500$ makes perfect sense for the product and what it can do...
That said, I have a very hard time believing its going to do well at that price point. I haven't seen Microsoft really answer a simple question: Who exactly is this product for?
Its clearly not for the average consumer who can't afford a 500$ upgraded system let alone a 4K TV to take advantage of it.
It's not for kids who will never be able to get their parents to buy a 500$ system over the much cheaper options for the holiday season.
It's clearly not for the tech enthusiast as they'd clearly rather buy a high end PC.
So is it just the diehard xbox fans then? That won't carry the sales alone and its setting themselves up for massive failure much like how Steam Machines were the past few years. Hardware alone doesn't sell a product and Microsofts other decisions such as not allowing Scorpio only games or putting first party titles on PC doesn't really help them.
Then you have to think about the next generation. We're already midway past this generations life-cycle introducing this system now brings into question if Microsoft hasn't made a huge mistake by diverting time, resources, and a lot of money into this systems development that would have been much better spent on the next generations system instead.
This also doesn't do anything to help Microsoft in the worldwide arena either. People are already talking about how much it'll cost in other regions which is something that Microsoft still isn't doing well in. It does well in USA thanks to the brand alone and the companies pedigree but outside of the states its sales have largely been lack luster.
I'd like to think that they could really have one hell of an exclusive to push on this thing but even if they do... It'll also be on PC with the first party XB1 games going to PC as well unless they decide to stop doing that now which also won't help them. It could be a third party exclusive (or timed exclusive like TR was in the past) but that would be a severely... odd decision to make when you look at how TR performed because of that decision on both XB1 and PS4, the blowback hurt that game a lot despite it being pretty great overall.
I just look at what Microsoft is doing and a lot of the decisions they've made just don't make sense to me. Closing studios, canceling multiple games that are far into production, completely giving up on the Japanese market and not at all courting Japanese developers, this isn't even talking about all the mistakes they started the generation with. I just don't understand what they are thinking and how they think they are going to be able to compete in this industry with moves like this. These decisions are like Sega during the Saturn era bad.
I'm not exactly a fan of Microsoft to begin with but I did buy a XB1 about a year after it came out and eventually sold it when they kept canceling every freaking game I was looking forward to and I thought that Scorpio could be really cool but while things like the Xbox Games pass thing sound intriguing they also seem desperate and its getting more and more obvious that the generation is already won by Sony and at this point Microsoft is trying to be like Nintendo and do their own thing now but the reason Nintendo generally succeeds with doing something different is that they have some really unique tech and great ideas and the IP and developers to back it up, Microsoft doesn't really have that. They've always been focused on the power of a system, not the uniqueness, the 'great ideas' they've had have backfired massively (Xb1 reveal, holy cow what a shit show that was), they have some strong IP but time and again they aren't using it well and the developers they've got are few and far between now since they've closed studios and canceled many projects already quite far into production.
I just don't understand why Microsoft does the things that it does, Nintendo and Sony I can understand even when I don't agree with the decisions at all but I still understand at the core why they are doing that but with Microsoft what they do just doesn't make sense to me. Yes the XB1 wasn't as powerful as the PS4 and they got mocked for that early on but Scropio is TOO powerful and its coming out way to late to make a difference at the price they want it for.
I guess we'll see if Microsoft has some secrets that they'll be showing off tonight for the system or games or something but justify this but right now I really question that price point and what Microsoft wants its position to be within the industry and I'm not sure they have a direct answer to that last question either.
Guys, I read this post so you don't have to.
My face is read from all the smacking.
This part here:
Yes the XB1 wasn't as powerful as the PS4 and they got mocked for that early on but Scropio is TOO powerful and its coming out way to late to make a difference at the price they want it for.
Is the highlight.