Microsoft Wants to Make Life Difficult for Sony
News4Gamers.com breaks good news for video gamers that could have a significant impact on the overall consumer electronics industry:
It looks like Microsoft is planning to crash Sony’s PS3 launch party by dropping the price of the Xbox 360 this coming Christmas. A source close to Microsoft says consumers can expect a price drop of almost $100.
The source also revealed according to Britxbox.co.uk that the Xbox 360 hardware team are now busy redesigning the chips supplied by ATI and IBM to cut costs and allow a price drop to coincide with the release of Sony’s Playstation 3.
If this holds true you will be able to buy an Xbox 360 for half the price of the PS3 this Xmas. This will certainly put Microsoft in a very lucrative position when the next-gen console war starts for real later this year.
As we wrote recently, one major reason why the PS3 will be so expensive at launch ($500-$600) is that it will include a high-definition DVD player using Sony’s Blu-Ray technology. Since the first Blu-Ray player is expected to cost $1,000 when launched, the combination game console/DVD player could be a hot commodity. Or at least Sony hopes.
Sony is working hard to put its Blu-Ray technology everywhere in order to avoid repeating its Betamax blunder. Computers, gaming consoles, DVD players, televisions - even the movies in Sony’s Columbia Pictures and MGM libraries - all will be sporting Blu-Ray. If they gain enough traction they could own the standard in high-definition video and squash rival HD-DVD.
Yet consumer surveys clearly show that buyers are not interested in a format war. They want their high-def player to play any high-def movie. And as a result, Sony’s plan could backfire. With both XBox and Nintendo’s surprisingly buzzworthy Wii both set to sell for half the price of PS3, Sony risks losing the DVD format war and its dominant market share in gaming all in one swoop.
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