Microsoft Reduces Xbox 360 Prices in Brazil

Video game hardware developer Microsoft has announced that it will be reducing the price of the Xbox 360 home console on the Brazilian market and that it will be producing up to 17,000 devices in the country.

Starting with October a factory in Manaus, Brazil will begin creating the Microsoft home console.

The new plant is an extension of an agreement which Microsoft already has with Flextronics Inc., which was initially linked to production in China, and one direct result will be that the Brazilian market will get device that are about 40 percent cheaper.

Starting on October 5 Techtudo, a technology focused site in Brazil, says that a 4 GB Xbox 360, the low end model, will cost about 799 Real, which is the equivalent of about 435 dollars (about 320 Euros).

A Xbox 360 that comes complete with a 250 GN hard drive and the Kinect motion tracking system will cost 1,399 Reals, which is about 761 dollars (a little over 558 Euro).

Microsoft is also planning to sell off stocks of older systems, which were imported from other areas, at reduced prices, in bundles that include such video games as Forza Motorsport 3, the racing game from Turn 10, and Alan Wake, the Remedy made action adventure title.

The company seems very keen to attract Brazilian gamers and is also cutting the price of Xbox Live Gold memberships, which allow gamers to get into multiplayer.

Localized versions of video games like Gunslinger, Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary Edition, Forza Motorsport 4 and Kinect Sports Season 2 are also planned for launch before Christmas of this year.

Brazil is a member of the so called BRIC countries, which have seen good growth rates even as the economic crisis has hit other countries, especially Europe and the United States.

This means that more people are joining the middle class and have the means to pick up a new video game console.