Rumor: Xbox 360 250GB Kinect Bundle E3 Price Drop to $299.99

S

Samuelc79

CAGiversary!
Feedback
1 (100%)
Source: http://www.e3expo.com/

At the advertisement link, I noticed this Target Lounge ad, and clicked it and got me to this website.

[IMG-L=5838]22857[/IMG-L]http://www.target.com/Video-Games/b/ref=nav_t_spc_13_13?ie=UTF8&node=1042122

Notice the image shows 299.99 for a 250 with Kinect Bundle deal. When clicking that ad, it shows the regular Target price at $399.99 as it has not officially dropped yet.

What do you all think. I think it is likely true, because of all those $50 gift card bundles coming out every week lately.

Moderators, if it is not the right place, please put the thread in the correct place. I tried to find a Rumor Deals Forum. If anyone else has posted this, I'm sorry I looked around and did not see this.

Thanks!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Upvote 0 Downvote
It has to be a price drop because the target ad says "Great Timing" E3 = Price Drop hopefully, I mean what else could mean great timing? The free shipping, that would be laughable at best.
 
[quote name='Donutkid2222']It has to be a price drop because the target ad says "Great Timing" E3 = Price Drop hopefully, I mean what else could mean great timing? The free shipping, that would be laughable at best.[/QUOTE]
That's a good point.
 
I don't understand why some people are throwing out a "Hardware Refresh" when it came last year. Consoles only have 1 Hardware Refresh during their lifespans.
 
[quote name='KingBroly']I don't understand why some people are throwing out a "Hardware Refresh" when it came last year. Consoles only have 1 Hardware Refresh during their lifespans.[/QUOTE]

I guess it depends on how you look at it. After the Xbox 360 first came out there were 2 major motherboard revisions (falcon, Jasper) before the complete redesign with the Xbox 360 S....
 
just saw on neogaf that Futureshop (Canadian retailer) will have the 250 GB 360 Bundle (no Kinect) for $199 next week.
 
[quote name='Logical Dolphin']My "guess" is the following price drops will happen this year:

X360 4GB: $150
X360 250GB: $250
X360 250GB/Kinect: $300

Kinect: $100
250GB HD: $100

and the X360 4GB/Kinect Bundle will be discontinued...[/QUOTE]

As Cheapy D said - I like those guesses

Especially the 4GB Kinect being discontinued. While it means MS can still get away with a over priced hard drive in the long run, those units seem to get the most $50 gift card promotions out of all the promotions over the last few months.

I'd have to bite on the $300 bundle because i don't see the Kinect dropping to $50 new.
I could see a lot of people biting on a $150 slim 360 because thats the "magic price point", and in the long run they would be upgrading by buying a larger hard drive effectively spending $100+ more anyways.
 
[quote name='Logical Dolphin']My "guess" is the following price drops will happen this year:

X360 4GB: $150
X360 250GB: $250
X360 250GB/Kinect: $300

Kinect: $100
250GB HD: $100

and the X360 4GB/Kinect Bundle will be discontinued...[/QUOTE]

But why would Microsoft drop the price right now? They've been outselling everybody else for months.

Guess the only "reason" is to "beat them to the punch", especially with Nintendo outing the Wii successor and Sony with the NGP, perhaps a PS4 announcement?

However, aside from pushing more Kinects out into the wild, I'm not sure 360 really needs a price drop. New consoles are at least a year away. Maybe a new bundle and/or a new price for the bundle (maybe include Kinect with every console, same base model price), but I don't see an actual drop coming.

Though including Kinect as standard and keeping the same price would "technically" be a price drop.

(shrugs)
 
[quote name='Kylearan']But why would Microsoft drop the price right now? They've been outselling everybody else for months.

Guess the only "reason" is to "beat them to the punch", especially with Nintendo outing the Wii successor and Sony with the NGP, perhaps a PS4 announcement?

