$99 subscription Xbox could come to the UK

Microsoft’s $99 subscription Xbox 360 trial could be coming to the UK and Europe.

The offer was rolled out to select American retailers last month. It sees gamers pay just $99 up front for an Xbox 360 console on the condition that the sign up to a two-year Xbox Live contract at $14.99 a month.

We’ll watch it with interest, then we’ll decide if it makes sense for us to expand more fully in North America, globally or by region,” European Xbox boss Chris Lewis told VG247.

It’ll be very interesting to see how it works out. We listen to what the consumers are asking for and we experiment with different propositions in different markets. I think it’ll be very popular.”

There are certain things we’ve done in Europe over the years, for example; a lot of our soft and hard bundling initiatives have ended up becoming global initiatives based on consumption patterns.

We just want to be where our consumers want us to be. We want to be able to offer that flexibility of choice, making that kind of proposition available to those that want to consume that way. There are others that may choose to do it differently, and want to go down the more traditional method. I think the key it to have that portfolio of offerings.”

Many hold the belief that the next generation of consoles will utilise subscription payment models to make it easier for consumers to swallow the cost of a new machine.