New 250GB Xbox 360 HDD costs £80

By Robert Purchese Published 26 March, 2010

XBL community bod admits mistake.

Xbox Live Community Manager Graeme Boyd has corrected an error, clarifying that the new 250GB Xbox 360 hard drive does cost £79.99 - as was announced to begin with.

He got our hopes up yesterday by revealing a £64.99 price point.

"Ugh. I got the UK pricing for the 250GB hard drive wrong too. It's ERP £79.99, not £64.99 as I said yesterday. Really sorry... (*gives up*)," he, "AceyBongos", Tweeted.

The 250GB hard drive will be released on 16th April and will sell with a data transfer cable.

The existing 120GB HDD has now dropped in price to £80 so stock will clear. Quite how fast they will fly off shelves at exactly the same price as the new, bigger drive, we can't say.

We asked Microsoft for an explanation, and while we got a response, our question remains unanswered.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (50) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • jonbwfc #1 2 years ago

    Make up your freaking minds!

  • Murton #2 2 years ago

    How did he come to make such a mistake? Could it be something to do with the exchange rate perhaps, and that if it was observed properly it would cost closer to 65 quid than 80?

    Also, the announcement yesterday claimed that transfer kits would be "in the box" whereas originally they weren't going to be. Has that changed back as well?

  • JohnnyWashnGo #3 2 years ago

    Its just astonishing... my 500Gb laptop drive for the PS3 only cost £43... twice the capacity for almost half the price !!!

  • shanitee #4 2 years ago

    Hold on... 250Gb drive will be £79.99, while the 120Gb is now being sold at £80.

    I'm no economist, but how are they planning to clear the old stock at that price?

  • Rirekon #5 2 years ago

    @shanitee;
    By selling to parents who don't read gaming news sites

  • frunk #6 2 years ago

    @shanitee "I'm no economist, but how are they planning to clear the old stock at that price?"

    By selling to folks less well informed about videogame news than you - i.e. most of the buying public.

    They will see a "reduced price" and buy it as it was cheaper than last week.

    Just like "on sale" DFS does with sofas and Tesco does with "Half price wine"... its all marketting bollox designed to reel you in.

  • udat #7 2 years ago

    I have a 120 gig drive and no transfer cable, so am plodding along with my 20 gig unit for now. I don't feel like paying 12 quid for a bloody wire I only need to use once.

  • MiniAmin #8 2 years ago

    It is coming to UK/Europe, RRP is £64.99/99.99 Euro," Tweeted Boyd, aka AceyBongos.

    "Lower the pitchforks and douse the torches

    *Raises pitchfork and ignites torch"

  • BartonFink #9 2 years ago

    Seems fairly stupid to leave the price of the 120G the same while they try to clear stock.
    Give the customer some incentive ffs Microsoft.

    /joey

  • SBfistfun #10 2 years ago

    What an utter muppet...

  • sneetch #11 2 years ago

    @shanitee

    They'll drop the price of the 120 GB one again when the 250 GB one comes out.

    Edit: I suppose he accidentally used an actual currency converter to come up with the £65 price. :p
    Edited by 1 at 26/03/10 @ 11:00

  • Lee_Morris #12 2 years ago

    I bought a 640GB bluedophin laptop hard for my PS3 for that price.

    Do I need to say any more?

  • JimWest #13 2 years ago

    @JohnnyWashnGo

    Yes we know that the PS3 is cheaper to buy memory for. Jeez it's like a broken record!

  • TeaFiend #14 2 years ago

    So it is better to buy a PS3 (which has a HD), then remove the HD and buy a new one? Surely that is a bit backwards.

  • lordofthedunce #15 2 years ago

    @ Lee_Morris

    No, please don't ;-)

  • geeza2020 #16 2 years ago

    microsoft can fuck off. so can all the ps3 owners who feel the need to come on to these comments sections and spout such rubbish as seen above and in the previous article. NOBODY CARES ABOUT HOW CHEAP IT WAS FOR YOU TO GET HD SPACE FOR YOUR PS3, THIS IS AN ARTICLE ABOUT XBOX 360 HARD-DRIVES.

    Sorry for the caps, but these people need to shut the hell up.

  • Fab4 #17 2 years ago

    Comments about pricing of hdds in an alternative system, in article about overpricing of hdds in one system....fuckers should be shot...or, probably not, as its completely fucking relevant.

