14 DAY TRIAL // It seems that gamers who are looking for an official price point for the Kinect motion tracking system from Microsoft cannot even trust the company to provide one. An official page on the Microsoft Store put out the price of 150 dollars earlier in the week but it appears no source should be trusted on the price before August, when the company is saying it will begin talking about pricing and bundle options.
A new warning has been added to the official page on the Microsoft Store that is stating, “Official pricing has not been announced. $149.99 is an estimate only and subject to change.” Further information also arrived via the Twitter feed of Stephen Toulouse, who is the Xbox Live policy enforcement director, who sent out a message reading, “All prices now *no matter what the retail source* are placeholders.” Of course, as long as the software giant does not offer an official price itself, rumors will continue to flourish and company executives will be forced to talk about them, if only to offer denials.
It's interesting to note that a report pegged the actual cost to make Kinect at around 150 dollars, meaning the maker would only break even if the price offered on the official page and at several retailers is true. If Microsoft drops it to make sure that a bigger number of players are interested in picking up the motion tracking device, then it might be losing money on the gadget, which it can only recoup later by selling more titles using it to create new gaming experiences.
Meanwhile, Sony has been more direct about pricing for its Move system, which is set to arrive in September. The basic controller, the one featured in all advertising, will be priced at 49.99 dollars and those who need to also get a PlayStation Eye camera will have to pay closer to 100. The more modular nature of the device hides the fact that costs can quickly ramp up.