White PS4 Destiny Bundle - #28 on Amazon.com Bestsellers of 2014

[Zanten]

Aura7541 said:

Zanten said:

On a similar topic, am I the only one kinda surprised Microsoft hasn't yet announced any sort of official MCC bundle for the Xbox One? o.O Like, seriously, the Collection has received, by and far, the most positive buzz I've seen out of any of their exclusives, you'd think they would strap that title to a console.

Yeah, I'm surprised, too, considering Halo is far bigger than Sunset Overdrive. I'm not sure if it just never occurred to MS or if they think it's not worth bundling the collection with the X1. Maybe MS is afraid that if they announce a Halo: MCC X1 bundle now, consumers will hold off buying an X1 until the bundle comes out. This might actually be true considering how the X1's US sales from July to August didn't increase that much despite the Madden bundle. Consumers who originally planned on buying the X1-only SKU opted for the Madden bundle because of its better value.

I seeeeeriously doubt it hasn't occured to them, given they apparently decided to start giving away games they technically never even published this week. xP

But the matter of being concerned on current sales impacts is definitely a possibility, though at the same time, delayed sales are still sales, and in terms of 'raising morale,' it could actually benefit them to announce a bundle earlier. Just look at the Destiny bundle; Sony's been essentially having its PS4 sales nibbled at for months because they announced the bundle so far in advance, but in exchange, they've got a top-heavy September onslaught that's looking likely to be so incredibly dominating, Microsoft, again, is resorting to giving Destiny away completely for free to try and offset some of that beating.

If Microsoft had announced the bundle back during Gamescom, they could have had it percolating for months til release, then unload a big ol' bundle blast that might have given them a November NPD win. And at this point, as far as the aforementioned morale goes, even ONE win would help significantly. xP A bundle announced a couple of weeks before release might not have as much time to build up steam, and they might lose the NPD anyway.

A somewhat more cynical part of me wonders if they figure it WILL sell very well, and figure it WILL probably move consoles on its own... and so don't want to take the profit hit that comes with giving it out for free. Be a bit odd, given they've been handing free stuff out left and right, but maybe they figure anyone who would buy the Xbox One Master Chief Collection Bundle would have bought an Xbox One for the MCC even WITHOUT a free game bundle?