With all eyes on pricing for Microsoft's Kinect, a new listing on the company's own store is supporting information gleaned from other major retailers pointing to a $149.99 price tag.
Flyers and listings from retailers like Amazon, Wal-Mart and GameStop have surfaced in recent weeks indicating the same price, but Microsoft has yet to make any public announcements or confirmation.
Analysts and industry execs alike have said they feel Kinect's pricing will be crucial to its market success; most recently, Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter suggested that a price point over $100 "would severely limit sales."
Internal documents from Microsoft have revealed that the company plans to offer Xbox 360 bundles that include the new redesign of the hardware and the device together, in addition to selling Kinect as a stand-alone. Retailer listings have pegged these Xbox 360/Kinect bundles as $299 with an 'Arcade' console, alongside an 'Elite' bundle at $399.
Microsoft's internal marketing data also suggested that the company plans to offer a $199 version of the newly-slimlined console this fall, presumably in the anticipated 'Arcade' configuration and lacking features such as the large hard drive.
Yeah, assuming the Kinect can accommodate 4 players out of the box you'll need the Move camera, 4 move controllers, and either 4 dual shocks or 4 of the Move off-hand thingamajigs to get the same functionality. Full 4 player Move set has a higher cost of ownership then the Kinect, even at $150. It may end up with more functionality as well, but time will tell.
Where the $150 Kinect fails is that it won't bring in a lot of new customers. A $299 Kinect 360 bundle is still barely competitive with the Wii plus some extra remotes, and MS doesn't have Mario.
I think $75-$100 for the standalone Kinect and a $250 360/Kinect bundle with Wifi and a 60-120 GB hard drive would be an absolute killer. Now, I don't know about production costs so my numbers there could be impossible to reach and still make some kind of margin on these products, but I think that would be a sweet spot for consumers.
A) It's been reported that Kinect can only track/process two people at a time, not 4. It can identify 4, but not process that data in any meaningful way (ie, score them). At least, according to the company that developed the tech.
B) How many people actually buy 4 controllers for any system? Just have your friends bring theirs over. Yes, if you're rich you can buy it all yourself, but it's far from a necessity. Most games, even pre-Kinect/Move, support controller swapping anyway... few games are 4-player at the same time.
Where the $150 Kinect fails is that it won't bring in a lot of new customers. A $299 Kinect 360 bundle is still barely competitive with the Wii plus some extra remotes, and MS doesn't have Mario.
I think $75-$100 for the standalone Kinect and a $250 360/Kinect bundle with Wifi and a 60-120 GB hard drive would be an absolute killer. Now, I don't know about production costs so my numbers there could be impossible to reach and still make some kind of margin on these products, but I think that would be a sweet spot for consumers.
B) How many people actually buy 4 controllers for any system? Just have your friends bring theirs over. Yes, if you're rich you can buy it all yourself, but it's far from a necessity. Most games, even pre-Kinect/Move, support controller swapping anyway... few games are 4-player at the same time.