However, aside from pushing more Kinects out into the wild, I'm not sure 360 really needs a price drop. New consoles are at least a year away. Maybe a new bundle and/or a new price for the bundle (maybe include Kinect with every console, same base model price), but I don't see an actual drop coming.

Though including Kinect as standard and keeping the same price would "technically" be a price drop.

(shrugs)[/QUOTE]

The 360 isn't outselling everyone (especially outside of the US) and quite frankly, their gaming market has been looking kindof sad lately. Their library of exclusive titles have been almost none existent this year and they really need to do all they can to show people why are they are "number one" and why they should continue supporting the Xbox brand.
 
[quote name='Andami']*cough*music games*cough*

[/QUOTE]

I see where you are coming from, but music games were 100% driven by a developers/publishers who took all of the risks not a hardware company who said, ah here is a new type input device we can do, let us put out some new hardware and let anyone develop for it. For music games, the games sold themselves and they required new accessories in order to play them (and also RB hardware wasn't always compatible with GH software)....Outside of microphones, both Sony and MS stayed away from any music game accessories.
 
Brilliant though if you consider MS dropping the price on the Kinect bundle, promoting the security of their Xbox Live service, and comparing their network against the PSN and all of its problems as of late.

I imagine a MW3 announcement + Xbox advertising the best way to play it online + a price drop = $$$.
 
[quote name='Crazypanda_85']The 360 isn't outselling everyone (especially outside of the US) and quite frankly, their gaming market has been looking kindof sad lately. Their library of exclusive titles have been almost none existent this year and they really need to do all they can to show people why are they are "number one" and why they should continue supporting the Xbox brand.[/QUOTE]

Umm...yeah, the 360 is outselling everyone - in the US, that is. While the NPD Group doesn't give out figures anymore, MS announced that 11 out of the past 12 months the 360 has topped both the PS3 and the Wii. I never read a word from Sony or Nintendo that contradicted this, so I'd take that as fact.

GameSpot reports it right here.

Price drop overseas might make sense, but how much cheaper can the 360 get in Japan? Price drops haven't helped so far, bundles don't help, seriously - what is MS to do overseas? (Whatever happened to Mistwalker?)

I can't argue with you on the gaming front, though - a decided lack of exclusives, "Better with Kinect" or otherwise. Though they said the Kinect library will triple by year's end, we all know that to be FISCAL year's end, that still doesn't answer the need for non-Kinect exclusives.

Back to the price drop, though - same report linked above (from May 12th, 2011) that says MS has taken 11 of the past 12 months from both Sony and Nintendo quotes David Dennis, the Xbox Group product manager as saying, with regard to 360 following Wii's price cut: "You really only drop price when you need to, and with the continued momentum that we've got, we don't have any plans in the works. As long as we continue to bring great games and have good momentum, that isn't something you'll see us consider."

So, unless there's been a sharp decline in sales or something overtook the 360 in May (not gonna happen with the PSN outage and paltry Wii library, unless the price drop had a huge effect), I don't see a price drop coming. No need.

A packed in Kinect or a cheaper Kinect bundle, I can see that. But the core experience, I'd be surprised.
 
[quote name='Crazypanda_85']The 360 isn't outselling everyone (especially outside of the US) and quite frankly, their gaming market has been looking kindof sad lately. Their library of exclusive titles have been almost none existent this year and they really need to do all they can to show people why are they are "number one" and why they should continue supporting the Xbox brand.[/QUOTE]

Outside of japan, the 360 brand has been doing pretty well, of course in the US it is now the top selling the system to go with that. You just have to look at the demographics, casual gamers now look at the wii as old hat in comparison to Kinect (which is a understatement, wii is 9+ year old hardware), and the "core" demographic still played Calladoody and GTA, which has the "i have to play where my friends are playing" thing, which the 360 has done well for itself for.

