For the past week, I've been hearing a lot about a price cut on the Xbox One. I keep hearing about how it's the fastest price cut in console history, and how it can mean only one thing - desperation.
http://n4g.com/news/1463596...
So, I decided to do some research on the matter:
I checked Gamestop's website. Still listed at $499. I went to Gamestop. Still for sale at $499. I went to Walmart - same thing, still $499 (although it wasn't in stock at the moment). Best Buy, Target, Amazon - still $499.
I wondered, where is this price cut if I can't find an Xbox One for less than the initial launch price? After all, when Sony cut the PS3's price after 8 months, it was a worldwide price cut at all retailers. Ditto for Nintendo with the 3DS.
I started thinking that maybe the Xbox One price cut was in only one country, or did not apply to all retailers. Then I realized how crazy that sounded. After all, a large contingent of N4G users are comparing the Xbox One's price cut with the worldwide price cuts of the PS3 and 3DS. Well informed gamers would surely know that comparing a full, worldwide price cut to a single country price cut is an apples to oranges comparison.
Well, it turns out that the reason I can't find a discounted Xbox One is because the price cut is only for the UK, which accounts for only around 15% of Xbox One total sales. Therefore, the price cut doesn't apply to 85% of consumers, and it certainly doesn't apply to the U.S. where more Xbox One's are sold than in any other country. Yet somehow, this price cut for 15% of the gaming world is made to appear as desperation, and worse, it's being directly compared to the 100% worldwide price cuts of previous consoles.
Don't people realize that if a company was truly desperate, and badly needed a major sales surge, a price cut for a tiny percentage of gamers wouldn't be the way to go about it.
I must be mistaken. Maybe I'll go back and re-read the comments. I mean, comparing 15% to 100% and concluding MS is desperate, is seriously moving the goalposts to suit your purposes.
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One theory I have is that the UK price cut is to test how well a price cut will effect the number of xbox ones sold.
Due to the online nature of the console over time xbox live will pay for any loss no matter how big microsoft take on xbox one sales... If they move enough units. Relying on this strategy in that case would be very risky.
It would be smart then to test a price cut in a smaller region in which the brand was once strong to see if a cut would indeed shift the required number of units.
To me this is microsoft testing the waters and doing a litmus test on demand for the console. If it sells well you may well be able to find that discount state side you have been looking for. If not... well microsoft have bigger troubles than people expect.
I picked up the Xbox One for £349 with Titanfall in the UK, bargain i say.
The price cut for the UK was a simple one, the Xbox One simply wasn't shifting the way Microsoft had hoped. Not because it was seen as an inferior machine by the consumer, but the price was the sticking point. Retailers were left with stock they weren't shifting, and it was an incentive for current Xbox 360 users to make the jump. I don't see it as desperation on Microsoft's part, more good business sense to kick start the Xbox 360 to Xbox One jump, then the knock on effect happens with friends making the jump from Xbox 360 to Xbox One.