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Will XBO go back to U$399 after the holidays?

They fought tooth and nail and ate into their profits in order to win a couple months over the holidays for marketshare and mindshare just to immediately turn around and lose by default until their next frantic promotion? Doesn't seem like a rock solid plan to me. I'm thinking 350 stays.
 
Well I used to sell the 'Surface' tablets and believe me, that proce wont go back up (not for long anyway). This is how it will happen:

-Price dropped to 349 till end of holidays
-after holidays there will be two possibilities:
-price goes back up for a couple of weeks then back down again
-'due to great success this promotion is extended till may 2015'
 

vatstep

This poster pulses with an appeal so broad the typical restraints of our societies fall by the wayside.
It won't go back up, and they probably never intended for it to anyway. The "limited time" offer is purely to get people to buy now and not put it off.
 
I think the question should be how long this gen is going to last. If it is going to be 5 years then I see MS raising the price back because they would want to be profitable asap again. If it will be longer then I think they can afford to take a loss early and recoup some of these losses over the duration.
 

Servbot #42

Unconfirmed Member
The question can they afford to sell Xbox one at a discount for a longer time? I mean how much money are they losing at 399? how much are they losing at 350? Is it worth for MS at the end to loose so much money? I wonder if the 399 Xbone is sold at a cost or a profit.
 

Minions

Member
Share holders were already trying to shutter off the Xbox Division. Can't imagine how enamored they are now that Microsoft is likely taking a substantial loss on every console sold. These Black Friday sales were firesale prices. I can't think of a situation where a console had a $169 price drop (console was refurbished, still a huge drop), and included 4 games and the kinect. 499 -> 330 + 4 games is crazy. Like HP Touchpad firesale crazy.

That was more than enough to sell me a console. I've been picking up Xbox One games for $30 or less... and these are games that launched in the last month or two. Paid $30 for Diablo 3; Paid $40 for Sunset Overdrive, and got a $25 gift card. (Essentially paid $15?)

Everything is being given away at this point. It is crazy.
 

RedAssedApe

Banned
Share holders were already trying to shutter off the Xbox Division. Can't imagine how enamored they are now that Microsoft is likely taking a substantial loss on every console sold. These Black Friday sales were firesale prices. I can't think of a situation where a console had a $169 price drop (console was refurbished, still a huge drop), and included 4 games and the kinect. 499 -> 330 + 4 games is crazy. Like HP Touchpad firesale crazy.

That was more than enough to sell me a console. I've been picking up Xbox One games for $30 or less... an these are games that launched in the last month or two. Paid $30 for Diablo 3; Paid $40 for Sunset Overdrive, and got a $25 gift card. (Essentially paid $15?)

Everything is being given away at this point. It is crazy.

kind of depends if the move has actually clawed back some market share and established any type of momentum for xbox moving forward. i don't think we'll really know if they have any momentum until january, february, march, when the next rush of titles hits. if sales of hardware fall off a cliff (hehe) and ps4 is still beating them in software sales on multiplatform titles...
 
What about here in canada? Thats the only thing holding me from buying an Xbox One, price has not gone down.

sure it did, for the week of black friday

$349 for the xbone assassins creed unity bundle at MS store, with a free game on top of that (any game you wanted), with free shipping. source = i got it plus mcc, along with a lot of others in the canadian deals thread

target, amazon, futureshop, bestbuy, etc.. also had just the console for $349
 

Minions

Member
kind of depends if the move has actually clawed back some market share. i don't think we'll really know if they have any momentum until january. if sales fall off a cliff (hehe)...

Market share does not inherently "make" any money. If games are being sold for $30 (take a guess who is losing money on this? Most of the games under heavy discount are backed directly by Microsoft.)

