For the US, at least. In a relatively new move for the industry of console sales, Microsoft has confirmed plans for a subscription based pricing model to distribute their Xbox 360 systems, allowing buyers to pay less up front and cover the remaining over monthly LIVE subscriptions.
First up for the sale is the 4GB Xbox 360 model, bundled with Kinect, and a two year subscription to Xbox LIVE Gold. Outright, the bundle would cost $299, however the new subscription deal demands only US$99 upfront. Over two years, the monthly payments of $14.99 for LIVE Gold will cover the remaining fee, and then some. Those applying for the subscription will find themselves ultimately paying ~US$450. Given LIVE Gold alone over two years would cost ~US$120, those on a subscription plan will ultimately pay ~US$30 more than what they normally would upfront.
As is, Microsoft is limiting purchases of subscription payment plans to specific distributors. And, to ensure customer compliance, subscriptions have certain information requirements and early termination fees.
Though the plan has not been confirmed for Australia, Microsoft’s experimentation with this business model is likely early insight into possible pricing schemes for the next generations. Circulating rumours point towards Microsoft’s next system packing quite a bit of hardware under the hood, and given a high price will probably be attached to such a platform, the company may favour optional subscription models to encourage money conscious consumers to take the plunge.
If Microsoft’s new system launched at a high price, would you consider a cheaper subscription model? Let us know.
Doesn’t interest me, especially for a 360. An interesting idea, and it probably will work, but I think it will be more suited to the next gen. As in, removing the entry barrier (price).
yer i guess it would help ppl get over the psycological barrier of forking out 1000bucks for a newly released system…
…but that sounds like kind of a crappy deal to me, if i commit to buying two years worth of xboxlive i would hope theyd throw in the payment plan for free. otherwise if i was that strapped for cash id probably just ditch the extras (kinect,gold subscription .ect) and just buy the pov pack bundle.
but then again, i’m not american…
What gamer in thier right mind would buy a 4GB console? I currently have over 100GB on my 360 as is and thats after deleting alot of content recently. This is a really bad deal for a gamer anyway you look at it.
Now if this was a 250GB console without Kinect than it might make sense for someone who cant afford the upfront cost, but that wasnt on offer was it?
No the focus here is Kinect, and that has been thier almost exclusively 1 tracked-minded focus since it was released. So it begs the question. WHY?
Why do they want a Kinect in as many homes as possible? Why does it record everything you say and keep it on file? (read the new dashboard update agreement) Does it have the capacity to detect movement and turn itself on? Does it have a stipulation in its user agreement to allow this information to be accessed by the government when it is “needed”? Why Is the American government buying up foriegn used xboxes? Are they buying them? (look it up) Am i reading too much into this? Am i reading enough into this? What do you think?