Microsoft Cuts Xbox 360 Price In Japan 2

The price of the Xbox 360 in Japan is to be slashed by up to 30 percent, lowering the cost of the Xbox 360 Arcade version of the console to below that of the Wii. Although Xbox 360 sales have generally proven disappointing in Japan, being regularly outsold by the PlayStation 2 by a factor of four or five, it has recently seen a peak in demand. Thanks to the release of Namco Bandai’s role-playing title Tales of Vesperia the console has been out of stock in the region for the last two weeks, with sales exceeding the PlayStation 3 for only the second time since its release. In the aftermath of this success, Japanese newspaper the Nikkei business daily reports via news agency Reuters that the price of the Xbox 360 Arcade model has been cut by ¥8,000 ($74) to ¥19,800 ($183). This new price compares to around ¥25,000 ($231) for the Wii and ¥39,800 ($368) for the PlayStation 3. The report also suggest that the Premium and Elite models will see a price drop of between ¥5,000 to 8,000 ($46 to $74) – although specific details are not yet available.