Next Xbox could sell for $299 with subscription, $499 without

Has Microsoft cracked the nut for increasing revenues from its Xbox hardware and Xbox Live online services? According to an article from Neowin, Microsoft’s next Xbox console will be priced at a steep $499, but that price could come down to $299 if the buyer pays a $10/month subscription.

That subscription would presumably be for Xbox Live, and the plan sounds very similar to the approach Microsoft recently took with its Xbox 360 console. The company offered the console at select retailers and at Microsoft Stores for $99 with a two-year Xbox Live subscription, which was priced at $15 a month.

In that instance, Microsoft was profiting pretty nicely off of those who purchased the Xbox 360 using that plan (sometimes by as much as $119 per console). The supposed plan for the next Xbox, assuming it is also a two-year agreement, would tack an extra $40 on to the total cost of the system. If that subscription is covering Xbox Live, the customer would essentially be getting two years of Xbox Live for $40 and the ability to pay over time on the next Xbox without interest.

That is a pretty good deal, but it makes the assumption that the subscription covers Xbox Live. If it’s simply a way to break up the cost of the console, it still isn’t a bad deal but it’s less compelling than the other possibility.

Roping more gamers into the Xbox Live world could be big for Microsoft. The company is already offering a large library of music, movies and on-demand game downloads (as well as downloadable game content) on the Xbox Live marketplace. Getting more accounts signed up with credit cards means Microsoft has an even better chance of selling content to gamers on the next Xbox.

The system is expected to launch in November of this year, but will be unveiled for the first time on May 21. We’ll be all over that story, so keep it here.