Xbox 360 Australian price dropped

360 News | Core console now the same price as the Wii.

Microsoft has confirmed to Gamespot that the price of the Xbox 360 in Australia will drop from today. The 20GB enabled Pro system will now retail for $579.95 Australian, and the Core console will drop in price to $399.95, which makes it the same price as the Nintendo Wii.

Xbox regional director for Australia and New Zealand David McLean said reduced manufacturing costs were the reason for dropping the Xbox 360's price. McLean stated the price drop positions the Pro system favourably against the PlayStation 3 whilst the Core's pricepoint allows the console to compete in the casual market.

"I think you'll see, on a games point of view, we're well ahead (of the PS3). And now once again we're offering all of these experiences at a really affordable price. So I think we will do really well during the holiday period against PlayStation," McLean said. "Our strategy was always to focus on the core and serious gamers. We think we've done a great job there, and the numbers support that. What we now need to do is start thinking about broadening our strategy, and this price movement is a component of that strategy."

McLean reaffirmed the Xbox Core would be sticking around as well. "There are no plans to discontinue the Core SKU. We've actually seen over the last few months that the Core has started to grow in terms of sales. We're pretty pleased with the momentum that's been building on the Core, and it's still important for us to provide that level of choice to the customer. We have no intention of discontinuing the Core at this point. Furthermore, this price adjustment and some of things we're planning to do with the product over the holidays will make it a more significant part of the business," he stated.

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44 Comments

Karai Pantsu

4 years ago

Good time for a price-drop, but they're going to need to do more than lower the price if they want to compete with the Wii for the 'Casual dollar'. The 360 has established itself solidly as a 'hardcore' system, whereas the Wii is synonymous with the term 'casual'.

Still, price cuts are good for gamers

pdaddy

4 years ago

I agree. Microsoft went all out on combating Sony in their hardcore realm that no one realised Nintendo would come up from nowhere to steal the casual market. Now it is seen as the casual market is the one to go for.
The thing is that it (core system) is still not in the same league as the Wii as you NEED to buy more if you have just the core console. No hard drive, no ability to save games, no wireless controller. The Wii has all these things out of the box for $399.

TheAnswer

4 years ago

I noticed this in the paper today, K-Mart is advertising the core for $388 and the Premium for $538 and JB Hi-Fi beats K-Mart by a whole dollar with the Premium for $537. Good work MS. I guess this is clearing away stock for the Halo 3 packs and the Elite.

Jim Dash

4 years ago

^ And generate even higher sales come September. Microsoft are going to cash up massively, from then until Too Human and Mass Effect's release.

arbok

4 years ago

Good Value for the core price $399 - however if you're going to pick up a hard drive and HD cables - then it becomes $599 - i wish they would just lower the hard drive and cables cost. The pro offers the dvd remote and wireless controller so you are still getting some extra value.

With respect to the PRO, I think its already been advertised for around $599 anyways in Big W and KMart, so its not really a price drop. Hopefully this means these places will lower the price even further.

I guess this means we will also be expecting a PS3 drop in price - they would be mad not to. Its going to be quite ugly if the PS3 is almost twice the price even if it does have a blu ray.

PS3 has to come down to $699 right now (obviously even more would be better but it would be unlikely.)

ittekimasu

4 years ago

just need the better hardware and i'll be all over it like ants to sugar

bobkid

4 years ago

this is great news, finally a price i can afford

?oe?oe

4 years ago

Bah, the Wii is now $388 in most places.

Slowly the prem is coming down *sigh*

LeonJ

4 years ago

Certainly a nice real price drop compared with that **** Sony tempory one.

Good timing too, Bioshock next week.

Nev

4 years ago

This news had me all raring to pick up a 360, but it really isn't offering better value than most of pack-in deals we've been seeing lately.

Xbox 360 + game = $600
Xbox 360 (w/out) = $580

Until the price drops start to pile up, they probably won't have the same impact they used to without the on-special bundles. If the PS3 went down to $849, that's still not as good a deal as the bundle they're currently offering.

