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With a $299.99 Xbox 360 Elite all but practically confirmed at this point the only thing left on the table is whether or not Microsoft intends to replace the former Elite model with another SKU to refill that $399.99 price point. What a better SKU than that 360 Natal bundle that we've been talking about?
We know a 360 Natal bundle will happen - it just only makes sense and it doesn't hurt that Microsoft confirmed it at E3 either. What we don't know at this point is at what Natal will actually cost. With the 360 Elite seemingly about to take a $100 dive that leaves room for such a new SKU.
Sure, Microsoft could just narrow down their roster to two SKU's - an Arcade and an Elite - but with such a strong push being made for Natal the bundle makes a lot more sense and we don't see that bundle being less than $199.99 so that only leaves two options: the current $199.99 Arcade Bundle will go away, being replaced by a Natal bundle when it ships or the Natal bundle will take the place of the soon to be defunct current Elite model at $399.99.
Microsoft all ready has a huge price advantage over PS3 currently. Chopping another $100 off the top would only make things that much more difficult for Sony, but Sony can still justify that a huge part of the cost is associated with the fact that you gain the industry's best and most future proof Blu-Ray player at the same time. A Blu-Ray drive making its way to a 360 is a shot in the dark and MS can of course bump up their HDD to a bigger size, but this might not be big enough to take the place of the current Elite's price point.
What does that leave? A Natal bundle smack at $399.99. Think about it.
The $399.99 Elite is Microsoft's current highest end model that's meant to battle against Sony's Blu-Ray packing PS3. There really isn't anything Microsoft can add to a 360 at this point other than a bigger HDD and that wouldn't suffice seeing as how a $100 increase for just an HDD won't cut it. Not to mention it will just continue to shed light on how overpriced 360 hard drives actually are.
With Natal, though, Microsoft could easily argue that even with a $399.99 bundle that this is the answer against Sony's Blu-Ray feature. I can practically see Greenberg talking on stage about it now: 'Blu-Ray is great and all for movies, but we're all about games here at Microsoft and we're delivering yet another great gaming addition to the Xbox 360 platform, etc.'. Can't you?
At $399.99, that would also sort of imply that Natal would cost a standalone $99.99 at minimum (depending on which edition of the console the bundle ships with - either the Elite or the Arcade). But, the bundle could also come packed with a game, which would make a bit of sense.
This is all just theory, of course, and there's nothing to indicate what Microsoft actually plans to do at this point. What are your theories?
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