MS: Elite pricing unrelated to PS3 Slim

By Robert Purchese Published 27 August, 2009

"We have our own rhythm," says Lewis.

Microsoft Europe bigwig Chris Lewis has shrugged off suggestions that this morning's Xbox 360 Elite price-drop was done deliberately to undermine the imminent launch of PS3 Slim.

"As we've said before, we have our own rhythm that we march to and that's not going to change," Chris Lewis, VP of MS Europe, told GamesIndustry.biz.

"The timing was very deliberate: these things take considerable time to plan, and for that reason I'm sure you'll appreciate this is very much part of the strategy that was planned some time ago.

"We think it's very appropriate anyway," he added. "We've always said we'd offer great value and be competitive, we're still €50 or better in price than our nearest competition, and we'll focus on creating great value as well as fabulous services and content for consumers."

Lewis said a move like this will be "part and parcel of the plan" for Xbox 360 over its lifetime, however long that may be. "Our appetite to continue to win, and to hold our lead and grow our lead over the competition is very central to what we have planned in and budgeted in for the year," he explained.

As of tomorrow, the Xbox 360 Elite costs £199.99, while the Xbox 360 Arcade rises to £159.99. This, as Lewis reiterated, is to offset exchange rate "fluctuations" in the UK.

He is confident Microsoft still offers "the most affordable console on the market", though, and expects people to continue "flocking" to shops to buy it.

Incidentally, the removal of the HDMI lead from the Xbox 360 Elite box gives "flexibility" to buyers to decide what sort of set-up configuration they want, said Lewis. Shortly before, he rather more credibly suggested the lead was taken out so the price could be lowered.

Head over to GamesIndustry.biz for the full chat with Microsoft's Chris Lewis.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (63) Latest comment 2 years ago

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

  • Daymare #1 3 years ago

    *cough*bullshit*cough*
    Edited by 1 at 27/08/09 @ 13:39

  • Beek4257 #2 3 years ago

    Or:
    "We like money and want some more."

  • mingster #3 3 years ago

    "planned some time ago"
    as soon as they saw the price of a PS3..
    So last Monday.

  • serpantdarius #4 3 years ago

    suuuuuuurrrreeee, we believe you microsoft, hey is that a flying pig?

  • Kazzahdrane #5 3 years ago

    I don't see how removing a video cable can possibly give flexibility, there's no way they can spin that...

  • Ryze #6 3 years ago

    I'm wondering if the internal flash on the Arcade model has been increased. As things stand, it's enough to save a few games, so it's not too bad.

    Shame that the Arcade is no longer a quick fix replacement or secondary 360 console / Media Centre extender, though.

  • Olemak #7 3 years ago

    Also, the horrible racket the xbox fans makes is concidered "ambience", and perhaps even "an auditory cue indicating the operational status of the device". I also suspect this guy is very impressed with the multi-function aspects of the XBox, which can function as a heating device as well as playing media. Itæs an all in one solution.

  • Bigglesworth #8 3 years ago

    the removal of the HDMI lead from the Xbox 360 Elite box gives "flexibility" to buyers to decide what sort of set-up configuration they want

    Yeah, people were getting tired of those damn HDMI leads jumping right out of the box and around customers throats, demanding they buy a HDTV or suffer garotting.

  • ChaK #9 3 years ago

    without a doubt yeah

  • groovychainsaw #10 3 years ago

    The exchange rate hting must be bollocks, otherwise whow can they afford to drop the price on the elite eh? I think they were trying to increase the base with the cheap arcade. NOw that they've got enough people (and neither of their rivals have followed suit - i reckon they must have been expecting nintendo to drop their price to compete...) they put it back to £160 for the arcade to still be the cheapest but create a healthy profit margin.

  • oxymoron #11 3 years ago

    cough *bullshit* cough

  • matrim83 #12 3 years ago

    GLOL @ disc. :D

  • Doctor_What #13 3 years ago

    "we're still €50 or better in price than our nearest competition,"

    Well, I guess that's accurate - after all, the 360 isn't anywhere near the Wii!

  • patch #14 3 years ago

    I still don't get the paradox that the Arcade. When they talk about blu-ray they say digital distribution is the future, and yet they still sell a console with no hard drive. Is this so they can sell an aftermarket 60gb hard drive for £60?

  • Burkey123 #15 3 years ago

    Ye..........................sure.

  • mcwildcard #16 3 years ago

    Do you think they realise what prize spastics they look when they expect us to believe bollocks like this?

