Microsoft Finally Announces A $99 Xbox 360 With A 2-Year Contract

Starting today, the video game industry will be changed forever. Microsoft, creator of the Xbox 360, has just announced the very first subsidized console. The Xbox 360 (Kinect included) is going for $99 with a two-year Xbox Live Gold contract at $15/month. The bundle includes the 360 itself, 4GB of memory, a controller, a wired headset, and a two-year contract to tie you into Xbox Live. Not that Xbox Live is a bad thing, I love Live, and I put many hours into playing Xbox a week. However, seeing the video game industry and the mobile phone industry become such similar environments is the worst news I have conveyed to readers in a while.

Microsoft will be using a low price tag to sucker customers into buying the hardware and signing a contract, costing a total of $459 in the end, on top of being tied into a contract. Just like mobile phone carriers, Microsoft is charging an early termination fee starting at $250 and decreasing $12 a month, which is more than the cost of just buying a 4GB 360 + Kinect bundle without a contract. Quite a pricy bargain. With Xbox Live being $60 for 12 months, users will be paying $10 more a month to use Live, but pay $100 less for the console. You do the math. Not only are you paying more money for the console and the price of Xbox Live, but you are roped into a contract with an early termination fee.

Currently this “deal” is only available at official Microsoft outlets, but it will no doubt spread to stores like Best Buy when Microsoft can get all of their contract business straightened out. We will have to wait and see how this affects the Playstation 4 and the Wii U, but if console gaming is beginning to come with contracts, things will definitely be different in the next couple of years for gaming. At this time you can still buy a 360 without a contract, and the 360 under contract is not very widespread due to retailing limitations, but this could all change quickly depending on the success of the experiment. Let us know in the comments–would you want to sign a contract to play Xbox?