Microsoft: No XBox 360 Price Drop is Imminent

Despite rumors to the contrary, Microsoft has no plans to drop the price of the Xbox 360 gaming console for the foreseeable future.

That’s the word from David Hufford, Microsoft’s product manager for the Xbox, who made the comments in an e-mail interview with the Web site Gamerscoreblog.com. Reports of a drop had come from an earlier Hufford interview with Bloomberg News, when Hufford was quoted as saying that the “sweet spot” of the market is a $199 price.

In the Bloomberg interview, Hufford was noncommittal about a possible price drop, but a UBS analyst was quoted as saying Microsoft should drop the price in order to appeal to women. The Xbox 360’s core console, minus any components, currently sells at a suggested retail price of around $299, with the fully loaded version going for $399 and the Xbox Elite selling for $479.