  • NegativeZero #17 3 years ago

    HDMI cables aren't some kind of mystical energy conductor forged in the fires of krakatoa from every third strand of hair from an albino virgin or something. They're not that expensive to put in the box. Removing them from the package means they can upsell you one for a hundred times what they actually should cost. It's not a cost-cutting measure, it's profiteering.

    Also I'm sure they had plans to drop the price for quite a while. They've just been sitting on it because they knew Sony were doing a new PS3 model - hell, everyone knew the PS3 Slim was coming.

  • laudy #18 3 years ago

    At the risk of sounding cynical...

    Perhaps he's right, they do "move to their own rhythm" and had already decided a price drop many moons ago, it's just that they couldn't announce by how much they would drop the price until they were sure about the ps3 slim price...

    Scratch that, the timing smells fishier than week old tuna steak left rotting in the midday sun...

    After all, the former CEO once publicly stated that he believed Monopoly was a form of competition...

  • SeesThroughAll #19 3 years ago

    After all, the former CEO once publicly stated that he believed Monopoly was a form of competition...

    Can you post a link for that? I would love to read it!

  • speedjack #20 3 years ago

    Wow.

    This is the kind of patronizing corporate doublespeak I'd normally expect from Sony.

    So the removal of functionality provides flexibility ?!!!

    Boasting about how cheap the price of your entry level 'next gen/hi-def' console is vs. the competition, (when you've removed the HDD, HDMI lead and it isn't even WiFi enabled), is like boasting about how much cheaper your car was without wheels.

  • Freek #21 3 years ago

    The strategy being developed before hand being: "If a competitor drops price, we will follow". No doubt that took allot of meetings.

  • laudy #22 3 years ago

    @ SeesThroughAll

    There's no link i'm afraid, it was on a TV programme earlier this year: [link url=http://www.b bc.co.uk/programmes/b00c6sdc
    ]http://www.b bc.co.uk/programmes/b00c6sdc
    [/link]

    It was called "How a geek changed the world" and was really interesting. They filmed it as he was preparing to leave Microsoft. Sadly, it's not available to view on BBC i-Player anymore, but in the early days of Microsoft, that was pretty much his mantra. I suppose you could call it youthful exuberance but he was deadly serious!

  • patch #23 3 years ago

    @zerolight: AFAIK all 360s are made in China. The £ to € comparison is more likely due to Microsoft UK's financials feeding through to Europe rather than the States.

  • insincere_dave #24 3 years ago

    My GF also complimented me on my "personal rhythm" when I was ass-fucking her the other night. Someone from MS's PR must have been watching on the webcam.

  • stevetuck #25 3 years ago

    hmmm whats that smell? ohh yeah its BULLSHIT

  • chubster2010 #26 3 years ago

    What a load of balls.

  • Bazfrag #27 3 years ago

    Your own rhythm?!! You mean rushing out a product with no Q.A to get to market 1st? The same product that has "360" on it in the hope that the masses will perceive it to be more powerful and better than just plain old "3", even though its your 2nd console? The cow dung is strong in its stench. They have been bending over backward to undermine the very competition they pretend doesn't exist. /rant.

  • oupe #28 3 years ago

    Hmmm. I wonder if that rhythm makes the price drop to £179 next christmas.

  • laudy #29 3 years ago

    "Your own rhythm?!! You mean rushing out a product with no Q.A to get to market 1st?"

    +1

    The programme I mentioned earlier suggests precisely the same thing.

  • sfp_noodle #30 3 years ago

    personally, i think sony's price drop forced m$ into their own. the ps3 offers the same feautures as the 360+more for around the same price and is also blu-ray enabled. consumers wud no doubt look at tht in deciding which console to buy. i strongly doubt tht m$ wud have bothered contemplating a price drop otherwise as they are already doi9ng quite well at their (until tomorrow) current price. does anybody remember what they said at e3 this year? it was along the lines of 'we dont think we need to lower the price of our console for a long time now as we offer great quality blah blah blah at a great price blah blah blah' so why drop the price of ur elite, get rid of arguably, ur best selling 'pro' model and raise the price of the entry level console and take out everything tht was previously bundled with it? i own a 360, im jus glad i didnt pay for it myself after reading this tosh

  • Ranger101 #31 3 years ago

    Most people who buy consoles don't have HD tvs. Bundling in a HDMI cable instead of a Component cable would mean most people can't play it out of the box.

    Bundling a component instead of a HDMI cable means most people AND HD-TV owners get up to 1080i out of the box.

    Bundling both of them.... R U MAD! M$ wanna make monies through over-inflated accessories.

  • Bazfrag #32 3 years ago

    On a less ranty (is that a word?) note.

