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[Apophis2036]

So XBone isn't selling terribly but it's being beaten quite comfortably by PS4 in hardware sales in most of the countries Worldwide (some suggest it's 7 million to 4 million at the moment). Even more worryingly is retailers selling off unsold Titanfall bundles in not only the US but also the UK, previously two of the 360's strongest markets.

Do you think MS will be very aggressive and fight back as early as E3 by removing Kinect from the box and pricing XBone at $349.99, undercutting PS4 by $50 ?.

If so do you think it will have much effect on global sales and would Sony be in a position to drop the price of PS4 by $50 less than a year after launch ?.

 

[viveks86]

Seems too soon to do it officially. I think it's unlikely. But who knows!

 

[ChiliManiac]

Sources for your information please?(I'm aware of the Titanfall bundle)

 

[Joco]

No. At the most I'd think they might try to match Sony on price. I'd be shocked if they released a $350 SKU.

 

[Hoo-doo]

Depends on how much of a bath Microsoft is willing to take on every console sold.

The shareholders will take some convincing, I bet.

 

[KAL2006]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Xbox One more expensive to produce than PS4, even without the Kinect. If so that means PS4 can afford another price drop, but I guess MS can afford to take a loss unlike Sony

 

[Mass Effect]

And take a huge loss on hardware again? I very much doubt it, but who knows.

 

[Asd202]

They would have to make a kincetless SKU to undercut PS4.

 

[jelly]

No, match at best, hook with exclusive games. Cheap doesn't work on it's own.

 

[Shalashaska161]

Microsoft is probably more concerned about making money than winning a sales war, especially when third parties are guaranteed to support them anyways. At $500, they are making money, but at $350, they definitely won't be.

 

[Toki767]

At most, they'll price it the same as the PS4. They aren't going to price it under.

 

[Shining Sunshine]

That's a lot of money to lose to, at most, to catch up to PS4.

PS4 is going to stay on top as they're getting more games this year from big studios and indie.

 

[Pain]

Microsoft doesn't want to lose money if they can help it.

 

[Abdiel]

If MS made a move to drop the price officially, Sony has already shown (through Cerny's discussions) that the PS4 is readily able to be aggressive with the price to remain competitive... So I don't think that'd do much to help MS. Sony could just drop to match, or beat them, again. Their GDDR5 is actually more likely to drop in price as the time passes, whereas DDR3 is already at bottom pricing, and ESRAM can't get much cheaper than it is, because of the size of it for the die.

 

[EBE]

match? maybe. undercut? no.

 

[wapplew]

$399 with Kinect, $299 without.
War over.

 

[Scully Scully Scoo]

no way. ms will announce price drop but they wont drop kinect just yet and wont undercut sony. although sony can probably drop the ps4 price very unlikely they will because it is still selling well. at most they may bundle a game like knack with every ps4 or something

 

[Steroyd]

If so do you think it will have much effect on global sales and would Sony be in a position to drop the price of PS4 by $50 less than a year after launch ?.

Globally the Xbox 360 couldn't beat the PS3 being cheaper and coming out a year earlier, I just don't see how MS could switch that around JUST by being cheaper.

 

[ethomaz]

This NPD will be the key for my prediction...

If PS4 won then price cut and maybe a Kinect-less will be a fact and not a dream anymore.

 

[block tower]

aren't X1 bundles being sold below MSRP by retailers already?

 

[Hex]

I am sure that they thought that they were being clever at the last E3 also.
They can "go for the throat" all that they want, but they do not know what Sony will do so they can guess and do what they will do but Sony will also be formulating plans also and not standing idle.
There are stockholders to answer to and this is a long race, not a sprint.
Nintendo also will have something to say as much as people want to dismiss them.
Armchair analysts are an odd

Spoiler

read: sad

bunch.

 

[kinggroin]

Not if they're in this to make money

 

[cyber_ninja]

$399 with Kinect, $299 without.
War over.

The war is already over.

 

[Vashetti]

Doesn't matter, Sony are ready at anytime to go lower should they need to.

They've gone on record saying that they've priced it so they can do this should the need arise, that's the benefit of designing a cost-efficient, powerful system with Mark Cerny at the helm.

 

[nbnt]

There's no way MS would do that. They're not in panic mode, the XB1 is selling well. What they they might do, I think, is a kinect-less SKU priced at $400. $350 this soon seems very unlikely to me.

 

[Pathos]

I'm gonna go with a new dashboard version/update or something + kinectless sku

 

[krypt0nian]

At some point when you drop so quickly it becomes damaged goods. They need to be careful.

 

[Skilletor]

Would that be going for the throat or trying to trip a sprinter trying about to cross the finish line?

 

[Leatherworkstation]

I don't think they will in the US, it's selling pretty well there. They might permanently drop the price in Europe, we get shafted by everyone anyway so we'd still be paying more in dollars that an equivalent American. It'd help sales here if it was sub £400/ €400.

I don't know how much of the inflated European price goes to the country's government but I think MS could lower it and not take damage.

 

[Philippo]

I'm positive MS will have a nice E3 conference, i'm just curious to see what's Sony's counter to whatever they plan (like last yera's price and drm).

Oh man, this year's gonna be crazy. I'm already getting hyped.

