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Microsoft squashes rumors of a cheaper, all-digital Xbox One

A $399 Xbox One is coming this year no matter what they say right now. Either by means of a straight up price cut, Kinect-less or something else.

It's either do that or lose significant market share and my guess is that in the long run the market share is worth more to them than the hundred dollars.

I think they will stick as is for now and ride the Titanfall wave and then something will be announced at E3.
 
But but ntkrnl is a leaker working on Microsoft's behalf!

The fact that he leaked info MS deemed harmful enough to counteract is irrelevant.
 
I honestly don't expect them to release a cheaper version within the first year, especially when the console is selling incredibly well. They have some games coming out this year that people want to play, I don't see the sales stopping any time soon. If they are releasing a cheaper model I don't think it would be happening the same year as the console launch. I would guess 2015 at the earliest.
 

nullpoynter

Member
Maybe it's not going to be a cheaper version of the One, but that other box Microsoft was once rumored to be releasing. The lower cost box that would only be for media and XBLA games.
 

Occam

Member
Of course they denied it, just as expected- if people believe a cheaper model is coming soon, sales are going to drop.
BTW: Note that they don't say a cheapter version is NOT coming in 2014.
 

Mitark

Member
the new cheaper xbox one is coming this year, it's just a matter of when.

i think if they do really bad numbers in January and February, the announcement will come sooner than later, they are in bad situation regarding dropping the price after 3 or 4 month.
 

twobear

sputum-flecked apoplexy
of course they'll say that. no way they'd confirm rumours of a cheaper version of a product that they want to sell as many as possible of for $500.
 

x-Lundz-x

Member
A $399 Xbox One is coming this year no matter what they say right now. Either by means of a straight up price cut, Kinect-less or something else.

It's either do that or lose significant market share and my guess is that in the long run the market share is worth more to them than the hundred dollars.

I think they will stick as is for now and ride the Titanfall wave and then something will be announced at E3.

They are most certainly waiting to see how much Titanfall helps sales. Personally, this is what I think is going to happen:
1. March rolls around and Titanfall is released to much fanfare
2. MS wins March NPD handily
3. PR left and right from Major and Albert saying how they are in awe of the fan response to Titanfall and keep saying it's just the tip of the iceberg for Xbox fans.
4. Lots of talk about how no price cut is needed due to how amazing Titanfall is etc etc etc..
5. MS doesn't win another NPD for the remainder of the year and a 399 SKU is announced at E3 and released in November (without Kinect is my opinion.)
 
Well time to watch this whole thread explode. Surely the denial was a lie and there is some hidden reason Microsoft addressed it since they do not comment on rumor or speculation.
 

J-Rod

Member
It's the $100 less that makes it untrue. They are making the disc less box, just adding $50 for the privilege.
 

down 2 orth

Member
Really hoping the whole ntkrnl story sees the light of day. Neogaf needs its own documentary, someone kickstart it please!!
 

LowerLevel

Member
They are most certainly waiting to see how much Titanfall helps sales. Personally, this is what I think is going to happen:
1. March rolls around and Titanfall is released to much fanfare
2. MS wins March NPD handily
3. PR left and right from Major and Albert saying how they are in awe of the fan response to Titanfall and keep saying it's just the tip of the iceberg for Xbox fans.
4. Lots of talk about how no price cut is needed due to how amazing Titanfall is etc etc etc..
5. MS doesn't win another NPD for the remainder of the year and a 399 SKU is announced at E3 and released in November (without Kinect is my opinion.)

Wow, that's... brilliant. The more I read it, the more it makes sense and seem likely to happen.
 

Cornbread78

Member
Wouldn't expect anything less from him; deny, deny, deny... He has a job to do.


Remember, Ryan Braun never used PEDs and Lance Armstrong never did any blood doping....



Be excited for it's release in the future, it will probably still come.



His job was attempting to nail CBOAT to the wall, the leak details were secondary, and possibly need to be taken with a grain of salt ;)



speaking of, have we heard from bortha CBoat since?
 
They are most certainly waiting to see how much Titanfall helps sales. Personally, this is what I think is going to happen:
1. March rolls around and Titanfall is released to much fanfare
2. MS wins March NPD handily
3. PR left and right from Major and Albert saying how they are in awe of the fan response to Titanfall and keep saying it's just the tip of the iceberg for Xbox fans.
4. Lots of talk about how no price cut is needed due to how amazing Titanfall is etc etc etc..
5. MS doesn't win another NPD for the remainder of the year and a 399 SKU is announced at E3 and released in November (without Kinect is my opinion.)

Something like that yeah although personally I think they will keep Kinect. It seems to me that if they make it just an optional accessory then they "doom" it to being only that for the rest of eternity. E.G no way can they ever launch an "Xbox Two" with Kinect touted as a main feature.

With Kinect I think it all depends on what they see of it, not just for now but maybe ten years in the future too. Sure it gives them an easy way to slash the price but that might not be most important to them, not in the long run anyway. Who knows!
 

Dyno

Member
I don't believe it.

I have seen a disc-less 1TB Xbone all painted up for Titanfall. This and other versions will come to the market in time. Next holiday season the latest.
 
Not in their marketing plan to announce right now obviously lol

Isnt a bluray drive like 5$ for them ? How would that make that the console 100$ cheaper

It's not about COGS but about the increased profit they'd get on the back-end by forcing people to buy all digital through the Xbox Games store
 

monome

Member
I don't trust any leak.

