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Xbox 360 Pro soon to be discontinued

by on30 June 2009

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Will focus on the Arcade and Elite moving forward

We have
been able to confirm that Microsoft is likely to let dealers know later this month that they will be moving to discontinue sales of the Xbox 360 Pro console later this month. The news will pave the way for Microsoft to move forward with a planned price cut to counter Sony later this year.

With the Xbox 360 Pro being discontinued, the company will then focus on the sales of the Arcade and Elite consoles going forward. As part of the process Microsoft will announce the bundling of a couple titles into the remaining Pro inventory to move the remaining units out. From what we hear, the titles will be “A” class titles. Some whispers that we have heard seem to suggest that it could be none other than Gears of War and Gears of War 2 that could be bundled with the remaining Pro units.

So, by early September expected a price cut, the Elite will be the new Pro system and will still include the 120GB hard drive, according to our sources. In addition, the move will allow Microsoft to position a new higher-end Natal console above the Elite at some point in the future.

Of course, this move also will pave the way for the larger hard drive and more spacious memory cards to be released. According to the latest that we are hearing now, Microsoft is looking at the new high-end hard drive to be a 500GB model and the new memory card to be of the 4GB variety, which is a big step up from the present 512MB card. The 60GB add-on hard drive may continue to be available for a bit, but look for it to be phased out as they transition to the 120GB model on the low end for those Arcade owners wishing to add a hard drive, or those who have older units who want to upgrade.

Look for Microsoft to continue to lay the groundwork for this move to really get rolling in September, but in the meantime we expect to see a real push on the Xbox 360 Pro units with a new title bundle to be announced shortly.

Last modified on 30 June 2009
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