Xbox 360 Price Cut Boosts UK Sales

Officials from regular UK chart compilers Chart-Track have revealed, via British trade paper MCV, that Xbox 360 sales increased by 260 percent in the week following the recent price cut and introduction of the Xbox 360 Elite, with sales dropping by only 20 percent from there the following week. The price of the Premium Xbox 360 bundle was lowered by £30 ($60) to 249.99 ($497) on August 24th, with the Core bundle dropping by £20 ($40) to £179.99 ($357). On the same date, the Xbox 360 Elite console was also launched at a price of £299.99 ($596). Although specific hardware numbers are never revealed for the UK or wider European market, recent announcements by Chart-Track showed that the Nintendo DS has become the best selling format in the country, ahead of the PC and PlayStation 2. The Wii was also recently proclaimed as the fastest selling console ever in the UK, according to Chart-Track’s own data. With a lack of weekly or monthly data for comparison, the relative performance of each format is still difficult to judge. Sales of the Xbox 360 are likely to have been lower in recent months in anticipation of the price cuts and Xbox 360 Elite launch. Indeed, exactly this phenomenon appears to be currently occurring with the PSP, which according to additional Chart-Track data published by MCV has recorded its worst week of sales since launch – down 32.1 percent on the same time last year. However, with the launch of the new PSP Slim and Lite model on September 14th, the poor sales are unlikely to be due to any sudden fall in popularity for the format.