I love each and every one, tho.

MS is crazyland these days. it's part of the fun, IMO.
 
Good because it doesn't make any sense. If they priced a discless, 1TB Xbox One $100 less than the existing model, then they'd lose $100 more dollars on every sale. The savings of removing the disc drive would be like .. $40 at the most, and doubling the storage would cost $20 or $30. There is no benefit. If they want to ship a media-only device, used for consuming XBL content (VOD, Amazon, Netflix, etc), honestly, the 360 is the best option there.
 

McHuj

Member
Game journalism. Where twitter suffices for a source?

I don't know whether this is true or not, but what the hell do you expect MS to say? "Yes, it's true. We're releasing a SKU that's a $100 cheaper later this year?"

For fucks sake, of course they're going to deny it. You wanna do some reporting, do some digging behind the scenes and get some info from sources.
 

McHuj

Member
Isnt a bluray drive like 5$ for them ? How would that make that the console 100$ cheaper

It's more than that, but a driveless forces you to buy games through their store so they get a bigger cut of software sales. They'd probably be willing to take a loss on the hardware then.
 

Thorgi

Member
A $400 XB1 is definitely coming sooner rather than later, but I would much rather ditch the Kinect than the disc drive. I'm not interested in limiting myself to whatever asinine prices Microsoft will charge for games that are years old and already dropped in price elsewhere.
 

CorrisD

badchoiceboobies
Not sure what anyone would expect them to say, Sony for instance would never confirm future model changes before they happen, it doesn't make any sense to.

Isnt a bluray drive like 5$ for them ? How would that make that the console 100$ cheaper

It wouldn't, I don't know what some people are smoking, especially if the HDD size increases at the same time. Obviously most parts get cheaper as time generally goes on anyway, but they aren't going to cut $100 off with the removal of a disc drive, it would have to be more substantial than that unless they are willing to take a bigger loss on the hardware.

And that is ignoring the money that would also need to go into making a cheaper model, manufacturing etc. so soon after launching their current one. Unless they literally just rip out the disc drive and seal up the hole for it, I can't imagine higher ups would be happy about it.
 

BibiMaghoo

Member
Isn't the word quash?

Usage of Squash in this sense probably does derive from a misinterpretation of Quash, sure. But Squash also reads perfectly fine here, no?

I think in this usage, it stems from 'squashed like a bug' rather than to quash - reject - a rumour. Both terms are accurate in usage here.

OT, even if they are releasing this box, exactly as rumoured, they will not announce it like this, or even soon. They do not want people to wait for another cheaper box. The dismissal is irrelevant, because it could easily be a lie.
 

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
Even if they were going to do something like this, what would they say?

"Yes, don't buy the system until this Fall so you can save $100."?
 

Asd202

Member
Of course they won't confirm this so early it could damage there sales right now as some people would just wait for cheaper SKU.
 
As others have stated, one way or another there will be a price cut. My guess is that the number of new Xbox Gold subscriptions has taken a hit lately due to people switching from Microsoft to Sony. Reducing the price of the XB1 makes sense if for nothing else, it'll get more people to get Xbox Gold along with their XB1 purchase. The subscription is a recurring income stream and if far more important that a one time source of funds from the sale of the console.
 
Yet, they never commented on removing Kinect to slash the price or simply slashing the price in general...They simply cannot comment on it, people will wait to purchase the system....


I predict a price cut by the end of the year, I just think they will keep everything in the box as it is now. However, they may include a game like Titanfall and keep the $400 price tag, which would be a bundle deal more than a price cut....
 

Ouroboros

Member
If MS made a kinect-less, driveless box that I had the ability of upgrading the hard drive and sell it for $349.99. I'd buy one and complete my perfect quadfecta:

PC
PS4
WiiU
XBOne

(most gameplay in that order)
 
They have to "squash" this because people will just wait for a cheaper Xbox instead of buying one at $500. I was gonna get one, now I am waiting.
 

Qiot

Neo Member
They have to "squash" this because people will just wait for a cheaper Xbox instead of buying one at $500. I was gonna get one, now I am waiting.

Yep, it is really important to deny it now or people are just going to hold off on buying the current model.

Its a fairly well-know phenomenon which has hurt plenty of companies in the past (including Nokia before Microsoft bought them out): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osborne_effect
 
I never believed there would be a disc-less model. Definitely not for $399. While they could make up the costs through digital purchases, the negative buzz would be too much for the brand. Also, how would dropping the the disc drive equate to a 100 dollar savings? The only thing worth that much by itself is Kinect...

Interesting times ahead, it seems.
 

MDX

Member
Why would he confirm this? Even if it was true, confirming this would be suicide. Of course he's going to deny it.

Sucks to be in a job/position where you sometimes are forced to be deceptive or outright lie.
 
I never believed there would be a disc-less model. Definitely not for $399. While they could make up the costs through digital purchases, the negative buzz would be too much for the brand. Also, how would dropping the the disc drive equate to a 100 dollar savings? The only thing worth that much by itself is Kinect...

Interesting times ahead, it seems.

For MS, losing $100 is easily worth it when they gain an all-digital customer. That said, I think MS would be crazy to do this. If they were planning a console with no disc drive, those plans are probably canned after seeing the hardcore gamer reaction over the last week.
 
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