MS denies 360 price cut (again)

Microsoft has once again denied a forthcoming Xbox 360 price cut, telling the Seattle Post-Intelligencer that it has "no plans to adjust the price of the Xbox 360 this year".

The company has repeatedly denied it has any plans to cut the price of the console, issuing statements in May, June and July of this year reaffirming its position, and arguing that its positions of GBP 199 for the Core System and GBP 279 for the premium Xbox 360 remain competitive.

However Microsoft has occasionally proven unreliable on this front in the past: in August, it cut the price of the Core System by ten pounds, having denied it planned to do so in the preceding days.

But having established first-mover advantage with Xbox 360, and with more than six million consoles now sold worldwide by its own figures, the company is likely to hold steady until it feels obligated to act, which may be while - with PlayStation 3 due to launch at a substantially higher price, and not until March in Europe.

Analysts that the Seattle P-I spoke to agreed, with Wedbush Morgan's Michael Pachter explaining that the price gap between Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 gives Microsoft "the luxury of waiting".