360 To Get Price Cut THIS Year?

Microsoft executives have given the firmest indication yet that the Xbox 360 console will see a price drop in the near future, as part of a new article on the console’s future by financial news service Bloomberg.

The article implies that it is competition from the Wii, rather than the more expensive PlayStation 3, that is leading current thinking on Xbox 360 pricing and software, with Microsoft apparently planning to add more family games and change retail displays to make children’s titles easier to find.

No specific new titles were mentioned however, except for existing multiformat title Guitar Hero II, which Microsoft claims is popular with female users. "That's a necessary first step to getting more players to consider the Microsoft console", Xbox director of global platform marketing Albert Penello is quoted as saying. "If you don't start building that content and reputation it never comes. I don't want to be pigeonholed as a hardcore machine."

"If we don't make that move, make it early and expand our demographic, we will wind up in the same place as with Xbox 1, a solid business with 25 million people," said Xbox boss Peter Moore. "What I need is a solid business with 90 million people."

Referring to the price of the Wii, Xbox product manager David Hufford states that, "When mom walks into the store and sees she can get a console with a game for $250, she sees it as a $300 value. They've done a good job."

"We are well aware that the sweet spot of the market is really 199 bucks," added Hufford, who refused to directly confirm a price cut for the console. Internet rumors have suggested that Microsoft may be considering a drop in price for this September.

[From Gamasutra]