Microsoft is to increase the recommended retail price of its Arcade model Xbox 360, according to retail channel reports.

Igor Cipolletta, boss of online games retailer ShopTo, said he was told by Microsoft that the Arcade’s price will jump from £130 to £160 ($262/€186) from 1 September, website Eurogamer reports.

An unnamed independent retail chain source corroborated Cipolletta’s statement, the website added.

The second source also let slip that Microsoft plans to increase the cost of individual Xbox 360 accessories by a couple of quid in order to “counteract the poor Pound-to-Euro currency exchange rate”.

The Arcade is the cheapest model in the Xbox 360 line-up, but it isn’t clear whether price increase will extent to Microsoft’s two other models, the Pro and the Elite.

A £30 increase in the Arcade’s price would bring it in line with the Pro, which currently costs around £150. That adds yet more weight to speculation that Microsoft’s inked plans to can the mid-range machine.

Register Hardware is still waiting to hear back from Microsoft for some official comment. ®