Yes, only 4 days after launch Japanese retailers started cutting prices trying to move some consoles. In the above picture you can see the price was cut from 38,800 to 18,000 yen, or from $350 to $150 in USD.
There is one catch, apparently the price is being subsidized by bundling an ISP contract with the console. This is similar to cellular networks here in the states selling phones at a huge discount if you sign a contract. According to Kotaku 
, the photo’s source, this practice is common in Japan for moving poorly selling items.
In related news, a second analyst , Enterbrain Inc., estimates that 39% of the consoles in Japan were sold in the first two days–up from 28% in a previous preliminary report.
I had joked that given how poorly the Xbox did in Japan, the Xbox 360 can only do better. Well, even if you assume the higher 39% figure, or roughly 62,000 consoles, this is down from the original Xbox’s launch which sold 123,000 consoles in it’s first 3 days.
No comments:
Post a Comment