Microsoft confirms Xbox 360 Elite price cut, Xbox 360 Pro phase-out |
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Microsoft confirms Xbox 360 Elite price cut, Xbox 360 Pro phase-out
Yes, Microsoft is cutting the price of the 120 GB Xbox 360 Elite to by $100, to $299. Yes, the company is phasing out the 20 GB Xbox 360 Pro and cutting the remaining models by $50, to $249. And no, the video-game industry can't keep a secret.
Microsoft is finally acknowledging the news that was first leaked more than two months ago -- then confirmed repeatedly -- saying it's shifting its game console lineup to leave itself with two models: the Xbox 360 Elite for $299 and the Xbox 360 Arcade, sans hard drive, for $199. Going away is the Xbox 360 Pro, a longtime mainstay of Microsoft's lineup. The changes take effect Friday.
The idea behind the shift is to help set the company up for a successful holiday shopping season, said David Dennis, an Xbox spokesman. He said the lower price for the Xbox 360 Elite should be a "great accelerant to our console sales."
Asked how long the company expects supplies of the Xbox 360 Pro to last at $249, Dennis said "not long."
The announcement follows Sony's decision to drop the price of the PlayStation 3 models by $100 each, bringing the 160 GB PlayStation 3 to $399 and the 80 GB model to $299, with plans to introduce a slimmer 120 GB model in September for $299.
But case it's not obvious from the two-month-old leak, Microsoft says the price change isn't a direct reaction to Sony's news.
The Xbox 360 is the only one of the three current consoles to see an increase in U.S. unit sales year-to-date, compared with the same seven months last year, according to the NPD Group research firm. The Microsoft console is up 17 percent over that period. Nintendo still leads the market, with more than 3.2 million consoles sold in the U.S. this year, compared with 1.8 million Xbox 360s and 1.2 million PS3s.
Microsoft's changes mean its primary console (now the Xbox 360 Elite) will once again be black. The company specifically shifted to a white color scheme when it launched the Xbox 360 product line in 2005, saying it wanted to make the machines more approachable in appearance than the bulky, black original Xbox. Dennis pointed out that the color of the Xbox 360 Elite better matches the components in many home-entertainment systems.
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