MyXboxLive
With the recent price drop of the PlayStation3 many industry experts believed that Microsoft would soon follow suit. For the first time the Xbox is the more expensive on the global market that its rival. But it seems that a price cut for the console is not going to be coming any time soon.
Chris Lewis told IGN that even though Sony had reduced the price of its console Microsoft would not follow. “As you can imagine, we plan for these scenarios all the time, for me to sit here and say that was a big surprise would be a lie. Respect for what they do, of course. I love the competition, actually: it keeps us on our toes and consumers benefit ultimately.”
However, a recent surge in PlayStation3 consoles may have shown that this is possibly a decision that may effect its own marketshare: the price drop is seen as the main contributing factor to the recent upward trajectory of sales worldwide, a sign that many critics of the move are pointing out.
But Lewis, vice president of interactive entertainment at Microsoft, believes otherwise. Continuing “We think we offer great value now… We have better service provision than anybody. We attach more effectively than anybody. I think Xbox LIVE’s enviable. What we’ve achieved with Kinect has given us growth that I think others would aspire to at this point in the life cycle. We’re happy with our position. While we’re not complacent about the competition, I wouldn’t trade places.”
Of course it is always balancing act between profit margins and amount of sales, something companies around the world try to master: this key balancing act. I’m sure it will be very interesting to see how this affects Sony’s profits in its gaming branch of the technology giant.
