Rumor: Xbox 360 Price Cuts Across the Board this September (with Proof)

Ars Technica seems to have gotten an(other) insider scoop on an upcoming Xbox 360 price cut.  This mole, the same one who leaked the price cut on the 20 GB SKU and revealed the 60 GB model, gave them information that all of the 360 SKU’s will be receiving heavy price cuts early September.  They are as follows: Arcade model (no hard drive) for $199, Pro model (60 GB) for $299, Elite model (120 GB) for $399.

While this news is a couple days old, this story got a fresh boost today as a VGChartz member “found” a picture that confirms a September price cut for the Arcade SKU.  This picture shows an SKU inquiry done by the member and the September 7 price cut date is scheduled one week after Infinite Undiscovery’s release and two weeks before the Xbox 360 timed-exclusive release of Rock Band 2.

Many people are wondering if Microsoft is taking a huge hit profit wise by selling their consoles at such a low price.  Well the VGChartz writer guesstimates that the Xbox 360 production costs have fallen to $140.15 to $182.19, so even at that extremely low price point, Microsoft would still be making money for each console sold.

If this rumor is true, and at this time it is looking like it will come to fruition, this could be a very heavy blow by Microsoft to the competition.  With an Xbox 360 available that is $50 less than the Wii, Microsoft could potentially steal away many of Nintendo’s customers, who will look all the extra features and better graphics they will receive with an Xbox 360 over the Wii.  Also, the $299 60 GB SKU will square against the comparable 80 GB PS3, which retails at $399 (at the moment).

However, this leak will probably slow the already stagnant 360 sales even farther, as people will wait till September to buy their consoles.  So if this mole works for Microsoft, he probably did the company quite a bit of harm by releasing this information.  He did give us bloggers some good information to talk about, though.