Microsoft has just announced that there will be a 60 GB 360 going on sale in August. They are dropping the 20 GB price to 299 and replacing it with the 60 GB price. Maybe there won’t be an official “price cut” after all, maybe they are just switching SKUs like Sony Has done in the past. There have not been any announcements as to price cuts for the other levels of the system yet so I think they are just replacing the SKU.
Press release:
REDMOND, Wash. – Microsoft is giving consumers more gigabytes for their buck. The company today announced an Xbox 360 console with triple the storage space of the original console, but for the same price of $349 (U.S.) estimated retail price.
Available in retail stores in the U.S. and Canada starting in early August, the upgraded Xbox 360 will include a 60GB hard drive for storing the growing wealth of digital entertainment available for the console, including music, movies, television shows, and game content. In addition, Microsoft today dropped the price of its 20GB Xbox 360 console in the U.S. and Canada to just $299 (U.S.) (ERP) while supplies last, a savings of $50.
“We know consumers need more and more space to store the amazing digital content Xbox 360 offers, and we’re giving it to them at no extra charge,” said Albert Penello, Xbox director of product management at Microsoft. “No one device offers the depth and breadth of entertainment that Xbox 360 can deliver, and now you’ll have three times the storage to manage all that great content.”
Xbox 360 is just one of three Xbox 360 gaming and entertainment systems Microsoft offers. Microsoft’s Xbox 360 Arcade, which comes with a 256MB memory unit and five Xbox LIVE Arcade games, is a value for the whole family for $279 (U.S.) (ERP), and the premium Xbox 360 Elite console is available with a 120GB hard drive for $449 (U.S.) (ERP).
Great another sku, what I always wanted….Fail.
How will this new sku play out, since no report has been made about a BluRay player, are they going to release yet another sku for that option? Or maybe this is deja vu, they will release this sku and then release a stand alone BluRay, since that HD DVD player thing went so well for them.