A shiny new SpongeBob Xbox Series X is getting a limited run at Best Buy this week. From 5am EST / 8am PST on Thursday, March 7, 2024, you’ll be able to snag the console – if you’re quick enough – through the Best Buy Drops section of the Busy Buy mobile app.
The special Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 bundle includes the SpongeBox (we’re trademarking that one), a custom controller featuring a “colorful collage” of the iconic show’s characters, and a digital download of the fighting game. However, Xbox is charging $699.99 for the privilege of bringing one home – that’s steeper than the road down to Rock Bottom.
Regardless of the included game, that’s still a whopping $200 markup over the RRP for the standard 1TB Series X – a console that’s gone as low as $350 through Xbox deals in the past. It’s a ridiculous price point, and one that seems to be leveraging a mixture of exclusivity and FOMO to try and ensure it shifts. It’s certainly an interesting marketing strategy considering the lackluster sales of current-gen Xbox hardware, even when on sale.
As you would’ve seen from the headline we’ve done some light, fictional math to put this into perspective. While the price of the noble Krabby Patty has fluctuated over the years, ranging from $0.99 (on Wednesdays) all the way up to $101.00 (but only for King Neptune), we’ve taken the $2.99 price point from the SpongeBob Trivia Book as our point of reference. Divide $699.99 by $2.99 and, by our calculations, you could buy yourself 235 of the delicious bottom-dwelling burgers (if they were real) instead of the SpongeBox.
Though the SpongeBox bundle makes for a very pretty package indeed, we’d highly recommend looking for a Series X elsewhere unless you’re a die-hard fan. That being said, Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 is a cracking little fighter that can often be found on sale – it’s well worth playing if you want to dish out a nostalgia-fueled beatdown. With a Metacritic score of 77, the critics reckon it’s pretty darn good, too.
If you’re dead set on the SpongeBob Xbox then make sure you’ve got the Best Buy app downloaded ready – you can find it on the Xbox Wire post for the bundle here. Otherwise, be sure to check out the new Xbox Game Pass games for March, as well as why Deep Rock Galactic is the perfect Helldivers 2 Xbox alternative.