Microsoft Press Release (25th March 2010)
"Available in stores today, Xbox 360 introduces the 250GB Hard Drive, which offers more space to store your favorite game and entertainment content. Available at the incredible value of $129.99, the 250GB Hard Drive offers more freedom to download the latest demos, Xbox LIVE Arcade games, full game titles with Games on Demand, TV shows, movies and more straight to your Xbox 360 console."
It's such "incredible value", that I had to write about it!
For those of you in the UK for mainland Europe, the same HDD is available for £64.99 or €99.99. This isn't the first time we've seen the 250GB hardrive; but it's the first time it's been available as a stand-alone accessory outside of Japan. It seems initial news that the HDD would come without the data transfer cable (which costs £12.99 excluding VAT) has since been retracted, but the fact remains that this harddrive is pretty terrible value.
Currently you can pick up a 1 terabyte (that's 1,024 GB) 2.5 inch harddrive, either online or on the high-street, for around £65. The market has moved on so much, that you'll probably spend about the same looking for a SATA drive as low as 250. It's sort of like shopping for a VCR player in 2010; the supply is low, so cost rises. However a quick look for something similar shows a 320GB drive for £40 and several used 250GB's on eBay for as low as £10 (if your desperate!).
I may be being overly critical, sure there must be a cost to manufacturing the drives in their Xbox 360 shells and the transfer cable probably costs about 50p to make. But considering the people who are going to drop cash for this are the same people buying large volumes of content (be it games, movies, tv shows or DLC) it's a little cheeky to be asking for over three times the market price.
The price of the harddrive is clearly based on consumer expectation. When you convert £65 to euro, it comes to €72. So where did this extra €17.99 come from? Are you trying to tell me is costs €17.99 to fly them to Ireland or France? I can fly myself to either for 99p, albeit on one of Ryanair's providence- propelled tin-cans. In fact $129.99 is actually just under £88, so why a nearly £20 drop? Even with my slim knowledge of macroeconomics, price differences shifts like that don't make much sense. According to mother-internet, the HDD's are being made in Guangzhou Haizhu Borough Honglei Electronic Factory, and no that's not in Newcastle. So if the harddrives are being shipped from China, why do they cost half the price in the UK than the US and EU? Isn't the UK further from both those places?
It just looks like another way for Microsoft to squeeze cash from Xbox 360 owners. The wireless adaptor still costs four times more than it's Netgear PC equivalent and XBLA games have slowly shifted to a point where 1200 MSP is the standard price. Coming from a time when free maps, mods and add-ons were the norm, I find it hard to stomach when they try and charge me for a "mascot" for my "Game Room". Then they want me to spend £3 on some friggin' top-hat for my Avatar. Sure Microsoft, I was just going to burn all this money anyway!
Unfortunately, one day you might have to buy a new hard-drive for your Xbox 360 and since (unlike the PS3) this is your only option, you're stuck paying whatever they want you to pay. But for those of you just looking for a replacement 20GB, at least there is some good news. According to Guangzhou Haizhu Borough Honglei Electronic Factory's website; "ALSO we have 20GB HARD DRIVE FOR xBox360 CAN BE AVAIABLE". Sounds good to me!
Danny O'Dwyer
Reader Questions:
1) Have you had to spent much on console harddrives?
2) What's the most expensive part of being a gamer?
3) Have you ever sold your body in order to pay for video game accessories?
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