 

[Mr.Marston]

That would make them look so desperate.

 

[TechnicPuppet]

No one has any idea how much they are selling. It's all speculation. They may have already got the sense that a small price drop significantly shifted consoles and that's what they have been doing.

 

[Human_me]

Nahh if anything it will be more bundles with free games.

 

[Hoo-doo]

If MS made a move to drop the price officially, Sony has already shown (through Cerny's discussions) that the PS4 is readily able to be aggressive with the price to remain competitive... So I don't think that'd do much to help MS. Sony could just drop to match, or beat them, again. Their GDDR5 is actually more likely to drop in price as the time passes, whereas DDR3 is already at bottom pricing, and ESRAM can't get much cheaper than it is, because of the size of it for the die.

If Sony dropped price with Microsoft like you say, that would leave microsoft in a terrible situation. Losing tons on every console sold and still be the most expensive console on shelves, negating the advantage that the price drop would have given them.

Would be interesting to watch, either way.

 

[ComputerBlue]

I highly doubt it, but I expect there to be lots of sales often enough to help move units. It's so early in the console generation for them to even consider.

The 360 came out what? A year before PS3 did and at it's initial price, and look at the sales numbers at the end of the generation. They were pretty close.

 

[ArkhamFantasy]

Micheal Pachter said he was talking to some Microsoft people asking them why a Kinectless sku hasn't show up yet and they said they were contractually obligated to keep it in the box for at least a year (maybe 2 cant remember). Don Mattrick continues to haunt that brand.

 

[TechnicPuppet]

That's a lot of money to lose to, at most, to catch up to PS4.

PS4 is going to stay on top as they're getting more games this year from big studios and indie.

And the XB1 isn't?

 

[Dragonborn]

Outside the US and UK the X1 is pretty much dead regardless of what MS does. With that said, I very much doubt they'll undercut the PS4 and if they do it'll probably be without Kinect. The BOM of the X1 was estimated to be higher than the Ps4 and that's without Kinect. Dropping the price to $350 would mean a big loss (and I'm sure they're already loosing money with the bundles and price cuts),

I highly doubt it, but I expect there to be lots of sales often enough to help move units. It's so early in the console generation for them to even consider.

The 360 came out what? A year before PS3 did and at it's initial price, and look at the sales numbers at the end of the generation. They were pretty close.

The X1 cannot do a Ps3 like recovery. Firstly, it doesn't have the first party support. Secondly, the PS3 was expensive but still the cheapest bluray player. And third, the 360 is irrelevent outside NA and UK, it doesn't have the rest of the world to fall back on like the Ps3

 

[Rolf NB]

$399 with Kinect, $299 without.
War over.

You must realize you're talking on the order of a 1B$+ bath for the rest of 2014 alone.

 

[TechnicPuppet]

Outside the US and UK the X1 is pretty much dead regardless of what MS does. With that said, I very much doubt they'll undercut the PS4 and if they do it'll probably be without Kinect. The BOM of the X1 was estimated to be higher than the Ps4 and that's without Kinect. Dropping the price to $350 would mean a big loss (and I'm sure they're already loosing money with the bundles and price cuts),

It's dead no matter what it does? So bringing out better games at a better price with a better online infrastructure won't change anything? If that's the case the console market is broken.

 

[Vashetti]

And the XB1 isn't?

PS4 is cheaper - the public knows this
PS4 is more powerful - the public also knows this

PS4 is getting great third-party and first-party support. The gap will only widen.

 

[Skenzin]

I would remove kinect and bluray and launch a $299 digital dl box.

 

[Doctor_Thomas]

The XB1 is more expensive to produce even without Kinect, yeah?

 

[badcrumble]

Sony's throat isn't exposed right now.

 

[Adam_Roman]

My guess is they'll hold off from it this E3, and in 2015, reveal the brand new Xbox One Slim that's smaller than the PS4, no Kinect, and $350, launching that October with Halo 5. They're gonna hold out at $500 until the Halo fanbase buys in with Halo 2 Anniversary.

 

[Kysen]

They are already losing £100 per box here in the UK, I'd say they are prepared to do whatever it takes. Unlike Sony who sat on their asses for years before cutting the PS3s price.

 

[KoopaTheCasual]

And take a huge loss on hardware again? I very much doubt it, but who knows.

Yea, I doubt it. But it would be super nuts if they announced it. Kinda wanna see the meltdowns.

 

[TechnicPuppet]

PS4 is cheaper - the public knows this
PS4 is more powerful - the public also knows this

PS4 is getting great third-party and first-party support. The gap will only widen.

Did you even read the op?

 

[Angelus Errare]

Drop it by $150? That'd be cray.

 

[Dragonborn]

It's dead no matter what it does? So bringing out better games at a better price with a better online infrastructure won't change anything? If that's the case the console market is broken.

For the most part yes. Short of halving the price or something extreme like that they are pretty dead no matter what. The Xbox brand has always been incredibly NA dependent. That changed a bit last gen since the 360 came out 18 months earlier at a cheaper price but that didn't happen this time.

You have to understand that the X1 offers nothing that the PS4 does better for less outside NA and to a lesser extent the UK. Not to mention Xbox exclusives tend to also be largely NA focused (shooters and the like).