I only know 1 360 only gamer in real life, so im hardly the usual, but even that guy is giving his 360 to his brother and buying a PS3 to play with the family members online. Its a case of going where everyone else is in the HD age, and Microsofts early start gave them a nice beach head for these instances. Its why the wii is dead to online gamers since day 1, and why nintendo has a uphill battle to get these people to switch to their new platform at some point. Most wont.

Anyway, with a 360 price cut, MS will be doing even better then before obviously, and who can blame them, they are playing their cards really well and reacting to the demographics properly. Just a shame they charge for online gaming, or else they would be even more ahead, as most people i know refuse to pay for the right to play online, its just not that important of a thing for most.
 
I wouldn't count the 360 out for exclusives yet. In past years, a lot of stuff was announced at E3. Sony on the other hand announces stuff years before release. I prefer the MS method. I don't want to know about a game if I can't play it for three years.
 
[quote name='typical guy']I wouldn't count the 360 out for exclusives yet. In past years, a lot of stuff was announced at E3. Sony on the other hand announces stuff years before release. I prefer the MS method. I don't want to know about a game if I can't play it for three years.[/QUOTE]

Huh! Sony might give some future dated stuff but they also give out plenty of exclusives. Look at just this year PS3 has LBP2, KZ3, Yakuza 4, Socom 4, Mortorstorm Apocalypse, and Infamous 2. All these games are AAE or above except for Socom 4. What exclusive does the 360 have besides crappy Kinnect games? none. All they have scheduled for this year is GEOW3 and Forza 3. While the PS3 still has R3, R&C AF1, TM, and UC3.

Definitely if you care about exclusives the PS3 wins hand down this year.
 
Pachter predicted a 360 price drop for E3 just to steal some thunder from Sony and Nintendo. We shall see if this was an error, or is legit.
 
I'm wondering if they aren't planning to drop the non-Kinect versions altogether, replaced with $200 and $300 versions with Kinect. 4 GB and 250 GB respectively.
 
[quote name='typical guy']I wouldn't count the 360 out for exclusives yet. In past years, a lot of stuff was announced at E3. Sony on the other hand announces stuff years before release. I prefer the MS method. I don't want to know about a game if I can't play it for three years.[/QUOTE]

Exaggerate much? Point to how many times sony has done that
 
[quote name='crunchewy']I'm wondering if they aren't planning to drop the non-Kinect versions altogether, replaced with $200 and $300 versions with Kinect. 4 GB and 250 GB respectively.[/QUOTE]

I doubt that, Kinect isn't ideal for everyone and it requires plenty of space to be used effectively. I think it is very important to have an entry level $150 system that is cost competitve with the Wii, and if you wanted everything you can spend $150 more for a HD and Kinect and save by buying the bundle...
 
[quote name='Kylearan']Umm...yeah, the 360 is outselling everyone - in the US, that is. While the NPD Group doesn't give out figures anymore, MS announced that 11 out of the past 12 months the 360 has topped both the PS3 and the Wii. I never read a word from Sony or Nintendo that contradicted this, so I'd take that as fact.

GameSpot reports it right here.

Price drop overseas might make sense, but how much cheaper can the 360 get in Japan? Price drops haven't helped so far, bundles don't help, seriously - what is MS to do overseas? (Whatever happened to Mistwalker?)

I can't argue with you on the gaming front, though - a decided lack of exclusives, "Better with Kinect" or otherwise. Though they said the Kinect library will triple by year's end, we all know that to be FISCAL year's end, that still doesn't answer the need for non-Kinect exclusives.

Back to the price drop, though - same report linked above (from May 12th, 2011) that says MS has taken 11 of the past 12 months from both Sony and Nintendo quotes David Dennis, the Xbox Group product manager as saying, with regard to 360 following Wii's price cut: "You really only drop price when you need to, and with the continued momentum that we've got, we don't have any plans in the works. As long as we continue to bring great games and have good momentum, that isn't something you'll see us consider."

