Titanfall Xbox One Bundle + 12 month XBLG sub $449 @ Target.com

[starcraft]

JoeTheBro said:

I don't agree with that being a sound business strategy when you're in a competitive market, but I do agree that it wouldn't be desperation.

That's not what happened though. You're fixating on the sticker price, but everyone on the opposite side of the coin is looking at the bigger picture. A Titanfall+XBONE bundle at $450 is not equal to a Titanfall+XBONE+GOLD bundle at $450. In the first case the XBONE is essentially $390 and in the second case it's essentially only $330. These are the prices that matter.

starcraft said:

Desperation is defined as feeling a sense of despair and helplessness. It leads to decisions that could be 'inappropriate to those in a rational frame of mind (Wiki reference).'  Nothing about these actions even vaguely fit that definition.  Unless it is your argument that cutting $50 off the price was irrational from either a business or public relations standpoint, it is time to put this argument to bed.

I might add that in the vast majority of territory's where the X1 has been released, there has been no price cut at all.  Hardly the actions of a company in the midst of 'despair and helplessness.'

In the XBONE's largest and most important market we've seen the system's perceived cost drop $110 since the last perceived price cut, and that was only 26 days ago. This is extremely desperate.

starcraft said:

The fact that anyone has even uttered the word 'desperation' indicates a fundamental misunderstanding of the meaning of the word.

Could just be since you're from Australia. Earlier today Conegamer accidentally mis-corrected a user for saying "the proof is in the pudding," since over in the UK the phrase is apparently "the proof of the pudding is in the eating." Desperation may mean a different thing to me then it does to you. Going off dictionary.com instead of wiki,

des·per·ate

1.

reckless or dangerous because of despair or urgency: a desperate killer.

2.

having an urgent need, desire, etc.: desperate for attention.

By what metric do you believe a sticker price of $330 could possibly be applicable?  Consumers have to shell out $450?  Microsoft certainly doesn't loose $120 work of per-unit cost? To ensure I am not misinterpretting, do you honestly believe that an average consumer can look at this bundle and (to use your words) see a product that is 'essentially' $330?  Surely not.

You're trying to have your cake and eat it too.  You don't want to be that poster that said Microsoft is acting desperately, but you want to do everything you can to leave other poster's with that impression.

To clarify, you have argued that the Xbox One has received three price drops (in 26 days), and that the price for consumers is now 'perceived' to be 'essentially' $330.  If you wish to stand by the assertion that a sticker price of $450 with these included deals is the equivelant of a sticker price of $330 without them, then we're going to have to agree to disagree, because this is going nowhere.

I have no issue using dictionary.com instead of wiki.  Point two could, of course, apply to any included bundle from any manufacturer using the logic you're applying.  For example, my PS4 would have been the victim of a 'desperate' price drop, as it was picked it for $AU499, which, given it included Infamous Second Son, was an astounding $AU80 price drop just 5 months after launch. 

It is useful to apply one's logic to a range of similar scenarios, using different stakeholders, to see whether it stands - in this case asking whether you'd reasonably apply the same logic to Sony or Nintendo's bundles.

Or, as you might put it, the proof of the pudding is in the eating.