  • icematt12 #18 2 years ago

    geeza2020 #17

    It is not something I have discussed in the past but it is something I do care about. I have come to understand that these "official" accessories will have a larger price tag, better quality in the case of controllers, but there is no justification by me to pay these sort of prices. Hopefully there will be 60 and 120 versions available quite cheaply in the near future. Not much on XBLA that interests me, so 120 may be all that I need. I should check sites now to see the current prices.

  • matrim83 #19 2 years ago

    Ok you gotta admit this is kinda funny. :D

    Can we start a pool as to what the price will be next week.

  • Monkey_Puncher #20 2 years ago

    "@AceyBongos : Ugh. I got the UK pricing for the 250GB hard drive wrong too. It's ERP £79.99, not £64.99 as I said yesterday. Really sorry... (*gives up*)"

    £80 seems like a decent enough price I guess. I have a 60gb. but I may need to upgrade in future judging by the amount of room my arcade games are gradually taking up.

  • bluem4gic #21 2 years ago

    This is the reason why I love my PS3! 360 just doesn't get played any more

  • Madafunkola #22 2 years ago

    Whenever the xbox HDD costs come up everyone lists a cheaper option. I am going to redress the balance and say:
    At least its not as much as this one:
    [link url=http://www.amazon.co.uk/Freecom-Mobile-D rive-250GB-Firewire/dp/B000R9CETO/ref=sr_1_34?ie=UTF8&s=offi ceproduct&qid=1269602952&sr=8-34
    ]http://ww w.amazon.co.uk/Freecom-Mobile-D...[/link]

    ;)

  • Geordiemp #23 2 years ago

    The Ps3 comments are relevent, its the price of a 2.5 inch HD and should be about £ 30-£ 40 which includes margin for manufacturer and retailer.

    I have 2 xboxes with 80 GB, and use our Ps3 for multimedia as 500 GB is far better, as we keep our favourite 360 games installed to HD and they are both full. If a game has a allot of DLC we buy on Ps3...

    However, Both Sony and MS want users to buy more on-line, download movies and other things, so they should subsidise HD expansion.

    Ms should be giving these for £ 40, allowing £ 10 for the cradle....the market price. You cna buy SATA 2.5 inch metal cradles for £ 5 on Amazon.

    Not picking on 360,, great machine, want more space so I can HD Install more games....Hear me MS
    Edited by 1 at 26/03/10 @ 11:36

  • muscleblade #24 2 years ago

    @JohnnyWashnGo

    I dont care whats availaible at what price for the PS3 as i dont want a PS3!!

    Buying this and trading in my 120Gig so i dont think it will cost me much for the additional 130Gig.

  • RobotRocker #25 2 years ago

    Sorta pricey. But since it has the transfer cable included I think I shall be still in as it saves me mucking about on E-Bay and dodging the hong kong sellers looking for a cable.

  • lambtron #26 2 years ago

    MS need to stop taking the piss with HDD prices. Their original justification for the proprietary drive was that it would make the 360 harder to crack. Ironically the PS3, which allows stock drives still hasn't been cracked (not properly at least) while the 360 was ages ago.

    I think it's fairly clear it's just about making money.

  • JohnnyWashnGo #27 2 years ago

    Seeing as my previous comment has gone down in flames, how about another comparison - my 500gb Seagate external drive which I have attached to my Wii only cost me just under £50. Thats twice the storge for £30 less... and it comes in a caddy with a power supply and micro usb cable.

    I just can't see where the price difference comes in... other than to fleece the consumer.

  • JimWest #28 2 years ago

    @JohnnyWashnGo

    My issue with your comment is more that whenever any story that mentions the X360 HDD space is posted there are constant comments like this. It just seems to end up as a lot of bitching about each consoles downfalls.

    Not so much a go at you, just an annoyance that i have to constantly read it. I own both consoles and they both have benefits, i do find it bad that the HDD is so much more on the 360, but what surprises me is people bring it up like it is brand new information.

  • callum9999 #29 2 years ago

    muscleblade - it really doesn't matter whether you want a PS3 or not - the prices are relevent as its a similar product.

