After weeks of leaked catalog ads unofficially showed off the price cut, Microsoft has officially dropped the price of the Xbox 360 Elite today, with the console set to sell for $299 USD beginning tomorrow morning, in the United States.
The Pro model, which features a smaller HDD, will drop to $249.99, and seems to be on the way out, in favor of the Arcade and Elite models.
“With the holiday season right around the corner, it’s already time to start looking for entertainment and gifts that everyone will enjoy,” added Shane Kim, corporate vice president of strategy and business development for the Interactive Entertainment Business at Microsoft Corp. “If you’re looking for deep experiences that don’t require deep pockets, now is the time to purchase an Xbox 360. We’ve got the best games, a vast library of TV shows and movies, new music experiences, more ways to connect friends and family, and so much more on the horizon including ‘Project Natal’ — no controller required.”
Result for: elite models
A new, leaked KMart flyer shows that Microsoft is indeed set to drop the price of at least one model of its Xbox 360 console line at the upcoming E3 event.
The ad, pictured below, shows the 20GB model selling for $300 USD, a $50 USD price cut from its current sale price. There was no indication of any rebate, or temporary discount so it appears this price will be the new asking price from Microsoft. All features appear to remain intact.
Two weeks ago we reported that Jesse Divnich said he expected a price cut across the board on Xbox 360s and that he also expected the introduction of a new model.
The new price for the Pro model leaves some unanswered problems however. The entry level Xbox 360 Arcade will only cost $20 USD less then the newly reduced price Pro model meaning Microsoft will have to either drop the price even lower or completely discontinue the model which seems more likely. The other problem is the now huge gap between the Pro and Elite models which sells for $450 USD. The software giant will either have to lower the price or upgrade the hardware to avoid cannibalizing its own high end model.
