Microsoft: Xbox 360 sales double since price cuts

Good things happen when you suddenly become the lowest-priced console in the US. In the first weekend since cutting Xbox 360 prices, Microsoft is reporting a 100% increase in sales of all Xbox 360 models compared to the previous weekend. While not mentioned specifically, Microsoft claims that one model sold at 6x the previous weekend rate. Gee, could that be the $250 Wii-beating, $199.99 Xbox 360 Arcade at the front of Microsoft's loss-leading lineup?

[Andrew @ Sep 11th 2008 4:49AM]

Good on Them. Here is hoping for more drops xD

[Flashpoint @ Sep 11th 2008 5:04AM]

GEE, I wonder.... could the Wii's superior sales numbers have had something to do with the fact that it was damn near half the price of the other two consoles?

GEE, maybe if the 360 and PS3 could have been the same price as the Wii.... maybe, their sales would be equalized - that is until people realize the wii's games SUCK.


(the low rank button is up and to the right)

[Tonicboy @ Sep 11th 2008 5:08AM]

@Flashpoint

Naw man, I'm right there with ya. Wii Sports is a lot of fun, and there's a lot to be said in the simple replayability and group-fun factor of that and a couple other titles. But, once you get past that, Wii games really do suck. Same with the DS. Most games don't come close to taking advantage of the touchscreen, and I'm sick of crappy graphics and storylines aimed at 2nd graders.

[j_g_puff @ Sep 11th 2008 5:21AM]

I know this is fairly off-topic (though it's never stopped engadged posters before..) but what do you highly-opinionated chaps think about the motion plus add-on? Do you reckon it'll stimulate some more good games? (by 'more' i mean 'in addition to SM galaxy and smash bros')

[Zachary Williamson @ Sep 11th 2008 8:30AM]

what are you hoping that they start giving them away? as cool is it would be....how much more can M$ drop the price? they already lose so much per console

[j_g_puff @ Sep 11th 2008 4:52AM]

I wonder how much it's costing them to make and distribute these days? Do you reckon they're actually making any money?

(Obviously, they're raking in major dough on the games)

[sweetsauce @ Sep 11th 2008 1:07PM]

holy crap does that hurt my eyes...

[Demaar @ Sep 12th 2008 10:20AM]

Well, they WERE making profit on the premiums like a year or two ago. Surely with more die shrinks and other general cost cutting improvements they'd be at least cutting even on these price drops... right?

[Saad Rabia @ Sep 11th 2008 4:53AM]

Wiiiiiiiiii.

P.S: 3

[facebookfake @ Sep 11th 2008 7:43AM]

Look Out! You're Disappearing!

[RockinOscar @ Sep 11th 2008 7:01PM]

omg a ghost!

[maty @ Sep 11th 2008 4:55AM]

Interesting to see if it will last at that rate, keep us posted!

[maty @ Sep 11th 2008 4:56AM]

They're loosing money, lots of money on consoles.

But so are Sony and Nintendo - all manufacturers sell consoles at a loss, get the market saturation, then make it all back in games sales. Thats why it took so long for Microsoft's games department to make a profit.

[xValentine @ Sep 11th 2008 5:14AM]

Sony = Yes

Nintendo = Hell no.


Have you seen the rank of Wii on ALL console sales reports ?

[Adderz @ Sep 11th 2008 5:40AM]

Nintendo make a healthy profit on each Wii sold. Both the PS3 and Xbox lose money.

Nintendo has some interesting tech and excellent price point, its just a shame the games really do suck. Im not a fan of crappy sport games. Developers put NO effort into Wii games, especially when it comes to the controls and graphics.

In saying that, i do like my Wii, ive had to look for Gamecube games because Wii games suck so bad.

[Rantrev @ Sep 11th 2008 5:42AM]

Actually X, despite your stupid "don't get fooled" fanboy comment below, I felt a need to correct you, Microsoft make money on the X360, they LOSE money, however, on the repairs necessary for earlier faulty models.

[maty @ Sep 11th 2008 6:00AM]

Stupid comment system, this was supposed to be in response to j_g_puff

-.-

Engadget... get the comment system sorted.

[blizz419 @ Sep 11th 2008 7:37AM]

lol does it matter maty when you were just spouting off stuff as fact that you infact knew nothing about, love seeing people try to correct others like they know what there talking about and have not researched there statement whatsoever just to make a foll of themselves.

Fact Nintendo makes profit on every console sold,

i believe the 360 does though maybe not right now right after the price drop but there only significant loss at the moment is repairing and replacing older faulty systems.

Sony i am pretty sure does take a significant loss on every system right now.

