The long-rumored $100 price cut for the Xbox 360 Elite is real, and will reportedly go into effect by the end of the month.
This year’s Great Summer Rumor was, of course, the existence of the PS3 Slim, which was predicted to accompany a $100 price cut in Sony’s current-gen console – a rumor which was proven true last week. However, a close second place is the persistent word on the street that Microsoft will be phasing out the Xbox 360 Pro and slashing the price of the 360 Elite by $100 to match the competition.
Well, leaked photos of next week’s Target Ad over at Engadget apparently confirm that said rumor is partly true, at least. The photos promote a new $299 price point for the 360 Elite, as well as a $50 cut for the 360 Pro, now retailing at $249. Given the timing of Target’s weekly ads, Engadget points out that this likely means the price cut will go into effect on Sunday the 30th.
This isn’t really surprising, of course. Microsoft’s main point of contention against the PS3 was the price; letting the competition undercut them like that would be a crippling mistake. It wouldn’t be hard to see this coming even if the rumor hadn’t been around so long. The interesting part, though, is the $50 price cut for the 360 Pro, because it’s the only part of this that wasn’t in the predictions – as far as we could guess, the Pro would be eliminated entirely.
Of course, the two don’t have to contradict each other, either. This could simply be a way of clearing out remaining Pro stock to make room for all of those shiny new Elites.
Update: An industry tipster who requested to remain anonymous confirmed to The Escapist that the $100 price cut for the Xbox 360 Elite will be taking effect by the end of August. The only difference is that the $299 bundle “will not include the HDMI cable as a pack-in.”
(Edge)
