There have been numerous rumors of late concerning Microsoft’s next entry into the console market. Just yesterday I mentioned that the system will possibly be called fusion. and then there have been the price rumors. Paul Thurrott, who is well known for his Microsoft leaks, mentioned originally that the system will cost you $500 up front, or for those who want to spread the financial costs, you could buy for $300 and then 10 a month. I’d thought this was an odd choice for Microsoft, as effectively you were being charged a total of $540 (US dollars) for the system, over a span of 2 years, rather than $500 up front. It made little sense to not go for the spread the cost option. The idea of this is that you effectively sub yourself to Xbox Live services.
However, Paul Thurrott has recently posted on twitter that “”By the way, I did screw up one thing: The $299 version of Xbox v.Next will come with a $15/mo XBLG subscription, not $10”. This makes much more sense, as suddenly the system is $300 up front then (ironically) another $360, making a total of $660. Thus there is incentive to cough up the more expensive price rather than paying for the subscription.
Of course we’ll know much more in the May 21 press conference (which seems to be oh close, and yet oh so far away), but it would be in keeping with the rumors concerning the principal of the next Generation Xbox. The combining of a powerful games machine into a media entertainment system. Perhaps Xbox Fusion would be a fitting name after-all, eh?
Peter Molyneux meanwhile is just concerned with gaming, saying that wants Microsoft to make the next Xbox the “ultimate gaming console”.
