Pachter Comments On Xbox 360 Game Price Drops

Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Michael Pachter has analyzed the recently announced and impending price cuts for Xbox 360 titles in his latest note to investors, and noted that, while some titles launched alongside or within the launch window of the Xbox 360 have held onto their initial price point, the analyst expects a price drop for all such games in the near to immediate future as part of “a normal occurrence in the industry.” Pachter commented that, while the prices assigned to a video games following their initial release traditionally follows a pattern of dropping $10 every 60 days or so, some Xbox 360 releases have yet to see a decrease from their initial price of $59.99. “As of this writing,” commented Pachter in his note, “prices have been cut to $39.99 for Burnout: Revenge (released March 7), Amped, Madden NFL 06, NBA 2K6, NBA Live 06, NHL 2K6, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 06, and King Kong, but have not been cut for Quake 4, Call of Duty 2, Gun, Need for Speed Most Wanted, and Tony Hawk's American Wasteland.” He added: “All of the games with Xbox 360 versions cut to $39.99 are offered on PS2 and Xbox at $29.99 or lower.” Price reductions for video games are part of the normal aging process that all releases go through, as noted by Pachter, who wrote: “In fact, we are surprised that games for the Xbox 360 have held launch pricing as long as they have (more than six months), and attribute their staying power to a lack of hardware supply over the first months following launch.” Looking ahead, the analyst expects price drops for previously released Xbox 360 software to follow a similar pattern exhibited by titles released on other platforms, with initial cuts to $49.99 coming two to three months after the game is released and an additional $10 drop following 60 days later.