A catalog from retail store Meijer may indicate that the Xbox 360 Elite will be receiving a $100 price cut to $299, formally replacing the Xbox 360 Pro.
Kotaku got their hands on a Meijer catalog, and the image you see here is pretty straightforward: An Xbox 360 Elite at a “new lower price” of $299.99. Incidentally, this is the current price of the “default” Xbox 360, the Xbox 360 Pro.
If true, this would support rumors that the Pro model would be discontinued entirely, replaced by the Elite – a prediction made by Ars Technica’s famous Mole back in June. The eerily-accurate Mole claimed that both the Xbox 360 and PS3 would be seeing price drops this fall.
Well, we have ample reason to believe that the rumored PS3 price drop is real, and will be announced next week alongside the unveiling of the Slim PS3 at Gamescom in Cologne. Announcing their own price drop for the 360 would certainly help take some of the wind out of Sony’s sails, no?
The original report says that the price cut will go into effect on August 30th. However, our colleagues at Joystiq did some digging, and discovered that of “nearly a dozen Meijer’s locations,” only one employee had heard anything about it, and claimed it would be a temporary week-long sale, not a permanent price drop.
Of course, it seems odd to me to advertise a sale – especially one as short as a week – in what is ostensibly a long-term catalog. As always, though, there’s no way to know for sure until next week.
It looks like this Gamescom might be an interesting one.
