Right now, you can purchase an Xbox 360 in the US on contract – not entirely dissimilar from the Cellphone contracts we have here. You pay just $99 for the 4Gb version of the hardware with Kinect – and then get locked in to a two year Xbox Live contract at $14.99 a month. In the end, you’ll end up paying $460 for something that should only cost you $400; $299 for the console with Kinect- and $50 a year for Xbox Live. Still, it could prove popular for those who can’t afford the initial outlay – and could go global.
The UK’s Xbox boss Chris Lewis is certainly keeping a keen eye on how well the “deal” does in the US.
“We’ll watch it with interest, then we’ll decide if it makes sense for us to expand more fully in North America, globally or by region,” he said, speaking to VG247. “It’ll be very interesting to see how it works out. We listen to what the consumers are asking for and we experiment with different propositions in different markets.
“There are certain things we’ve done in Europe over the years, for example; a lot of our soft and hard bundling initiatives have ended up becoming global initiatives based on consumption patterns. The one you describe there, we’ll similarly track that and see how that goes down.
“I think it’ll be very popular.”
I’m not particularly fond of being bogged down by contracts – but do you think? Would you buy in to the “buy now, pay over two years” hook if it found its way here?
Last Updated: July 17, 2012
