Just four days after the launch it looks like prices on the XBox 360 are already getting lowered. Or does it. The Japanese public care little for the 360, the trade cares even less.
The latter due to the botched XBox launch that burned retailers pretty bad first time round. Certainly in Osaka the XBox 360 is already discounted, not sure about Tokyo though.
Japanese Shops Now Slashing Xbox 360 Prices - Kotaku
Edit: Kotaku have updated there original piece to reflect that price cut is pretty standard and isn’t a reaction to the fact that most XBox 360s remain insold. Estimates range from 40-62 percent of the 150,000 XBoxs remain unsold.
2 responses so far ↓
1 endekks // Dec 13, 2005 at 11:18 AM
It should be noted that this discount is only given to those who also purchase an ISP deal at the same time. Seeing as how many electronics stores in Japan will give multi-hundred dollar (equivalent) discounts, free PS2’s and other items away when trying to get people to sign up for internet, it should not be all that shocking when $150 gets knocked off of an internet-capable gaming device which will potentially utilise said internet service provision. It’s very similar to getting a mobile phone for free when you sign up for a cellular contract - and people don’t really go up in arms over that.
All that said, the 360 is still flopping in Japan.
2 Jackdaw // Dec 13, 2005 at 4:00 PM
This practice is — apparently — used to clear non-moving stock in japan. The discounting isn’t taken into as lightly as it is in the US/UK.
All of this is third hand knowledge anyway, so who really knows the true situation — but it isn’t looking good:
“Bloomberg has a story up saying that Microsoft sold 39 percent of their Xbox 360 stock in Japan.” Via Kotaku [www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000087&sid=aY7CnxoGtsMI&refer=top_world_news#]
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