The company says it wants to “test out a new pricing model” for the Xbox, but will not confirm whether there are plans to offer the $99 console elsewhere in the future. Not every Microsoft Store will be able to sell the subscription plan either: It will be available in 16 of the 21 current Microsoft Stores (Microsoft did not provide a list of the 16).
Study the Fine Print
Compare this to purchasing everything up front. Most retailers sell the Xbox 360 4GB/Kindle Bundle for $299, although Walmart sells a similar package online for $229. If you add in the Xbox Live Gold service, that’s another $120 (billed at $5 per month). If you go with Walmart’s deal, you’d spend $110 less over two years. Definitely not chump change.
Better yet? Buy the console straight from Microsoft and you get $15 off per year of Xbox Live Gold. There, the console is $299 but the total you’ll spend is around $389, $70 cheaper than the contract plan. But there’s an even bigger reason why you will want to stay away.
Microsoft is widely rumored to be launching a new Xbox in 2013. With a new console on the way, do you really want to be tied to a soon-to-be obsolete console? Moral of the story here: Save your money and purchase everything up front if you can. Then enjoy it until the new console arrives.
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