Pachter predicts Slim 360/Natal bundle

By Games Industry.biz Published 14 April, 2010

For $299 this year, says analyst.

Microsoft is likely to offer a new Xbox 360 slim model, 250GB hard-drive and motion controller Project Natal in a hardware bundle for $299 by the end of the year.

That's according to Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter, who also suggested that should Microsoft lose significant market share to Sony in 2010, it could cut the price of the current Xbox 360 before the end of the summer.

"At a minimum, we anticipate the introduction of a more feature-packed Xbox 360 as the standard SKU in late 2010 (likely with a 250GB hard drive) at the same $299 price point, and think that Microsoft will cut price before the fall only if it begins to lose significant market share to Sony," Pachter told investors.

"It is far more likely that we will see a slim version of the Xbox 360 with a 250 GB hard drive and with Project Natal bundled into the box while maintaining the $299 price point, especially if Sony does not lower the price of the PS3 by the time Natal and Sony’s Move controllers launch in the fall."

A slim Xbox 360 is currently only a rumour, although images currently doing the rounds are offering a convincing argument for a new model console from Microsoft.

Picture of Games.

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Comments (23) Latest comment 2 years ago

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

  • The-Bodybuilder #1 2 years ago

    Analysts; The easiest yet well-paid jobs in the games industry.

  • karooo #2 2 years ago

    sigh patcher.

  • Inigo #3 2 years ago

    Are these the same Analysts who said that there will be a Wii HD last year or completely failed to see the 3DS.

  • super_monty #4 2 years ago

    Is anyone that bothered about Natal, I am not.

  • Doctor_What #5 2 years ago

    Actually, I'm with you Monty - the more I see of the tech for Natal, the more I wonder how I'm going to play with it. It looks brilliant for exercise games and EyeToy style games, but now I've seen the skeletal tracking tech that the PS Move is doing I can't help but think the 'no controller' thing is a bit of a gimmick.

  • linksdad #6 2 years ago

    Ooh Michael, you've been reading my comments again...

  • KayJay #7 2 years ago

    Well they can stick Natal, but id take a slim 360.
    I would assume you would have the "bigger than a Wii" power supply... or perhaps they could reduce the size of that bloody great big fucker.

  • irve77 #8 2 years ago

    you know if natal starts to implement voice control and headset free voice message recording then i'm sold

    I would happily spend £50 so that when i turn on my 360 it recognises me and says hello.

    MS are missing a trick if the don't do this.


    i think i would also spend £200 on a slim 360 with natal as my 360 is now 3 years old and out of warranty .. in fact ... i'll have to keep my fingers crossed that it survives the rest of the year !

  • irve77 #9 2 years ago

    I also hope this is true because i still haven't bought a PS3 and anything that makes sony lower the price to a more reasonable level is a good thing !

  • schnide #10 2 years ago

    PLEASE stop reporting Pachter's bullshit. This man has less idea what he's talking about than most of us on here who can string a sentence together. All you're doing is giving him more credibility when his job mainly involves typing up guesswork to sell reports for thousands of dollars to rich men who don't know any better.

  • Toothball #11 2 years ago

    Sounds good, I could probably go for a new Xbox around then.

  • sfp_noodle #12 2 years ago

    so an analyst predicts what we pretty much knew a couple of months ago? brilliant, im now going to quit my journalism course at uni and join the industry as an analyst since i, along with many others seem to predict shit much quicker than this patcher chap
    Edited by 1 at 14/04/10 @ 11:07

  • Spekingur #13 2 years ago

    Funny, I have seen Pacther's predictions sometimes be spot on. Predictions long before the thing happened and when people heard them they were like "whaaat? no you fool!" - and then it turns out he was right all along.

    To me, Pacther is a cool guy.

  • makeamazing #14 2 years ago

    I like pratcher also, dont see what all the fuss is about.

  • schnide #15 2 years ago

    @Spekingur

    Like what exactly? And sometimes being right isn't good enough when you're getting paid to be right a lot more often, and millions are meant to ride on your analysis.

  • EugenesLair #16 2 years ago

    Patcher is Spekingur me thinks :)

  • JamieR #17 2 years ago

    If its less noisy i might get rid of my current 360 for one.

  • telboy007 #18 2 years ago

    Pardon?

  • MizzouGaming #19 2 years ago

    This is the same guy that said EPIC Games regretted making the first two GEARS of WAR games exclusive to the 360(and PC for GoW1) instead of going multiplatform. But I think its safe to say something big is going to happen with the 360 hardware before year's end.

    Microsoft has actually surprised a lot of people with how well the 360 has weathered the PS3 Slim $299 storm thus far and now it appears Microsoft very well could be zeroing in on Sony's jugular vein this Holiday season with a $299 Natal/360 bundle. I think Microsoft is preparing to unleash hell on SONY and gather up even more of that precious marketshare SONY has fumbled away this generation.

    It seems like just yesterday SONY was completely dominating the industry from virtually every angle. Now....well, lets just say things have changed.

  • DAN.E.B #20 2 years ago

    Makes sense it would explain the sudden price drop for the current HDD,s
    the slim will probably have one built in.

  • Dizzy #21 2 years ago

    So 2010 not the year of PS3 then? Has the real next gen started yet?

  • malmer #22 2 years ago

    Pachters job is NOT to predict the future.

    His job is to predict what would be the most financially beneficiary action for the companies in the game industry based on current information. For instance, with the Wii HD. It never was a prediction of the kind "this will happen". It was a prediction more of the kind "based on what we know (facts) today the smart thing for Nintendo would be to do this, which raises the probability that it will happen, however they could have something else planned that we don't know about".

    In this case (the slim 360 + natal at $299) is a very sound prediction. Will it happen? Who knows, but it is quite probable.

  • GratefulGhoul #23 2 years ago

    Forget concentrating on making a slimmer model, just make the damn thing a little quieter :)