[maty @ Sep 11th 2008 8:06AM]

Yes it does matter. Its been broken for years and its getting tiresome.

It was a generalising point anyhow. My point was not that of accuracy but that most consoles are sold at a loss (look at older nintendo consoles) by the manufacturer and ita fairly common.

[Punisher @ Sep 11th 2008 8:27AM]

No they are not loosing money. Microsoft last year began to make a profit of $75 per console sale, later they reported a $95 per console that allow them to put the E&D division on profits. This division includes the xBox, Zune, Surface, etc. Only xBox is doing fine in this MS division. Now the profits must be close to $130 - $150 before the price cut thats the reason they cut the arcade by $80 and the others by $50. They have the biggest attach rate and xBox Live.

I have 17 games between my personal games and my 7 years old kid.

P.S.
Microsoft had to take 1 billion on repairs and had lost 3 billions more the first xBox but this time around they are making lot of money.

[JerkfacedFed @ Sep 11th 2008 7:08PM]

some people have no idea what theyre talking about.

ps3 has and will always sell at a loss until it dips below $200, wii has been profitable all along (obviously because they are using the same exact hardware as the gamecube with 200mhz higher clocks) and the 360 started in the red and now sells profitable.

no opinion. fact.

[Ethan @ Sep 11th 2008 5:05AM]

I'll wait for the NPD thanks.

[Ghen @ Sep 11th 2008 5:07AM]

I bought a 20GB Pro a few weeks ago. It was $299 with a $30 circuit city gift card.

Then when the price drop went official I took my receipt back to the store and got a refund for the difference.

Their prices were a bit skewed though, the system said $250 instead of the real price drop for this version, $260

So I got it for $250 and kept the $30 gift card, essentially netting a Pro for under Wii price ;)

[nathan.wong @ Sep 11th 2008 9:33AM]

I got the 60GB Pro (to go with my PS3 and Wii) last month and the door to the USB port was broken. I took it back to BB 9 days later and they replaced the unit. MS dropped the price and because I brought the unit back to BB 9 days later they used that particular receipt and was able to give me the $50+ difference. That was awesome. Things do happen for a reason and the broken door turned out to be worth $50 for me.

[Ghen @ Sep 11th 2008 5:07AM]

That scared me. I'm leaving now.

[Dave Chappelle @ Sep 11th 2008 5:13AM]

umm, 100% increase? isnt this how many Microsoft send out not sell @ retailers?
another BS fallacy made up by the desperate officials over @ M$.

They are trying to build confidence in people. truth is they know there coming last this GEN!. its no longer three consoles in this war its only 2 now.

100%? well imagine the PS3 @ $199.95

then what PS3 sales will make 1 million a month. 12 million a year.!!

[Lazarpandar @ Sep 11th 2008 5:26AM]

You ask a question, then answer your own question, then call microsoft a bunch of idiots because of the answer you gave to the question you don't know the answer to.

[kal326 @ Sep 11th 2008 10:06AM]

I do have to agree that if a PS3 dropped to $199.99 the sales volume would make hot cakes sales look like hummer sales. However Sony would completely loose their asses because hardly anyone would be buying the games and accessories that Sony would make any money on. However, a lot more people would have a great Blu-Ray player.

I just hope this make Sony rethink their price drop timing, I for one welcome a cheaper Blu-Ray player.

[Mega Math @ Sep 13th 2008 8:41PM]

@ Dave Chappelle
What? You stupid. If the PS3 were to go to 199.99 they would go bankrupt before they sell one at that price. Are you stupid?
And if it didn't have blue-ray well 0 sales!!
Your just another PS3 Fan!

[j_g_puff @ Sep 11th 2008 5:22AM]

I would have voted you up more if you'd omitted the /s tag.

[xValentine @ Sep 11th 2008 5:35AM]

Again, Don't get fooled by that $199.

[Tim Spence @ Sep 11th 2008 5:46AM]

Because it's really $299?

[tholmewood @ Sep 11th 2008 7:22PM]

@ Lazrpanda .... Im not defending that PS3 fanboy you had a pop at back there but his usage of questions was purely rhetorical!

[s @ Sep 11th 2008 6:40AM]

Not sure how many people did statistics but numbers, can easily be manipulated to seem like something else. MS definitely ain't lying. They sales might have gone up 2x or even 6x over previous weeks. But you need to keep in mind the typical weekly sales of that console. Its very common to see only 500 units sold per week. The average weekly sales is in the 1 - 2000 range. So they may sell 10 times their weekly average and it still means nothing.

[nd @ Sep 11th 2008 11:38AM]

Plus, who in their right mind bought one the week before a highly predicted price drop. The week before undoubtedly had very weak sales.