    The fact they did get to market 1st means they are well positioned to react to price cuts. In fact i believe a MS guy actaully said the same a while back. While what he said is bullshit, the same cannot be said for that strategy this gen, at least.

    *Yay 4 being able to space my paragraphs! (anyone know how i do it on ps3?)
    Edited by 1 at 27/08/09 @ 16:07

  • BadBoyyy #33 3 years ago

    suck it M$

  • Xerx3s #34 3 years ago

    Do these marketing muppets really think that people are stupid or something?

  • Bazfrag #35 3 years ago

    @ Laudy

    +1 yourself. I saw most of that programme when it was on beeb2.

  • El-Dev #36 3 years ago

    Does everyone who gives an interview all of a sudden become a Public Relations employee.

    This guy Chris Lewis is VP of Interactive entertainment or something equivalent and the guy from Naughty Dog was co-president or something equally important. These aren't PR bullshit speakers, they're the decision makers speaking bullshit. So have at least a little respect as chances are they might know what they are doing.

    Ok Donnie we get it, you don't like Sony. You also appear not to like putting in a space after a full stop.
    Edited by 1 at 27/08/09 @ 16:26

  • El-Dev #37 3 years ago

    @Donnie, well every post today by you has read, "360 is amazing.ms are so good.SONYS vastly inferior machine, they have poor sales."

    You're not exactly singing their praises are you? Thinly veiled is how I would describe you're dislike.

    And no it's not being petty, it makes posts easier to read when they are set out properly.

  • Bazfrag #38 3 years ago

    @Donnie

    Sony always revise and change their consoles to cut costs. Just as Microsoft have done with the 360. (but could'nt do with xbox as much) Im sure we will also see a 360 slim, possibly with Natal, and even after that there will still be revisions.

    Its debatable sales were the major factor. but then, you already knew that...
    Edited by 1 at 27/08/09 @ 16:52

  • laudy #39 3 years ago

    oi oi

    what about Dyson? They're decent!

  • penhalion #40 3 years ago

    "As we've said before, we have our own rhythm that we march to and that's not going to change,"

    Would that rythm go *Tit fo rTat Tit for Tat Tit for Tat* by any chance?

  • ronuds #41 3 years ago

    Rumors of the Elite price cut have been swirling for about as long as the PS3 slim rumors. Maybe MS moved the price cut up a week or two due to the slim, but I don't see any reason not to believe this has been in the works for some time.

  • davisorle #42 3 years ago

    You didn't see that coming? Cause I see way too many surprised posts. lol And yeah if that sounds weird its like you are telling me that sounds more of bullshit than wand being not a Wiimote copy when as in it's use, not precission, is the same thing. Yeah MS says they planned before to lower the price. They might have had plans for it but the timeframe this happened was practically a backup for when Sony would lower the price. So.. Might have been planned from before but one way or the other none of us cant guess by how far this was a move to hit back.

    Like I always say. Why dont you thank them instead? One lowers the price, the other is forced to maintain top sales or whatever kind of reason and all of you get cheaper consoles no matter which one you want. Works out just fine if you ask me.

  • Bazfrag #43 3 years ago

    Thats the thing, its not in ps3's price range. :)

    There is a world of difference between even £199 and £200, not to mention £249. Its all about perceived value.
    Edited by 1 at 27/08/09 @ 17:29

  • canIdoyabombsforya #44 3 years ago

    "I still don't get the paradox that the Arcade. When they talk about blu-ray they say digital distribution is the future, and yet they still sell a console with no hard drive. Is this so they can sell an aftermarket 60gb hard drive for £60? "

    But I take it you would still expect a Blu-Ray equiped 360 to be subsidised? If you want cheap HDs, buy a PC.

  • electrolite #45 3 years ago

    "Our appetite to continue to win, and to hold our lead and grow our lead over the competition"....apart from the other competition that are holding our head under the water and reaching for the flush....

  • Numbat #46 3 years ago

    His comment about still being £50 cheaper than PS3 leads to the question of why in the US it is the ame price as the PS3 ($299, equal to abouit £180 - which also begs the question of why PS3 is a lot cheaper in US than UK).

  • El-Dev #47 3 years ago

    @Numbat, it's where Sony are furthest behind. They have the lead in Japan and the EU but are behind in the UK and US so they have obviously singled out the US as they main target. If they can close the gap in the US they will be doing well but I don't expect drastic increases in sales.

  • Rack #48 3 years ago

    But if it was a response to Sony, surely it would be more competitive?

    £50 more and the PS3 gets Wifi, HDMI, Blu Ray, charge cables and free network access.

    You can certainly argue of their relative strengths in game libraries and network systems, but if not for that I wouldn't even consider a 360 at this point.

