UK Xbox 360 price-cut is official, Pro model discontinued

It’s finally official. Microsoft confirmed today that as of tomorrow (Friday 28th August), the RRP of the 120GB Elite Xbox 360 will be dropping by £30 to £199.99 in the UK. This maintains the 100% success rate of Ars Technika’s mole, who predicted this months ago.

On the flipside, another rumour has turned out to be true, as Microsoft is also increasing the RRP of the Arcade model 360 by £30 to £159.99. They have yet to confirm whether anything extra will be included at that price, but if not the Arcade model will begin to seem pretty redundant. Only £40 extra would get you a 120GB Hard Drive, plus a headset, and ethernet cable and a component cable.

A third rumour was also confirmed today, as the 60GB Pro Xbox 360 has been discontinued and will shortly be phased out of stores.

This is a ruthlessly-timed move by Microsoft, as the £199.99 120GB Elite Xbox 360 will have the headstart of the Bank Holiday Weekend to try and steal some of the sales thunder from the £249.99 120GB PS3 Slim. Doubtless we’ll see some retailer promotions or discounts that take advantage of this even further, as some sites are already doing with the PS3 Slim by selling it at £229.99.

Microsoft have also confirmed that the Elite package will now no longer include an HDMI cable, and the Arcade box will also not include the XBLA games that originally gave that model its name.