Let's see where it's at in 6 months.

I own all 3 consoles, and each have their good points- the Wii is great for multi player games, the xBox is fantastic as a media center extender, and the PS3 has great graphics if you buy the right games, plus Blu-Ray. If I only had one, I'd pick the Wii.

[John @ Sep 11th 2008 7:04AM]

Anybody think this might have something to do with who knows how many hundreds of thousands of college kids returning to school around this time? Just a thought

[kevin @ Sep 11th 2008 7:14AM]

"100% increase in sales of all Xbox 360 models compared to the previous weekend"

In other words, the previous weekend's sales were DOWN, because everyone already knew that the price drop was coming and was waiting for the next weekend, when they could buy it for less.

Nice spin, Microsoft.

[maveric101 @ Sep 11th 2008 2:47PM]

i doubt everyone reads engadget and other tech blogs like we do. most people probably had no idea.

[Shinigami @ Sep 11th 2008 7:32AM]

I bet 6x on the Arcade.

[blizz419 @ Sep 11th 2008 7:45AM]

help I need an ADULT!

[sr1329 @ Sep 11th 2008 7:49AM]

Don't believe for a second that they are losing money on those sales at this point.

[roger stafford @ Sep 11th 2008 7:59AM]

blah blah blah this blah blah blah that fanboi sucks this etc...

i traded in my wii that i bought on launch day this week since i never play it.
i bought a 360 arcade.
that makes 2 360s for me, i am sure i am not the only one to do so.

[Tim Spence @ Sep 11th 2008 8:43AM]

2 360s? What, you got 2 pairs of hands, or have you trained your feet to use a controller too?

[Skullfighter @ Sep 11th 2008 10:09AM]

**In game comments**
"Feet, I need help over here, I'm taking fire!"

"No worries mate! I'm right below you!"

[Vcize @ Sep 11th 2008 10:45AM]

Two 360's here also (1 PS3, one dust collecting Wii).

Two pairs of hands? No. Two TVs? Yep.

It's great if the wife doesn't want me hogging the TV in the living room to be able to pluck off the hard drive, throw it onto the other console, and keep on going in the other room as if I had moved the whole console. The proprietary hard drives are way overpriced, but it's really nice how easy it is to swap them between consoles.

Also, now me and the wife can play on Live together with my other friends (yes, I have the best wife ever).

Plus, it doesn't hurt to have an extra one lying around for when one of them visits RROD-land.

[Bj Sisco @ Sep 11th 2008 1:53PM]

I have 2 360s... one upstairs and one downstairs. The wife hogs the one downstairs. My gamer profile is on a memory card and I can just log off one, take out the memory card, plug it into the other one and then log back on. Might get a third for the bedroom.

[jupiterthunder @ Sep 11th 2008 6:18PM]

Is it a sin to just buy extra cables and power maybe a power cord and just transport the console to the next room? Even if you'd only be buying an extra arcade, it would let you spend that 200 on something cool that you don't already have.

[jkelley @ Sep 11th 2008 8:10AM]

when will they learn, suck everyone in with a low console price... then lower the Boom with expensive-a$$$ games that don't suck.
If the ps3 had been priced at $250 from the start it would have crushed the competition and Sony would have made up the initial loss on game and blue ray sales and Wii would be something a dog does when it is bad.

[eX @ Sep 11th 2008 9:16AM]

Not necessarily. Nintendo was making money on their console from day one. Also, look at the stats; they indicate that most people who do buy a Wii don't buy any games for it and just stick with the bundle. Games on today's consoles are outrageously expensive and since people can't demo them, many hesitate spending so much money. Most families that buy a Wii get the sports bundle and maybe a controller or two and they don't come back to get more games. This is like buying a crappy inkjet printer and get owned by the ink prices. I'm a PC gamer and game prices and quality are my chief concern as frankly, only a handful of games are worth their full price at launch. As for X360 price cut, it's great, there are a lot of platinum hits games one can play and seeing that all you get in a Pro is a lousy 20GB hard drive and a better tv cable, this makes Arcade even more appealing (HDD is $5-10 on eBay and HDMI is also around $10). So make your own conclusions but the new Arcade is definitely a worthwhile choice at a decent price. I wouldn't be surprised MS claims that their sales doubled seeing that the $80 one just saved can get then quite a few games if you don't go for new releases.

[chefgon_ign @ Sep 11th 2008 9:07AM]

I'm not so sure about that. I would rather pay $300 for an Xbox 360 than $250 for a PS3.

Also, the people making the Wii a top seller aren't really in the market for a PS3 at any price.