So, unless there's been a sharp decline in sales or something overtook the 360 in May (not gonna happen with the PSN outage and paltry Wii library, unless the price drop had a huge effect), I don't see a price drop coming. No need.

A packed in Kinect or a cheaper Kinect bundle, I can see that. But the core experience, I'd be surprised.[/QUOTE]

well, that pretty much closes the door on that.

maybe crazy panda meant to say that the 360 hasn't been outselling everyone in his own house.
 
[quote name='confoosious'].maybe crazy panda meant to say that the 360 hasn't been outselling everyone in his own house.[/QUOTE]

Crazypanda said the 360 isn't outselling anything From a worldwide perspective, he may be correct. Kyle is only looking at the US numbers from NPD, yet that only tells a fraction of the sales. North America is the the bestselling region for the 360, but when you factor in PS3 sales in EU and Asia, the PS3 looks like it's selling more

VGChartz is probably as close as we'll get to tracking sales. Obviously many are skeptical of them but even NPD tracking doesn't show the whole picture of NA sales (they don't track some popular retailers)

Worldwide Monthly sales

January
PS3: 1,122,376
360: 906,767


Feb
PS3: 990,308
360: 872,840

March
PS3: 966,424
360: 775,565

April
PS3: 679,168
360: 586,130

May (incomplete)
PS3: 399,700
360: 363,691

So unless you want to claim that they've gotten it completely opposite for each one of these months of the year, I think it's pretty clear the 360 isn't outselling anything. Why anyone would just focus on the US numbers and ignore global sales is beyond me.

There were even reports that the PS3 recently overtook the 360 in overall sales, but I don't buy that. It was selling at a faster rate however so I do think it's possible that it will overtake it within a year or two. Also according to VGChartz (which I kind of hate citing, lol) MS has sold approximately 53.9 million units, and Sony has sold 50.5 million. That difference is pretty small considering the full year head-start the 360 had, and 18 months in Europe.

It is a total fanboy thing though, and it really doesn't matter. I just wanted to clarify Kyle on what seemed like a narrow view.
 
[quote name='Conboy']Pachter predicted a 360 price drop for E3 just to steal some thunder from Sony and Nintendo. We shall see if this was an error, or is legit.[/QUOTE]

Thing is, Nintendo already beat everyone else to price drops since the Wii is down to $150 now.
 
[quote name='wolve']Thing is, Nintendo already beat everyone else to price drops since the Wii is down to $150 now.[/QUOTE]


Yeah but who doesn't own a Wii at this point? I doubt the price drop will make a huge amount of difference. From a retail standpoint I work for the largest retailer in CT (hint, hint) and Wii sales are still flat despite it being a beyond awesome bundle (MK was my most played game on the Wii) and at $150. Though who knows with the holiday sales - maybe the Wii will strike gold again right now.

Bottom line is the 360 is #1 in the US (for Year to Date sales, overall the Wii still leads) so a US price drop would just further cements it's lead and counter the PS3 price drop. World Wide the 360 does need another drop to stay neck and neck with the PS3.
 
I don't care who is in the lead by whoevers measure, I want a second Xbox 360 S 4 GB for $100 or less from Amazon Warehouse Deals, so I need the price to drop to $150 new. :)
 
[quote name='LeonSKennedy']I expect a price-cut for both Xbox 360 and PS3 to $249.99. Also, I'd like to see a cut on Kinect to $99.99 or less.[/QUOTE]

There's your answer right there. $50 drop for 250GB. $50 drop for Kinect = $100 drop for combo package. I honestly believe that this makes the most sense.
 
Looks like Target finally updated their site to show 399.99.. wondering if this was a typo afterall. I'm getting a bit nervous here, as I just ordered a PS3 Black Ops bundle to replace my YLOD'd PS3. It would be unusually cruel for Sony to release a new bundle on 5/31 and drop the price the very next week. But then again, Sony has not been on much of a roll lately. But I'm still nervous about E3..
 
