Because it's not "just a $50 cheaper price point" from where I'm standing.
Right now we're talking about a system that is selling for $329 in a huge amount of places with two games, and sometimes extra bonus deals like gift cards depending on what you're looking at. I mean Microsoft store that shit with another free game on top, it just no limit to how low they're willing to go this month.
PS4 for the most part - with ebay exception - has been $399, with TLOU and GTAV. Which isn't a bad deal and I think Sony was right keeping it at that price given their financial situation and the fact the PS4 was already selling quite decently.
So we're actually talking a $70 difference really at minimum, and stores are still throwing the kitchen sink in with it during Black Friday week. When you start adding in the way so many stores are incentivizing the Black Friday Xbox purchase - what a doorbuster really should mean - you're talking gaps that can range from $70-$130.
Couple that with a more compelling AAA exclusive lineup on average for the Holiday season, and I think they definitely have what it takes to match Sony's gap in September
We shall see.
But doesn't a sales lead like that depend on other factors, too?
Product appeal, mainly. I'm not saying this is the case for even the bulk of customers, but XBO-whether you think it fair or not-gained a rather nasty reputation after May/June last year. Then you saw momentum drop heavily in January, and deals start as soon as February (or March), for a system that just launched November the previous year! That sort of bundling/pricing trend isn't in line w/ what even casual consumers think of as healthy w/ a new console that's selling well.
That narrative's been the case for most of the year, up until this month actually, and now suddenly it's going to result in a massive leap ahead for the console that's only $50/$70/*$130 (tbh I've not heard of any deals putting it this low; all I know of is Target's gift-card offer that puts it at $329) lower than it's competitor, who was routinely $100 cheaper for 8 months, and never saw that kind of boost?
Alright, it's November. I get that much, but if that sort of boost happens I think it'd mean 3 things.
1: Sony massively undershipped for November (and BF) in NA. Don't see this being the case. Maybe didn't match launch shipments but definitely didn't under-ship either. Or maybe they did.
2: It's about a lot more than price: The only exclusives XBO has this holiday that I'd actually say are damn good, are
FH2 and
SO.
MCC is broken so hard to recommend, and all the other exclusives are from earlier this year or launch. I guess w/ the lower price, casual consumers may take a 2nd look and say "well now I think this game is worth it since I've got extra money", for games they may've passed on before like
Ryse or
Killer Instinct. But by that notion that should still happen w/ PS4, even w/o a price cut, simply b/c shoppers tend to have more money on the holidays. This might be more of a thing when December comes and Sony maintains that price for any other bundles.
3: Massive momentum shift in favor of XBO for forseeable future: This just isn't happening. Not b/c it'd be impossible if the games were there...but they aren't there. For the first half of 2015 XBO is like a wasteland for new exclusive releases. MS just sucks at spreading out their releases, this is known. Meanwhile PS4 has at least two major AAA exclusives coming in the 1st half, and other stuff like
Tomorrow Children and
Guilty Gear coming in the 2nd half. XBO has the
Halo 5 demo but that's just a demo; of what we know all they have for the holidays is
Halo 5 and maybe
Quantum Break, which I doubt b/c that's when
RoTTR comes out and I don't know if MS wants to release a new IP only for it to be immediately swallowed up by that game.
So even if XBO does take the holidays....what do they honestly have in terms of games for 2015's first half to carry it? An OS update? That isn't a game, it's a software feature. They have indies like
Cuphead and
Oni that will probably come in the first half, but how many people will buy a $349 console to play them (personally I'd really like to play
Cuphead myself but not for a $349 entrance fee)? Where are the AAA games in those months to help drive more sales?
..........
Like I said before MS has the money to just sit that out, but personally I think it's a lazy strategy; they should spread out their releases better and stop relying on just Nov+Dec like their lives depend on it, in order to show they care about satisfying gamers year round.
