Sony's new console will not affect Xbox prices: Microsoft

Microsoft Corp, the world's largest software maker, will not adjust prices of its Xbox 360 game console this year in response to the scheduled release of Sony Corp's PlayStation 3 in November.

Microsoft plans to cut the price of its most expensive Xbox 360 from US$399 to US$299, DigiTimes reported yesterday, citing unidentified Taiwanese suppliers. Microsoft denied the report, the Taipei-based newspaper said.

No plans

"We have no plans to cut the price of Xbox 360 before the end of this year," Freda Lee (李秀芬), a public relations manager for Microsoft in Taiwan, said in a telephone interview. "There's no schedule yet" for cutting prices.

Chairman Bill Gates said on May 9 that the company, based in Redmond, Washington, will sell 10 million of its next-generation consoles before Sony's PS3 goes on sale. The company sold 5 million of the game machines by the end of June, Microsoft said in a presentation to investors on July 20.

Sony's price

Sony, based in Tokyo, will release its PS3 in Japan on Nov. 11 and in the US and Europe on Nov. 17 at US$499 for the cheapest version, compared with US$299 for the least expensive Xbox 360.

The Japanese company had 64 percent of the market for the previous generation of game consoles, according to a May 2 research note from Merrill Lynch & Co. Sales of gaming consoles, software and accessories totaled US$10.5 billion last year, according to Port Washington, New York-based research firm NPD Group.