[quote name='jarsofwei']Looks like Target finally updated their site to show 399.99.. wondering if this was a typo afterall. I'm getting a bit nervous here, as I just ordered a PS3 Black Ops bundle to replace my YLOD'd PS3. It would be unusually cruel for Sony to release a new bundle on 5/31 and drop the price the very next week. But then again, Sony has not been on much of a roll lately. But I'm still nervous about E3..[/QUOTE]

Cancel the order and wait a week.
 
[quote name='BlockheadBrown']Cancel the order and wait a week.[/QUOTE]

It's already shipping.. oh well.. them's the breaks I guess.
 
[quote name='Microshock']How can you have a price drop for the Xbox itself and not drop the price of the motion sensor for it?
If the Xbox ends up being 150 bucks, it's going to look awfully silly for the Kinect to be the same price right next to it..[/QUOTE]

Remember when Sega priced the 32X at $160 when it first came out, which was more than an actual Genesis cost back then... lol.... we remember how well that turned out for Sega. Concededly, the Kinect has already sold a lot more than 32X ever did...
 
[quote name='ssjmichael']I think it's pretty clear the 360 isn't outselling anything. Why anyone would just focus on the US numbers and ignore global sales is beyond me.[/QUOTE]

The reason to focus on US numbers in this particular case is because E3 is being held in the US, and announcements like price drops at E3 generally pertain to the US first-and-foremost.

Unless the purpose is to steal some thunder from Sony and Nintendo, MS doesn't have a reason to price-drop 360 in the US. I'm not saying they won't, I'm saying there's no marketing reason to do so (aside from thunder-theft). Added momentum, perhaps, with the upcoming console announcement from Nintendo?

As I said already, other territories is another matter entirely, and price drops haven't been very effective. How much cheaper can this thing get in Japan? And will it have any effect? Ahhh, no. So why price drop there if precedent shows no real effect? They've gotta come up with something svelt.

An overall price drop? No. But a BUNDLE price drop with Kinect, I can see that. Would stand to reason that the other SKUs would get a drop as well, but they may also be temporary, as-in SKU phasing-out and replacement.

As for global sales, yeah, the PS3 outsells the 360, and if I'm not mistaken the Wii outsells both still (or has that changed?). But we still haven't seen what, if any effect, the PSN outage has had for console sales.
 
[quote name='elessar123']I don't believe Move and Kinect are hering price drops any time soon. Selling more 360s will increase the demand for Kinects. Also, they did launch as if Sony and Microsoft treated them as new consoles, and not as accessories.[/QUOTE]Exactly, the can milk the growth of a console price cut through the 2011 holiday season 1st then evaluate after for a kinect price cut. Also, I'm sure everyone sees the "buzz" from a console price cut rumor so why would MS or Sony waste as chance for this event twice by doing them together space it out has more impact on overall sales.

[quote name='Kylearan']But why would Microsoft drop the price right now? They've been outselling everybody else for months. but I don't see an actual drop coming.[/QUOTE]the MS NA sales have mirrored the EU Sony sales even throughout the PSN stuff. MS has a huge lead in NA but Sony has been extending the sales gap in other regions Japan/EU. A price cut would increase these gaps plus start to close the NA one slightly like the previous cut did. VGchartz has some really interesting articles verified along side with the March 2011 reports http://www.vgchartz.com/
 
Last edited by a moderator:
[quote name='Monsta Mack']Yeah but who doesn't own a Wii at this point? I doubt the price drop will make a huge amount of difference. From a retail standpoint I work for the largest retailer in CT (hint, hint) and Wii sales are still flat despite it being a beyond awesome bundle (MK was my most played game on the Wii) and at $150. Though who knows with the holiday sales - maybe the Wii will strike gold again right now.

