Xbox 360 Core System: Why Even Bother?

The Xbox 360 is one of the most hyped consoles of all time; and yet very little hype is shoved upon the Core System, when compared to the more expensive Premium package. Why would anyone in their right mind spend $300 on a Core System when, for just $100 more, they would get well over $200 worth of add-ins and extras?

Logically, it just doesn’t make sense. Financially, however, it’s a brilliant play by the Microsoft men and women. They have (more likely than not) correctly predicted that there will be manufacturing problems, errors, or a million other possible reasons to have delay in system production. Less consoles means less Premium packages available, and we all know that on launch day, people will be desperate to get their hands on an Xbox 360, Premium or not. The people unable to pick up the Premium package will gladly take a $100 cheaper console that has the same base functionality. What Microsoft is banking on, however, is those same people coming back days, weeks, even months later, paying full price for the extras that would have come at a fraction of full price had they been lucky enough to grab a Premium console package. Instead of selling millions of launch-day systems for $400 and not seeing any more hardware purchases from those consumers, Microsoft will see millions of $300 systems purchased, and hundreds of thousands of dollars poured into extras like wireless controllers and hard drives.