This was dells sale:
Available Titles w/ $25 Dell eGift Card for $39.99 each

Forza Horizon 2 (Xbox One)
Forza 5: Game of the Year Edition (Xbox One)
Dead Rising 3: Apocalypse Edition (Xbox One)
Ryse: Son of Rome: Legendary Edition (Xbox One)
Kinect Sports Rivals (Xbox One)
Sunset Overdrive: Day One Edition (Xbox One)

All MS titles. Given for essentially $15/ea after gift card. Pretty crazy. Not only is Microsoft willing to take a loss on the consoles, but also all software in addition to it.
 
Little chance of the price going up, I feel. Even assuming the Xbox One wins November NPD, it seems unlikely that the win will be a large margin considering both XB1 and PS4 had very good November bundles. Whomever wins November NPD, it's likely to be fairly close, and assuming MS gets some good press while winning, it's not going to do anything to close the gap if PS4 sold almost as well.

Bottom line, MS needs to keep the price advantage over Sony. Which will be a difficulty in the long-term because aside from MS losing money on the hardware, Sony can just as easily drop to $349 to price match if they feel the Xbox One is actually becoming a threat.
 

Square2015

Member
They'll quietly bring the price back up in January, the PS4 will pull back ahead, then they'll price drop it perminantly in early March. They don't want that high price going into Easter.

They may also start a budget hits line in Jan or Feb to counter the price raise which will produce mediocre results and then the price drop in late-Feb/early March.
 

OneUh8

Member
They might as well. I was able to pick one up for $300 with the paypal deal through Newegg. But lets be honest, MS has shit as far as confirmed releases in the first half of next year. It will sell like shit regardless imo. It sold November well because of the price, Halo, and Christmas. PS4 is going to dominate the majority of next year with all the games it has lined up through the year.
 
If they literally don't care about selling game systems outside of the holiday season, then they will re up the price.

And the PS4 will crush them.
 

Einbroch

Banned
Raise the price to $399, include a digital voucher for any first party game. Make that be the standard from now on. You'd never have to make a special SKU, as the code could simply be redeemed on the Marketplace.

Buying a new XB1 for Halo 5 when it releases? Bam, it's yours. Advertise the heck out of this. Say it's standard in all systems.
 

Mentok

Banned
I don't see how they could bring the price back up to $399 with no games packed in. That being said, I wonder how much of the cost they are eating selling at the price/bundles they have right now?
 

tokkun

Member
Market share does not inherently "make" any money. If games are being sold for $30 (take a guess who is losing money on this? Most of the games under heavy discount are backed directly by Microsoft.)

Don't forget about XBL Gold. Even if margins are small on hardware and games, they are still large on the online services.
 

Amir0x

Banned
I mean think about it from a business perspective. If I was Microsoft, the corporation. Now I'm just some armchair analyst, but I can already consider the implications.

Beyond any doubt, Microsoft's holiday deals for XBO this year were absolutely fucking insane. Like, a year ago the thing was impossible to get unless you tied that stone Kinect to it and paid $500. Now we're at a place where Microsoft store is literally selling the thing for $349 with two games packed in - one a high profile product from this holiday - and then you get TWO MORE games with it. I mean, come on bro. What in the actual fuck. I know for a fact Microsoft won November NPD, and they might with December too.

Can you imagine what it'd look like from a consumer's perspective if Microsoft went to $399 with no game? Consumers have seen beyond the veil, now. They know how low Microsoft is willing to go in the name of a little tension about their success and a chance to grab some slight marketshare.

Consumers are just going to wait to see those prices again after this. They gotta stay at $349.99.
 
If MS wants to kick themselves, sure. At $399 the X1's would drop harder than it did last year, and this time there is no Titanfall to lessen the blow

Sony also has pretty much the entire year on lockdown. MLB, Bloodborne, The Order as well as exclusive marketing for BF and Batman. Then maybe a price cut to go into the Holidays. Ms would be insane to bring the price back down. In fact, I'd argue they're gonna need ti be even cheaper next Holiday just to keep up....in NA.....for one month
 

Bgamer90

Banned
If MS wants to kick themselves, sure. At $399 the X1's would drop harder than it did last year, and this time there is no Titanfall to lessen the blow

It's going to be a pretty big drop either way for all consoles (December --> January). Anyway, like I said before I really don't think they'll go back to having every SKU at $399.99 and higher. they (hopefully) found out via this past month's sales that the system needs a cheaper price than the PS4 to compete well (price of the SKU itself and not how much money is being saved).

