Only one week after Sony announced the PS3 Slim and dropped the price of the PS3 to a lower level than the Xbox 360 Elite, Microsoft has announced that they will match the PS3’s price. The price cut from $399 to $299 brings the Xbox 360 Elite
The price of the Xbox 360 Pro
“You cannot underestimate the fact that we have two consoles. If you have $200 in your pocket today, you can go buy an Xbox 360,” Aaron Greenberg, Xbox 360 and Xbox Live director of product management, told GameSpot. “I think a big part of the reason why–at a time where Nintendo and Sony are seeing double-digit year-over-year declines, and we’re actually up 17 percent–is due to that mass-market price point.”
This is the first time that the Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii are all on relatively even footing in terms of price. For the PS3 to launch at $600 and now be cut in half to a more reasonable $300 – that alone should be a tremendous boost in sales for Sony. Despite being the cheapest of the three out there, Xbox 360 has continued to lag behind Wii in month-to-month sales. That might not be the case for long, though, as Nintendo’s console has shown signs of slowing in recent months. Holiday 2009 should be an interesting battle indeed.