PSA: Xbox 360 cost reduction != price cut
As a public service announcement, we thought we'd go over this old chestnut one more time. While Microsoft is undoubtedly trying to lower the cost of building an Xbox 360 (a cost that is estimated to be anywhere from $400 to $525 to $715 per unit), the attending assumption that Microsoft is looking to lower the retail price is either a misunderstanding or a misconception.
The nice lads at Next Generation asked some analysts to, uh, analyze the likeliness of such an occurance. After carefully focusing their razor sharp acumen on the problem, said analysts returned the following conclusion: "not likely." To support their assertion, they pointed to a need to avoid further hardware losses and then to our own interview with Peter Moore in which he said, "We had a price drop ... when Sony announced their price. We obviously don't talk about price drops, and I can't think of any good reason right now that we would drop the price even further from the delta between what we're offering and what our competitor's are currently offering."
The most likely scenario, according to Next Generation and sensible people everywhere, is a software bundle like the one that's rumored to include Project Gotham Racing 3, 1250 MS Points ($15.62), and 3 months of Xbox Live free.
[Via Xbox 360 Fanboy]
