years ago

    @PatAU

    In all fairness mate that was for full systems not an add-on to a system you must have/purchase first beforehand

  • rotmm #10 2 years ago

    @Shinetop,

    When it was hard to get hold of, people were paying stupid money on eBay.

  • macmurphy #11 2 years ago

    @shinetop

    [link url= http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/2007/12/10/n intendo-wii-selling-for-1000-on-ebay-86908-20227787/
    ]http://ww w.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/uk-wor...[/link]

    If you do a quick google a website mentions the highest price being £2259, recorded in the Sun newspaper but I couldn't find the article in the Sun so that maybe porkies.

    [link url=http://www.wiitalk. co.uk/forums/wii-hardware-discussion/7133-worlds-most-expens ive-wii-2.html
    ]http://ww w.wiitalk.co.uk/forums/wii-hard...[/link]

    2-3x retail was fairly standard on Ebay when they came out.

  • Caimbeul #12 2 years ago

    Needs to be £50 or it wont sell well.

  • Guitarnerd87 #13 2 years ago

    @Steroyd

    haven't Sony already said it'll be about £60 for move + eyetoy + a game? I think microsoft will either have to have it sub £100 plus a game otherwise the casual Market probably won't bite. Or need to show a proper killer app to get the hardcore in, Sony have that same problem but the lower all inclusive price might suck the casuals in.

  • SlackMaster #14 2 years ago

    DS and Wii are both under £200, if Kinect is packed with a console it needs to be under this price point to compete... Yes the console is more advanced and there are some clever little things you can do on the dash and while watching movies but as the name casual implies, gaming is not their main hobby... Maybe the release of the Wii has actually changed peoples perspectives and there may no longer be the same sort of market for motion controls as there once was...

  • mcmonkeyplc #15 2 years ago

    They are playing the waiting game with Sony AND they are still probably trying to get the best deal possible out of their parts suppliers. When we have to announce pricing to a customer we sometimes wait until the day before the contract is signed before we tell them the final price so it can be as low as possible and still give us the desired mark up.

    I assume this is what MS are doing.

  • I\'mListening #16 2 years ago

    From what I've seen of it so far I won't even pay £1 for it

  • cen4pgb #17 2 years ago

    @ Guitarnerd87

    They might but surely thats a move, whereas a single natels all you'll ever need, whereas surely you'll have to buy extra moves for each player?

  • Guitarnerd87 #18 2 years ago

    @cen4pgb

    Yeah very good point, though you only need one eye toy so without a game and eye toy the price of an extra move should be a bit lower, £30-40 would probably be about right if the £60 figure is correct. I'm also guessing the nunchuck type accesory comes with it.

  • captainrentboy #19 2 years ago

    £100 is the absolute maximum I'd pay for it, and I'd hope that would come bundled with some kind of playable software too.
    Strangely, as it's not my type of thing at all, I found last night's YourShape demo the most impressive, that's what most effectively showed the difference between playing with remotes in your hands and controlling everything by just movement.
    Kinect Adventures looked like a good one to play pissed too.

  • ParanoidZombie #20 2 years ago

    The thing with natal is that you only need to buy one single unit and you're set. Move/ Wiimote require you to buy at least 2 controllers if you want to play with other people. 4-player game = 4 controllers = much more expensive than 1 Kinect (hate that name).

    EDIT: and Kinect doesn't require batteries!
    Edited by 1 at 15/06/10 @ 11:25

  • persus-9 #21 2 years ago

    Another thing to consider is five months is a long time in the currency markets at the moment. If they announced a price in Euros and then the Euro crashed and they had to up the price before the release the bad press would be horrible. Better for them just to wait and see at this point.

  • ChocNut #22 2 years ago

    Considering this thing requires it's own power supply and the only thing that looks interesting (for about 5 minutes I'll wager) is the menu controls I doubt I'll bother. I'd have to think about it if it was 70 euro - at these prices I don't know how well it will do...

  • peteb #23 2 years ago

    I'm worried that 2 players may be the maximum. I mean everything last night was 2 players max. :(

  • darkmorgado #24 2 years ago

    Considering this thing requires it's own power supply

    Not if you have an XBox slim it doesn't - the slim has a dedicated port for Kinect that it draws power through, bypassing the need for a separate PSU.

  • Shinetop #25 2 years ago

    I'm worried that 2 players may be the maximum. I mean everything last night was 2 players max. :(

    They've repeatedly stated that it can work with up to 4 players.
    Edited by 1 at 15/06/10 @ 14:07

  • sneetch #26 2 years ago

    Machael Pachter was interviewed by the Spike TV guys on Gametrailers and he made some good points (I know, I'm surprised I'm saying that too ;) ), he reckoned there were two conflicting schools of thought in MS regarding the price point.

    The first was charge a high price, get the money for the hardware up front and the second was charge a low price, take a hit and make it up on increased console sales, software sales, DLC and movies. He reckoned they'll probably go with the first option as you can always drop the price later, but raising it is never a good idea.

  • BlinxHDD #27 2 years ago

    It would have been embarassing to announce the price as $150 then SCEA announce $80 for the Move bundle.

  • rotmm #28 2 years ago

    @AphoticCosmos, "This is marketing speak for "UK to get shafted again in price shocker!"

    I think you'll find that MS aren't Sony or Nintendo and tend to not shaft the UK consumer. In fact, the UK prices from MS (if you take off VAT) are often cheaper than our American cousins.

    Of course, both Sony and Nintendo like to include a special "EU Tax" to fleece their most loyal customers.

  • Machiavellian #29 2 years ago

    Michael Patcher is an idiot.

    He does realise that Nintendo have managed to raise the price of the DS on at least two separate occasions, and the thing has sold more after the fact?

    Wait a minute, of course he doesnt realise that because its not convenient to his paymasters' agenda.

    He said it was not a GOOD idea, he didn't say no one has done it. If you think about it a little more you will see that it isn't a good ideal to raise the price of your product.

    I also agree with Patcher that MS will not go the red route anymore. At this point in time MS is concerned about making revenue then marketshare I believe. I also believe that Sony doesn't want to go the red route either just to gain more market share. Right now they are doing pretty good and it doesn't make sense to throw that money away when they are already gaining on the 360.

  • Murton #30 2 years ago

    MS originally touted in the reveal that you'd get all this Natal goodness for "less than 100 USD" the lack of a price at this stage would suggest that despite the design being changed to remove components (which was interpreted as a cost cutting exercise) the price may actually increase, this could be for any number of reasons.

    I very much doubt that they're waiting for Sony as Steroid suggests as they would lose the initiative that they've fought so hard to keep throughout this gen. Strategically it is much more beneficial to set your price first and force your competition to try and match you.

  • mke67 #31 2 years ago

    This crap better not cost more than $100. They haven't even got a game worthy of it yet. Just about everything we have seen is reminiscent of a NINTENDO game. MS needs some better shit than these games they are hawking or this device will be a waste.

  • SomaticSense #32 2 years ago

    Mark my words, quote this if you like:

    It'll be £149.99 rrp.

  • AbeFroman #33 2 years ago

    £149.99.

    Then they'll sell about 3. And it will bomb. Hard.