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Forums - Microsoft Discussion - Xbox One price-cuts incoming - To match PS4's

BHR-3 said:
unless its a $100 less than ps4 its not gonna make a damn difference in the sales war, if its the same price then what are they gonna due about the multiplats that are running at a much lower resolution and frame rate?

It's still a much easier sale to the typical consumer who is looking at the overall package.

I'll go out on a limb and say that the general consumer isn't that savy (or maybe just doesn't care enough) to ask "why am I buying a game for $60 that only runs at 720p when the same $60 game runs at 1080p native on the PS4?"

The $100 difference probably matters more unless a consumer really buys into the cable box and Kinect features. 

And yes, it matters to someone who reads video game boards, visits the Lens of Truth or other video signal comparison sites, but they're not the majority consumer. 



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greenmedic88 said:

... if the current sales trends remain consistent (it helps to think of sales in terms of overall marketshare percentages), the XB1 will continue to fall behind the PS4 at a pretty significant rate. By December 2014, the XB1 could start looking like an also ran product if the prices remain the same and there is nothing compelling to justify the additional cost. 

And if PS4's lead continues to grow, with XBone sales dropping off disproportionately after initial enthusiast/early adopter demand, PS4 will gain additional advantage and sales just from the "buy what your friends have/play" dynamic.  MS was also able to extend their initial lead last-gen because their major advantage in install base meant they had the bigger game library and continued to attract more 3rd parties well into the gen, even after PS3 reached it's "turning point" it still had to make up lost ground.

But again, there is no reason to think this rumor is true.  There has been a flurry of news about leaks from MS, and those leakers' identity being discovered by MS.  Selectively providing false info to suspected leakers is the obvious way to prove they are the leaker.  Dropping the BluRay drive would itself not save a signifigant amount of cost, certainly not $100.  While it might prevent 2nd hand sales and thus boost long term profit, that would also destroy MS' retail partners' profits and create major problems in relations there... when MS is certainly relyin on retail partners right now to keep sales solid.

Both Sony and MS can be expected to drop prices in tune with reductions in production cost... Last I read, this gen should be able to do so quicker and more often than last gen, due to the basic hardware being very similar to standard PC hardware.  CPU/GPU fab continues to progress, and they both should switch to a smaller process node sooner rather than later.  That will help both of them sell more, just because more consumers are open to a reasonably priced console (and one with more games by that time).  That aspect doesn't really affect the proportional share of each console though, and as long as MS retains Kinect that will be a disproportionate restraint on reductions in production cost.  Incidentally, Sony just bought a memory producer so should soon be able to produce GDDR in-house, making any MS advantage in DDR vs. GDDR less relevant.



ezmanga said:
JoeFlex said:
DonFerrari said:
JoeFlex said:
Given Sony's level of preparation, it would be interesting if they managed to drive costs down (somehow) and responded with a price cut to keep their edge going.


Like they never cut price, right?

*fixed*

I'm referring to them being able to cut their price in a very short period of time in a sustainable way in order to counter MS, assuming this "report" is true.


Why the hell would Sony drop the PS4 price? It's the hottest game console and you can't find them anywhere. It has a solid lead over the Xbone and will only get bigger.

A troll account new account just for me? You shouldn't have. xD (I jest of course).

Correct, right now, and part of that has to do with the attractive price. Besides, it was hypothetical, and based on the assumption that MS would implement a cut to shore up the demand for their console. As of now Sony have no reason to implement a price cut, but as I stated earlier it would be interesting if Sony were so prepared that they would be able to follow suit (sustainable) and keep their console looking as the most attractive of the pair.

As for the bolded part. That remains to be seen. A lot can change, and unlike Sony, MS has the financial wherewithal to implement all sorts of moves to attract gamers. Hardship tends to bring out the best from these companies (look at Sony), so I see no reason why that can't apply to MS later down the road.



thismeintiel said:
gergroy said:
you know what is funny about this thread and this gen in general? The complete reversal of last gen.

