| VGKing said: We've all heard the rumors about the next Xbox being sold at $300 w/ a 2 Year XBL contract @ $15/month. At first this might seem like a great deal but it ends up being more expensive than shelling out the $500 right away. That's not the worst of it though. If people aren't smart enough to do the math and waste their money, I have no problem with it. It doesn't effect me and it won't affect smart people. Here's where it starts affecting everyone.....if this subscription model becomes popular then the $500 console won't drop down in price. If this $300 console sells 10million within its first year, why would Microsoft drop down the price? People are already buying it and its only going to be more popular with time. This isn't just giving consumers options anymore, its about keeping profit margins high and keeping you tied to a single console. It's not good for consumers. Its only good for Microsoft or whoever else decides to follow this pricing model. |
Maybe its me but you act as if people woke up yesterday and suddenly found out that you pay more money for any type of sub plan. A sub plan is credit. You get something in your hands cheaper than the initial cost and the cost of that is you pay more for the hardware. There is nothing wrong with such a plan because it gets the hardware in people hands at a cheaper price allowing that person to spend that money on other things like 2 games and maybe an extra controller.
As for the 500 dollar model, the market will determine if that price comes down just like it always does. If MS is not selling enough consoles, Sony and Nintendo make a price change, things like that will bring that price down. MS would then change the sub model to reflect the difference in price the same way phones and tables that are on subs do today. You really would only have to worry about the price not dropping if there was not competition within the market place.
MS way to keep profits high is not the console but XBL service. A service that gets money out of you every year or month, that tie you to its products is what MS is really looking to do. This is the reason MS is tieing in the sub price with XBL. MS could have easily stated that you pay 300 for a 500 device and pay 15 bucks a month for its sub without including XBL. The difference is that MS want to get consumers on the service. They want to get those consumers purchasing stuff on the service and be dependant on that content. This is where you should be concentrating your argument instead of a sub price for a console.