Bottom line is the 360 is #1 in the US (for Year to Date sales, overall the Wii still leads) so a US price drop would just further cements it's lead and counter the PS3 price drop. World Wide the 360 does need another drop to stay neck and neck with the PS3.[/QUOTE]

I bet a sub $100 ala $99.99 wii would move a ton of units and maybe push people into the $150 bundles esp if they included game, extra wiimote
 
[quote name='Enuf']the MS NA sales have mirrored the EU Sony sales even throughout the PSN stuff. MS has a huge lead in NA but Sony has been extending the sales gap in other regions Japan/EU. A price cut would increase these gaps plus start to close the NA one slightly like the previous cut did. VGchartz has some really article verified along side with the March 2011 reports http://www.vgchartz.com/[/QUOTE]

Hmm...interesting figures and patterns. The US favors 360, EU favors PS3 in equal measure.

The March 2011 report includes 'projections' from each company for 2012 shipped (not sell-through) units, which we know can be off significantly (e.g., the 3DS), so let's take those with a hunk of salt.

Regardless, everyone has market-share to gain...though I don't think a price cut will help the Wii nearly as much as it would benefit the PS3 or 360. I expect the 360-side price cut to be to the Kinect in general...we'll know in a few days.

The most interesting figures to me are software sales. Down for Wii, down for PS3 but assumedly flat for 360 - all negatives in my mind, as we see increased hardware sales but no resulting increase in software. Surely the economy and the used gaming market has influence here.
 
[quote name='Logical Dolphin']My "guess" is the following price drops will happen this year:

X360 4GB: $150
X360 250GB: $250
X360 250GB/Kinect: $300

Kinect: $100
250GB HD: $100

and the X360 4GB/Kinect Bundle will be discontinued...[/QUOTE]

But then there would be no "savings" by buying the 250 GB console vs buying the 4GB & the HD separately. Unless they include a game.

My amateur predictions...
4 GB $149 (to position against Wii price)
250 GB $199 (to ruin the PS3)
4 GB / Kinect $249
250 GB / Kinect $299
250 Gig HD stays at $99
Kinect stays $149 (Possibly offering different Kinect game bundles)
 
[quote name='polly']But then there would be no "savings" by buying the 250 GB console vs buying the 4GB & the HD separately. Unless they include a game.

My amateur predictions...
4 GB $149 (to position against Wii price)
250 GB $199 (to ruin the PS3)
4 GB / Kinect $249
250 GB / Kinect $299
250 Gig HD stays at $99
Kinect stays $149 (Possibly offering different Kinect game bundles)[/QUOTE]

What you said is true, I was thinking in terms of price points on your initial investment if you want a HD now or later.

However I can't see Microsoft selling a Xbox 250GB at $199 at this point, perhaps a $230 price point incorporates some savings you were talking about. I still don't think the 4GB/Kinect SKU needs to stick around if there are two SKUs already between $200-$300...
 
Not that it will turn out this way but I think we can safely presume a $50 price cut on the console and a $100 price cut on the bundle. With that in mind the X360 lineup looks like this:

4GB $150
4GB/Kinect $200
250GB $250
250GB/Kinect $300

I can't see Microsoft doing the 4GB/Kinect at $200, I think that M$ will strickly want to keep the 4GB Xbox as their low-cost entry level model...
 
[quote name='gargus']How is a rumor a deal?

Shouldnt this just be in the 360 forum?[/QUOTE]

Go steal your neighbor's shoes already.
 
[quote name='TMD121']I've been thinking about getting the new Xbox for awhile. I can see this happening, but it may seem that the 4gig will be fazed out, and the 250 gig will become $200 on its own.[/QUOTE]

If you're going from a Falcon, than for sure upgrading's worth it, as my Falcon died...

Worth $300, but I wouldn't spend more than it costs without the Kinnect...so if they actually finally drop the hard drive bundled model, that's a better deal.
 
I haven't played my 360 in a year, but if Microsoft announces some things that I'll definitely be interested in and indeed has this price drop, I'll likely sell my elite and pick up a new 360 for the sole purpose of built in wifi.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
bread's done
Back
Top