Last gen, you had sony fans talking about future price cuts that would push the ps3 into first place or at least past the 360 and then you had MS fans downplaying the effect of price cuts.... and now everything is backwards

The only difference is price cuts did help the PS3.  Of course, they only removed BC lower the cost at first, not take away the ability to play retail games.  Now, if it's true that MS is going to remove the Bluray drive to match the PS4's price, they are going to be in for a shock if they actually think that will help them.  Discs are still where the VAST majority of game sales are coming from, especially for consoles.  MS is just going to confuse the everyday customer, and piss off the core gamer, who would rather them drop Kinect.  Not to mention that this will just bring up the whole DRM fiasco again, though not to the extent it reached in 2013.

how is that a difference?  unless you have traveled into the future and witnessed that the xbox one price cuts didn't have an affect... if that were the case I could see how you could make that argument.  



NobleTeam360 said:
Why are people acting like the Xbox One is selling badly? If it drops to Wii U levels then yeah they could do a price drop, but as of right now it's not really needed.

Have you looked at EU, lately?  According to VGC, it sold ~47K less than the PS4 this past week, selling less than 20K, overall.  That number is probably going to drop more.  And if famousmortimer is right, NPD may have some surprisely bad numbers for the One, meaning VGC may be overtracking it (or just undertracking the PS4.)  When it launches in Japan, sales will most likely be worse than the 360's.  Sure its not as bad as the Wii U was at this point, but its just going to drop more as we get further from the holidays.



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DonFerrari said:
JoeFlex said:
DonFerrari said:
JoeFlex said:
Given Sony's level of preparation, it would be interesting if they managed to drive costs down (somehow) and responded with a price cut to keep their edge going.


Like they never cut price, right?

*fixed*

I'm referring to them being able to cut their price in a very short period of time in a sustainable way in order to counter MS, assuming this "report" is true.

As already posted, Sony cut the price by US$100,00 basiically for 3 years in a row (and took a big financial hit for it), but yes they could cut strongly if needed, but I really doubt Sony and MS will play a cut price war... Sony cutted because it had poor sales and knew the console wasn't interesting/affordable to a lot of people at the time, not because MS was selling better (and that is why MS didn't cut as much, because they were satisfied with their selling rate and profit margins). Unless MS is obligated to cut because of poooooor sales them I don't see them doing it, and Sony would answer with a cut just if MS rise took to much from them, after all both are in the bussiness for the money not the numbers.

Yes, but that was a different Sony, and a significantly more financially capable one too. I am not inclined to think they would be so willing to do so given their current financial troubles. They only have so many buildings to sell in order to obtain profitability. This goes back to my post about them being able to do this ... (wait for it) ... .sustainably.



gergroy said:
thismeintiel said:
gergroy said:
you know what is funny about this thread and this gen in general? The complete reversal of last gen.

Last gen, you had sony fans talking about future price cuts that would push the ps3 into first place or at least past the 360 and then you had MS fans downplaying the effect of price cuts.... and now everything is backwards

The only difference is price cuts did help the PS3.  Of course, they only removed BC lower the cost at first, not take away the ability to play retail games.  Now, if it's true that MS is going to remove the Bluray drive to match the PS4's price, they are going to be in for a shock if they actually think that will help them.  Discs are still where the VAST majority of game sales are coming from, especially for consoles.  MS is just going to confuse the everyday customer, and piss off the core gamer, who would rather them drop Kinect.  Not to mention that this will just bring up the whole DRM fiasco again, though not to the extent it reached in 2013.

how is that a difference?  unless you have traveled into the future and witnessed that the xbox one price cuts didn't have an affect... if that were the case I could see how you could make that argument.  

