Microsoft is rumored to be readying a low-cost “Xbox TV” console focused more on entertainment than games, but will the move confuse customers? Or will it ease the transition to a likely-expensive Durango?

Six years ago, when Microsoft launched the Xbox 360, people scratched their heads at the company’s strategy. Two notably different SKUs? Wouldn’t that confuse people? Surely this was a stumble by Microsoft, which would hurt it at retail.

Of course, it wasn’t long before Sony announced plans for a similar strategy — and Nintendo eventually followed suit with the Wii U. And you don’t have to look further than Microsoft’s 20-month run as the country’s best selling console to see the strategy worked — and worked well.

Now there are whispers that Microsoft is preparing to do it all over again, only this time instead of differentiating its systems by the size of their hard drives, it’s rumored to be preparing a low-cost alternative, dubbed “Xbox TV,” to its next-generation console, which will focus on “core entertainment services” (aka, the kind you don’t play with) and cater to a casual audience.

Read more at Gamasutra