The UK's retail price war on games has taken an even more aggressive turn with news that supermarket giant Sainsbury's is planning to slash the price of Xbox 360 to £100 ($176).
According to a report in MCV, the Arcade pack will drop in price from £129 to £99. The Xbox 360 60GB will be reduced from £169.97 to £139.97. Wii is also to be cut in price. The deal will last for the next week.
UK retailers have targeted games and consoles as an ideal loss-leader in order to increase traffic and market-share. Chains like Asda and Morrisons have slashed up to 50% off the price of new, hit games, much to the chagrin of UK publishers forced to carry the cost of reductions.
now thats aggresive!
I think this puts pressure on Sony to reduce the price of the PS3.
I'm wondering if such a low price will not make some people look at the PS3 price tag and think: "Such an high price on the PS3, it must be really good. The XBox sounds cheap." and chose to buy the PS3.
Just wondering...
I'm not sure those sorts of shoppers would be found in Sainsbury's.
Credit crunch, low income families, the kids want a game system. I could see this shifting a few units. Not sure people would look at the PS3 and its stubborn price point and say 'It must be really good as its expensive". It is good, but it is a bit expensive, I'd say good value for money, but for many it is just too expensive. Surely Sony need to drop the price a bit before Christmas. They'd be fools not too, with the wii and 360 selling at such low prices they'll be left behind big time. Hell this offer interests me, wouldn't touch the arcade version, but the 60gb for £140... not bad at all. Although it would be a complete impulse buy, I have little or no time to play my PS3 at the moment (let alone my wii that has sat behind, yes behind my tv for almost a year now, should probably sell it, Hmmm). So maybe they're going for the impulse buyer, someone who might go "Wow, there's an Xbox 360 for £100, put that in the trolley". Now the cynical amongst us will think that Sainos have just done this as a cheap PR stunt to get the folks in the door. All the 360 will have all sold out but the shoppers carry on filling up their trollies with Sainos goods and might also notice the 37" Pannahatchi (or whatever the latest no name brand they're shifting) LCD TV on special offer for £399. Also, for a week only... the more I think about it, the more its just a ploy to bring customers to their stores, I bet there is a notice in 4pt type on the bottom of the promotional material stating 'Limited stocks'. They'll be a few disappointed customers I think...
If i know my local Sainsburys i think Dan has hit the nail on the head, they'll get two 360s in as stock then claim they just can't get any more due to demand.