Let the gaming console price wars begin
Last week Microsoft said it wasn't going to lower the price of the Xbox 360, but the company appears to be changing its tune following Sony's announced markdown of its Playstation 3. They're both trying to lure gamers away from Nintendo's top-selling Wii.
Xbox 360 on display (Scott Barbour/Getty Images)
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TEXT OF INTERVIEW
Doug Krizner: The big names in the gaming biz are in Santa Monica, California today. It's the start of the Electronics Entertainment Expo, E3 for short. Microsoft's stealing a lot of the thunder at this video game trade show. There are reports of an impending price-cut for the Xbox 360. Our producer Renita Jablonski is in the studio. Renita what are you hearing?
Renita Jablonski: It turns out now, according to a Bloomberg report, the vice president of Microsoft Game Studios says that indeed Xbox has to lower its price to be competitive with the Nintendo Wii.
Krizner: But last week they were saying they weren't going to do this.
Jablonski: Exactly. And then Sony went ahead and announced at the start of the week that it was slashing the price of its Playstation 3 by $100. So we don't know right now what kind of price slash Microsoft is considering for the Xbox. Right now the unit sells for about $300 to about $480.
Krizner: So Microsoft is also using this E3 conference as a way to announce a big deal with Disney. What's going on here?
Jablonski: Yeah they're taking up all the headlines heading into this conference. Last night in sort of the opening event of the E3 Summit, Microsoft announced this deal with Disney that would allow the Xbox Live service, this is an online service that customers can sign up for, to download Disney movies. And they've got about seven million people registered for the Xbox Live service and Microsoft is also saying that in the next year they expect that to grow by about 40 percent so they're expecting some opportunities to cash in on this as well.
Krizner: She's our producer, Renita Jablonski. Hey Renita thanks very much.
Jablonski: Thanks Doug.
Krizner: In the Bloomberg interview, Microsoft said Xbox price cuts would not be made during the E3 trade show.