Sony also has pretty much the entire year on lockdown. MLB, Bloodborne, The Order as well as exclusive marketing for BF and Batman. Then maybe a price cut to go into the Holidays. Ms would be insane to bring the price back down. In fact, I'd argue they're gonna need ti be even cheaper next Holiday just to keep up....in NA.....for one month

I wouldn't say that yet ("lockdown for the whole year"). We haven't seen how the Xbox One does vs. the PS4 at a cheaper price (price of SKU as a whole; not how much money is being saved if a customer buys it). A good chunk of people buying consoles during the first half of 2015 will more than likely be getting some of the games that released this Holiday season.
 
It's going to be a pretty big drop either way for all consoles (December --> January). Anyway, like I said before I really don't think they'll go back to having every SKU at $399.99 and higher. they (hopefully) found out via this past month's sales that the system needs a cheaper price than the PS4 to compete well (price of the SKU itself and not how much money is being saved).



I wouldn't say that yet ("lockdown for the whole year"). We haven't seen how the Xbox One does vs. the PS4 at a cheaper price (price of SKU as a whole; not how much money is being saved if a customer buys it). A good chunk of people buying consoles during the first half of 2015 will more than likely be getting some of the games that released this Holiday season.

If MS keeps the lower price then they can put up a fight throughout the year. What I meant by locked down was more in the sense of if they raised the price again. Even then, MS lineup is very thin next year, up until the Holidays.
 

Bgamer90

Banned
If MS keeps the lower price then they can put up a fight throughout the year. What I meant by locked down was more in the sense of if they raised the price again. Even then, MS lineup is very thin next year, up until the Holidays.

Oh okay, yeah it would definitely be a lock for Sony if MS raised the price after January.

Edit: Also, I wouldn't say the Holidays. They have stuff planned for the months before November. I think the ball will get rolling more in terms of their AAA exclusives around September. There needs to be a decent gap in between Quantum Break, Halo, Tomb Raider, and other titles.
 
Oh okay, yeah it would definitely be a lock for Sony if MS raised the price after January.

Edit: Also, I wouldn't say the Holidays. They have stuff planned for the months before November. I think the ball will get rolling more in terms of their AAA exclusives around September. There needs to be a decent gap in between Quantum Break, Halo, Tomb Raider, and other titles.

I actually really want to know when Fable comes out. I could see if making it out for mid year, maybe during the summer
 

Cider

Member
I'm still mad at them for making the white one really really limited. It probably will go up to 399 with a bunch of things bundled with it. I think I'll just wait for the slim model until I get one
 

Bgamer90

Banned
I actually really want to know when Fable comes out. I could see if making it out for mid year, maybe during the summer

I'm not interested in Fable at all so I couldn't care less but I do think that the Summer would probably be the best time to release it. Too many games coming Fall/Holiday 2015.
 
I'm not interested in Fable at all so I couldn't care less but I do think that the Summer would probably be the best time to release it. Too many games coming Fall/Holiday 2015.

I know it'll likely be terrible but egh, there's some part of me that still has hope it may be okay.
 

mrklaw

MrArseFace
I expect to hear the "Our holiday discount was such a success we're making the deal permanent" PR to drop before that January date hits

If they do keep the price cut, they should wait until the December NPD period has finished before any announcement. That way, people on the fence might be promoted to jump in late December, because of the pending price rise. If MS announce early then people may hold off.
 

mrklaw

MrArseFace
Like I said before. That's just another form of pulling sales forward.

And? MS have very deliberately timed this offer to exactly align with november and December NPD tracking windows. They know what they are doing - they want to win Nov/Dec NPD at all costs. They don't care about January
 
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