I guess it works on a subliminal level (hence why we're still using $579.99 instead of more logical $580), and that's really the only reason the Core is still around. Once you attract people with the price, then it's easier to then convince them to spring for the pricier model.

Zaul

4 years ago

Xbox 360 Price 3 Days ago - $600

Xbox 360 Price Now - $578

Good Job Microsoft you managed to drop it a whole $22.

How about $122 next time? Jerks.

I'm still not buying a 360 untill they are $400 or under, WITH a hardrive.

thebigm

4 years ago

Zaul wrote

Don't see why this statement was necessary. The prices that have been out recently weren't official, with stores just having cheap prices. So now that they do make the price drop official, you are blasting Microsoft for lowering the price of the console officially, which in turn will most likely lower the package costs eventually?

One step closer to being more affordable, now for the new hardware chips to come in...

bradc1988

4 years ago

I got a premium for $538 in June, so it's good to see the actual RRP coming down. I think we will see a lot of premiums going for $499 some time soon.

someoneorother

4 years ago

Kmart have had the core at $399 a couple of times in the past few months already, it didn't seem to make much news.

I've seen the pro at $550 or thereabouts for a long while now, or $650 with a couple of games.

The Wii was $350 at BigW recently too.

Marka

4 years ago

Ive seen shops around here selling pro for $539 and $560 for months now.

LeonJ

4 years ago

Well, this is offical people, so those nice savings will get even lower now!

Wii doesn't need to change it's price, it may be $400 but you get Wii Sports with it, in-built wireless and in-built mem. I doubt many Mum's and Dad's will be buying a core pack for their kiddies.

Cerebral

4 years ago

Zaul wrote

I'm still not buying a 360 untill they are $400 or under, WITH a hardrive.

Call me crazy, but I can't see you owning any next-gen consoles anytime soon if that's what you consider acceptable value for money.

Passa

4 years ago

The Pro was $520 at Big W the other day.. I don't think this price drop is going to make a hell of a difference, with the exception of the Core system.

Spanca

4 years ago

Nev wrote

Well to be fair, the first option you're considering there is a bundle, the second is purely RRP. As has been said, with the $580 RRP we're already seeing actual prices of $530-40, so it's not unreasonable to expect that bundles and other deals will drop similarly. I mean R6 Vegas (one of those bundled games) can be had for $50, so with a $537 Premium, you're at worst $23 up on the old bundles.

Qbert

4 years ago

Sweet news, hopefully a games + Pro pack for $550 by xmas!

ObsoletE

4 years ago

$580 RRP is fast approaching what i'd consider getting it at - given most places will shelve it for less that this.

and since when did the Premium package become known as the Pro?

Nev

4 years ago

Spanca wrote

Well, that's exactly right. I guess my point is not that it isn't a good thing, but just that price drops aren't the sudden, earth-shattering events they have been in the past.

It's mostly the way retailers work in their bundles. Rather than the 360 being a solid $650 and then dropping to $580, we've seen the price of the system and various bundles gradually lower. Now that the official RRP has been reduced, we'll see the bundles start to take that into account over the course of the next year or so, gravitating more towards a $500 price point before Microsoft drops the price again.

Spanca

4 years ago

ObsoletE wrote

and since when did the Premium package become known as the Pro?

Good question. I read an editorial about using 'Pro' as a name convention (for non 'professional' items) and got a little annoyed (to the point where I even opened a new blank email!) when the 360 SKU was referred to as an example of such a misuse of the term Pro, when I believe it was in fact Premium. So is this official now? If so I fully support the said editorial. If things are for professional use, don't call them 'pro'.

The_Bebop

4 years ago

Until the 360 with the new hardware and HDMI becomes available here, and Eternal Sonata as well as Lost Odyssey is available I wont be buying it, but that is just what I am wating for.

My personal oppinion is this won't have much of an effect on sales here just like the PS3 because, these prices cuts have already been done here already buy the shops, as well as they have alot of package deals already.

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