New Price Is Expected to Expand Market for World’s Most Powerful Video Game
Console
REDMOND, Wash. — May 15, 2002 —
Through a carefully planned effort that includes the participation of key retailers and
third-party publishers, Microsoft Corp. today unveiled its plans for a North American
price reduction of the Xbox™ video game system. Effective immediately, Xbox will have
an estimated retail price of $199.99 in the United States ($299.99 CAN). The price
reduction will be supported by a multimillion dollar national merchandising and marketing
campaign set to begin this weekend. Microsoft also announced it is reducing the price of
Xbox in Japan to 24,800 yen effective Wednesday, May 22.*
Xbox was originally priced at $299.99 in the United States, $459.99 in Canada and 34,800
yen in Japan.
“As part of our long-term strategy to broaden the reach of Xbox and make it
accessible to more consumers, we’ve been working for several weeks with our key
partners to make this announcement as seamless and high impact as possible,” said
John O’Rourke, director of worldwide Xbox marketing at Microsoft.
With its cutting-edge technology, advanced graphics engine, hard disk drive and built-in
Ethernet port, Xbox has been globally acknowledged as the most powerful video game console
in the world. And with a rapidly expanding games portfolio featuring such titles as Game
of the Year** “Halo™,” Xbox has become the system of choice for millions of
enthusiasts around the globe. “This new, lower price makes Xbox the best value among
all competing video game systems,” O’Rourke said. “The best box is now the
best value.”
O’Rourke acknowledged that speculation surrounding a pending price reduction of Xbox
has been pervasive in the last few weeks. “The traditional forum for making an
announcement of this magnitude is the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) next week, but we’ve
been ready to go for some time and can easily put this in place at retail now. We see no
reason why eager gamers should have to wait a week to benefit from this tremendous value
opportunity.”
“Xbox has been working closely with us to roll out this new pricing. We’re
confident the planned marketing and promotional support behind it will really drive store
traffic and bring Xbox to the attention of a lot more gamers,” said Dan DeMatteo,
president of GameStop.
In just six short months since its highly successful North American launch, Xbox is
experiencing a software attach rate of 4.1 in North America, the highest of any video game
console ever. And recent momentum in Europe and Australia demonstrates strong consumer
demand for Xbox.
Microsoft currently expects to ship 3.5 million to 4.0 million Xbox consoles for the
fiscal year ending June 30, 2002. The company is not providing any update to financial
guidance provided on April 18, 2002.
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