Lol, you honestly think that a Bluray-less One is going to make much of a difference?  If so, you don't know the market very well.  Remember the DRM fiasco? People upset that they wouldn't be able to trade/purchase used games?  And the low preorders that made MS have to pull a 180?  That's how much impact on sales a driveless One will have.



thismeintiel said:
gergroy said:
thismeintiel said:
gergroy said:
you know what is funny about this thread and this gen in general? The complete reversal of last gen.

Last gen, you had sony fans talking about future price cuts that would push the ps3 into first place or at least past the 360 and then you had MS fans downplaying the effect of price cuts.... and now everything is backwards

The only difference is price cuts did help the PS3.  Of course, they only removed BC lower the cost at first, not take away the ability to play retail games.  Now, if it's true that MS is going to remove the Bluray drive to match the PS4's price, they are going to be in for a shock if they actually think that will help them.  Discs are still where the VAST majority of game sales are coming from, especially for consoles.  MS is just going to confuse the everyday customer, and piss off the core gamer, who would rather them drop Kinect.  Not to mention that this will just bring up the whole DRM fiasco again, though not to the extent it reached in 2013.

how is that a difference?  unless you have traveled into the future and witnessed that the xbox one price cuts didn't have an affect... if that were the case I could see how you could make that argument.  

Lol, you honestly think that a Bluray-less One is going to make much of a difference?  If so, you don't know the market very well.  Remember the DRM fiasco? People upset that they wouldn't be able to trade/purchase used games?  And the low preorders that made MS have to pull a 180?  That's how much impact on sales a driveless One will have.

no, all I'm talking about is strictly price cuts.  I don't for a second actually believe Microsoft would release a blu-ray  less xbox one.  I do however believe that they would cut the price by a hundred bucks.  It is much more likely Microsoft would remove kinect than the blu ray player.  



MS while having lots of cash, is also under pressure from shareholders.
Most of their ventures beyond Windows/Office have been failing.
Throwing more money at Xbox to somehow maybe achieve parity at a financial loss is not attractive.
MS can certainly still be profitable with Xbox at even 1/3 of PS4's marketshare,
both consoles were marginally profitable from the beginning and should be more so over their lifetime.
That price would impact sales is obvious, Sony's price was announced before release,
so if MS had a problem with that they would have subsidized XBone more from the beginning,
in order to best leverage the "buy what friends have" dynamic.
Their new CEO comes from the Server/Internet/Bing/Enterprise (Big Business Client) side of things.
Throwing more money into the Xbox pit, subsidizing "dedicated servers" instead of offering top notch server hosting that they can sell to every server user in the world, seems a distraction.
Quantum Break is supposed to have MS producing spin-off TV shows? Sounds like a distraction.

Sony is already winning this gen, and Gaming is already one of their few profitable divisions, so investing further in it will be seen to have less risk for Sony.  Dropping prices at this point will just be seen as a low risk way to swing "buy what friends have" dynamic to increasing their marketshare further.

MS doing so at this point would be a weak reactive strategy to "look good" at major cost to shareholders.



gergroy said:
thismeintiel said:
gergroy said:

how is that a difference?  unless you have traveled into the future and witnessed that the xbox one price cuts didn't have an affect... if that were the case I could see how you could make that argument.  

Lol, you honestly think that a Bluray-less One is going to make much of a difference?  If so, you don't know the market very well.  Remember the DRM fiasco? People upset that they wouldn't be able to trade/purchase used games?  And the low preorders that made MS have to pull a 180?  That's how much impact on sales a driveless One will have.

no, all I'm talking about is strictly price cuts.  I don't for a second actually believe Microsoft would release a blu-ray  less xbox one.  I do however believe that they would cut the price by a hundred bucks.  It is much more likely Microsoft would remove kinect than the blu ray player.  

Well, that's why I said they were different.  If the rumor is true, and I wouldn't put it past MS to do so (since they think it would mean more money in their pocket to take the middle man out game sales), then the price cut would do nothing.  Now, if they drop the price and just ditch Kinect, then it will have an impact on sales, though mainly in the US.  It still isn't going to be enough to close the gap WW, however.