Xbox 360 with Blu-ray to sell at a loss?

Posted on Saturday, April 05 2008 @ 4:40 CEST by Thomas De Maesschalck
Taiwanese industry sources claim Microsoft is going to release a new Xbox 360 console with a built-in Blu-ray disc drive and speculate that the firm may sell these consoles at a loss:
It is reported that Microsoft plans to offer a new Xbox 360 hardware revision equipped with a BD-ROM drive to compete with Sony's PlayStation 3. Taiwan-based Lite-On IT is said to have been invited to participate in designing the drive.

However, while the US$95-100 quoted for a BD-ROM drive is much higher than US$18-20 quoted for the DVD-ROM drives built into current Xbox 360s, the increase in retail price of the new consoles is unlikely to cover the whole of the OEM price gap, the sources analyzed, meaning Microsoft would be selling the consoles at a loss.



About the Author

Thomas De Maesschalck

Thomas has been messing with computer since early childhood and firmly believes the Internet is the best thing since sliced bread. Enjoys playing with new tech, is fascinated by science, and passionate about financial markets. When not behind a computer, he can be found with running shoes on or lifting heavy weights in the weight room.



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Re: Xbox 360 with Blu-ray to sell at a loss?
by Anonymous on Saturday, April 05 2008 @ 14:17 CEST
I see this as totally false not gonna happen..Why would microsoft pay $$ to Sony for a blu-ray drive not to mention pay $$ to Sony for each and every blu-ray disk? No No No dont see it happening. What is the wii next to get a blu-ray drive haha? 360 owners have spoken and dont want a blu-ray drive or do we need a blu-ray drive us 360 owners are into digi downloads not Sonys crap ass invention where the only reason they won is because they bribed the movie studios with tons of cash almost a billion $. Sony can take there soon to be short lived boo-ray drives and stick em where the sun dont shine cause digi downloads are the future gaurenteed.:devil:



Re: Xbox 360 with Blu-ray to sell at a loss?
by Anonymous on Thursday, April 10 2008 @ 14:22 CEST
agreed- this will never happen.
apart from MS taking a loss, they would not create a compatibility nightmare for the 11+ mil xBox 360 owners in the world- if they do a BluRay it will be a new console. What happens if MGS4 comes out on BluRay? Does that mean that there will be 11 mil old xBox 360s on eBay?

People also forget that the DVD drives in the 360 have custom firmware to upport the MS copy protection on the DVDs- would they even be able to implement this on a Blu-Ray drive?

They might implement an external drive, but I doubt that will happen either; MS didn't make a lot off the HD DVD addon (and you can't play games form the HD DVD addon- only movies).