    I wouldn't spend 425 on the PS3 when it came out because, game wise, it doesn't offer much of an improvement over the 360. I didn't want an xbox, but the fact the xbox was reasonably priced was completely relevent in my decision.

    And whoever said it, no its not backwards to replace an inbuilt hard drive - millions of people do it, hence why there are so many cheap options for upgrading the PS3 . Plus upgrading the inbuilt drive gives you a spare portable drive anyway (for the people citing that as a benefit).
    Edited by 1 at 26/03/10 @ 12:09

  • lockload #30 2 years ago

    Ripoff lol

  • Fuser #31 2 years ago

    And now theyve just lost a sale from me - although £65 was high for the size of drive, the transfer kit, lack of compatibility issues and a 'reasonable' price had just about got me sold.
    £80 though? - too high

  • crazyhorse174 #32 2 years ago

    Slightly off-topic, but sort-of slightly on-topic - the Spring update thats supposedly coming along to allow 16GB USB support...is this going to be limited to just one drive usuable per machine, or could I in theory daisychain a load of drives on a hub (or 10) and have use of all of that capacity!?

  • Pinky_Floyd #33 2 years ago

    What a facepalming mess.

  • bigtechno #34 2 years ago

    aceybongos is a tw@t

  • JimWest #35 2 years ago

    @crazyhorse174

    Alas it is unfortunately limited to 2 16gb usb drives.

    http://ww w.joystiq.com/2010/03/18/xbox-3...

  • NymChimpsky #36 2 years ago

    Just a note guys. TheHut have the drive for £69.73 as a pre-order at the moment. There are probably going to be other places too, so ~£65 will probably be about right, come release.


  • crazyhorse174 #37 2 years ago

    Cheers JimWest - clears that up! S'pose 32GB isnt that bad!

  • VicViper #38 2 years ago

    Was the transfer cable free anyway? I seem to recall that you contacted MS and they would provide you one for you 120 GB drive. I guess in this case you still getting it for free but with out the inconveniance of waiting on delivery of the cable.

    Its a pushing it but still plenty of space and I can't see the need to upgrade again for quite some time to cost benefit just barely justify a purchase on my part.

  • linksdad #39 2 years ago

    The transfer cable is indeed free (or was) you need to find the relevant page buried on xbox.com

    Oh dear seems it is now £13. [link url=http://www.xbox.com/ en-GB/support/systemuse/xbox360/console/datamigration-usingy ourelite.htm
    ]http://ww w.xbox.com/en-GB/support/system...[/link]

    Cant really blame them though, selling the disks at a loss and all.....

  • nichotshoter #40 2 years ago

    Someone add that £80 to the original xbox price and tell me how much it is.

  • irve77 #41 2 years ago

    Now why is it i'm thinking that on the arrival of the 250gb drive the price of the 120gb drive is going to drop to £65 ?

    but this is a shoot yourself in the foot moment ...

  • chrisjm #42 2 years ago

    £80 RRP.

    hint, you wont actually pay £80.
    ive ordered one for £62.

  • lucky_jim #43 2 years ago

    Big company in "ripping off Brits" shock.

    That's what we get for our perverse attachment to the pound.

  • chrisjm #44 2 years ago

    80p. yea lets get rid of the £ quick, stop MS ripping us off by 80p.....

  • MadCaddy13 #45 2 years ago

    Arsey bongos is a retard anyway. I knew it was wrong.

  • Thunderbolt #46 2 years ago

    '£80 for 250GB seems a tad pricey?'

    Uhm, someone tell that to Apple

  • Seabeast #47 2 years ago

    Why would anyone need a HDD that big anyway? I have a 120gb and its only half full.

  • espibara #48 2 years ago

    I got one of those dodgy Korean unofficial ones for £40 off ebay works a treat so far. I also requested for a 7200rpm 250GB HD to be put in and its much faster than my old 5400 120GB
    Edited by 1 at 27/03/10 @ 19:41

  • D34dP1x3l #49 2 years ago

    Microsoft lied? Who would have believed it.
    http://ww w.eurogamer.net/articles/micros...

  • Mhort #50 2 years ago

    At least its not as bad as what you have to pay in euros. Going by the price of £80 it should cost about €88 but instead their charging €100.And that was before this correction so it might have gone up too. WTF?
    Edited by 1 at 28/03/10 @ 13:38