Buy a 360 Elite, Get $50 Back From Microsoft

[John Funk]

Buy a 360 Elite, Get $50 Back From Microsoft

Is the Xbox 360 Elite still too much for your taste at $299? Microsoft is offering a $50 rebate on all new 360 Elites sold between now and October 5th - as long as you're in the United States.

This news comes via Microsoft's Major Nelson [http://majornelson.com/archive/2009/09/22/purchase-and-xbox-360-elite-and-get-fifty-bucks-back.aspx]:

[blockquote]Beginning today and running through October 5th, when you press release here [http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002KJ9XDE?ie=UTF8&tag=majornelsocom-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B002KJ9XDE].[/blockquote]

I suppose it's a pretty good deal - a $249 360 Elite is a hundred and fifty smackers less than what this would have cost you last month - but honestly, rebates are always a little irritating to go through. Also, if you bought an Elite yesterday, I guess it just sucks to be you!

It's not hard to interpret this as Microsoft feeling pressure from Sony on the price front with the Elite and PS3 Slim both $299, and even a $50 gap would give the company some much-needed breathing room. But you know what would give Microsoft some breathing room plus earn it some consumer cred? The software giant should just screw the rebate and make the $249 price the standard - which would probably take the growing wind out of Sony's sails pretty darn quickly.

At any rate, if you still haven't picked up a 360 - and aren't holding out on the Modern Warfare 2 bundle [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/94749-Modern-Warfare-2s-Limited-Edition-360-Bundle-Does-It-Big] - and are in the USA, now might be the best time to go ahead and drink the Kool-Aid.

Permalink

 

[Aura Guardian]

Rassa frassa Microsoft. I wonder if my job lets me return and rebuy buy brothers elite

 

[Quadtrix]

Not a big deal, since there's a 90% chance I'll be returning it to get all my money back after just a few minutes upon hooking it up.

 

[cleverlymadeup]

sounds kinda desperate, tho you'll still have to pay another $50 to play stuff online, so really you aren't saving money

 

[TheGreenManalishi]

...to help pay for the inevitable replacement! *slaps knee*

 

[Keivz]

Compared to the feature set of the PS3, the 360 is at least $100 over priced. This rebate suggests Microsoft knows this and is testing the waters with a lower price point.

 

[ChromeAlchemist]

This is for US purchases only

The bastards need to go expire somewhere.

It's a tad desperate, but "limited time only!" does work, so I can't fault them for this. After all, price cuts only cause a sales spike, so cut the price for a limited time, then jack it back up. Anyone who really wanted one ASAP would have gotten it in the time frame.

 

[bue519]

...to help pay for the inevitable replacement! *slaps knee*

Or the Wireless dongle you'll have to buy if your not close to a router.

 

[Pendragon9]

Limited time only, eh? And just for the states?

I dunno, this comes off as desperate. I can see them losing more money on this then they'd intend to.

And considering the online fees, you'd still be paying 299 by the end of the year. XD

 

[AceDiamond]

...to help pay for the inevitable replacement! *slaps knee*

Or the Wireless dongle you'll have to buy if your not close to a router.

I have no idea what would possess a person to halve their connection speed when they could just run a LAN cable.

Anyway I agree this is kind of desperate sounding but then again It'd be hard for anyone to complain if they're saving money on a console purchase.

 

[Anton P. Nym]

Compared to the feature set of the PS3, the 360 is at least $100 over priced.

You mean after the PS3 Slim release and price cut, of course, which naturally don't smack of desperation. (And "feature set" is meaningless as an independant variable; if you don't want Blu-ray and hardwire your connections, I don't see those being of any impact in a purchase decision.)

I'll leave the discussion with this observation; PS3 fanboys argue hardware, 360 fanbois argue title support. And that's probably the market division in sales between the two, at least in North America anyway.

-- Steve

 

[Eruanno]

All "US Only" offers can go fuck right off. I'm starting to think they are doing this simply because they are asshats.

// Europe

 

[Sparrow]

All "US Only" offers can go fuck right off. I'm starting to think they are doing this simply because they are asshats.

// Europe

My response.

This is it. I can say no more.

 

[VanityGirl]

Haha, I actually like this idea. I might buy 6 of those bastard and get my $50 buck from each other them, then sell them over ebay around Christmas time for 299. I could start making me a profit.

 

[Andronicus]

Hmm, interesting... Why couldn't they just cut $50 off the original price? Perhaps there's evidence to suggest that people who buy their 360's wouldn't go out of their way to get the $50 back. I'd be interested to see if there's some statistics showing the relationship between 360's sold in that time frame and how much money was reimbursed.

And only in America? Why? Because Americans are all behind on their mortgages? Europeans are all rich snobs who don't deserve to pay any less that full retail (unless you're Australian, in which case you can bloody well pay an extra AU$100)?

 

[BehattedWanderer]

That would be extremely interesting to see, that Microsoft stuck their console at $50 less than their recent $100 drop, especially since Sony just dropped their damn price. Though they'd both have to drop that low just to compete with the Wii's massive lead. Tough luck there, I guess. Maybe Sony will respond by giving you an additional game with your console purchase, or a voucher for a free game of x age in months/years, to be sent at your request with validation code, or something.

Let the penis competition continue!

 

[CyberAkuma]

...aaaand we Europeans get totally f*cked in comparison to the US again.
Xbox 360 Elite here is still ?289 (which translates to around $420 USD.

No pricedrop, no rebates, nothing.

 

[Aura Guardian]

sounds kinda desperate, tho you'll still have to pay another $50 to play stuff online, so really you aren't saving money

I don't see it as a desperate move. More like cunning. As you said, you still have to pay $50 for a year of online play.

 

[cobrausn]

All "US Only" offers can go fuck right off. I'm starting to think they are doing this simply because they are asshats.

// Europe

My response.

This is it. I can say no more.

Shipping is a *****, I'm sure.

Or they just don't like you.

The result is the same.