  • Prodigy_BE #49 3 years ago

    "f*ck off," says Prodigy_BE

  • WayMucho #50 3 years ago

    I know the exchange rate is putting pressure on MS, but I don't think there's enough daylight between the PS3 and Elite (there never was much, but there was also the cheaper Pro) and the PS3 price must have been difficuly for Sony for the same reason.
    The Arcade price I can understand because it is so much cheaper than in Europe (I think all the 360 feedback on Amazon is from Germans saying how much cheaper it is to buy from UK) but I still think they should have binned it, or taken the loss, as it was probably their best bet for increasing market share - loads of my kids friends have got them in the last 6-9 months

  • mss99 #51 3 years ago

    Reason they have upped the price of the the Arcade is probably because that is were the bulk of sales are as people replace broken systems with the cheapest model and take their disk across. I would love to know the proportion of 360 owners who have bought a 360 Arcade as a backup second machine or replacement for their failed console. I got mine fixed under the extended 3 year warranty.

  • byakuya83 #52 3 years ago

    Are Elites available in white as well as black now? I agree with all the comments regarding corporate BS. The Arcade is an odd package and really does go against MS philosophy of digital distribution. And, without being connected to Live its lack of a battery really messes with the save games of those customers it's supposed to appeal to - those not interested in online gaming!
    Edited by 1 at 27/08/09 @ 23:02

  • Synthesis #53 3 years ago

    If the HDMI lead is in the box then they can't charge you £25 to buy one can they?
    Edited by 1 at 28/08/09 @ 03:45

  • m0thr4 #54 3 years ago

    @Ranger101: Bundling a component instead of a HDMI cable means most people AND HD-TV owners get up to 1080i out of the box.

    Good point, as there are only a handful of games (about 6 I think) that are native 1080p anyway.

  • m0thr4 #55 3 years ago

    @donnie080208: by the way the postings on here are NOT spelling or punctuation tests,with all respect i find this a petty thing to bring up El.

    You may think that but in fact, a well-written argument, no matter how weak, will always receive a better response than one that's poorly written because it suggests someone who is at least reasonably educated.
    Edited by 1 at 28/08/09 @ 08:17

  • drumbaby #56 3 years ago

    "We have our own rhythm," says Lewis.

    You certainly do: Switch on, play for a bit, RROD, send to repairers. Again and again.

  • Bazfrag #57 3 years ago

    According to my g.p, the rhythm technique is very unreliable.

  • Jamaicangmr #58 3 years ago

    Really now? Unrelated yeah am sure. Just in the same way the RROD issue is just a figment of our imaginations.

  • Corben_Dallas #59 3 years ago

    Total BULLSHIT Ms, its insulting to put out this PR BULLSHIT and attempt to feed it to Gamers.

    and just to add contempt were removing the HDMI cable for your benefit :|

  • penguin_overlord #60 3 years ago

    Welcome to the downward spiral of the 360. Increasing the price of the Arcade model is madness at a time when people are so careful of what they spend. And the Elite appears overpriced as well with just a £50 difference between it and the PS3. Where are the 360's big software hitters over the next 6-9 months? And don't keep mentioning Halo games. What is there to compete with the likes of GT5, Heavy Rain, GOW3, FFXIII and Uncharted 2?

  • makeamazing #61 3 years ago

    It will be interesting to see what happens next. OK i prefer Sony (I have all three consoles), but from a pure business product sales war, its very interesting.

    My thoughts on it are: MS was doing really well with the Arcade as it was pretty cheap, so very accessible. They have increased the price. To me this is a bad move. The Elite was a lower seller than the arcade anyway (by a big percentage by what i heard)... so that price decrease wont have as big as impact as the price decrease as the PS3.

    So Ithink the arcade price increase is the biggest mistake made by any of the console manufacturers this year, second is Nintendos price increase (they probably will regret the increase with falling sales below projections), I suspect a Nintendo price rollback in the next couple of months but will have to use some other excuse as to why they roll back the price than the strong pound.

    Will be interesting to see the console sales figures.
    Edited by 1 at 28/08/09 @ 12:56

  • MrSpew #62 2 years ago

    It's hardly like the HDMI lead from MS was ever an essential piece of the package - they barely sell them in most stores as it is so it's hardly going to change anything. Buy a £3 one from Amazon or something.

  • Chazmeister #63 2 years ago

    I got a gold tipped 5m HDMI cable for my 60gb model off eBay for little over £5, so the loss of the HDMI cable is hardly a big cost cutter. Just don't go to Currys or Dixons to buy one, where they outrageously cost about £30-£60.