Amazon US March monthly bestsellers and general amazon based discussion

[binary solo]

CosmicSex said:

binary solo said:
With the way PS4 seems to be able to stay marginally ahead of Xb one in the USA at $50 higher price, when the free extras are more or less comparable (though the extra controller for Xb one is better than a 3rd game). I wonder if Sony might just go with a $50 price cut this year to see what happens.

I have no doubt MS has realised Xb one needs to be $50 cheaper than PS4 in order to stay competitive and have a chance at pulling ahead of PS4 in the USA, which means MS is prepared to race Sony to the bottom on price. I don't think Sony feels like having to compete with a $250 Xb one until at least late in 2016. And if Sony drops PS4 to $299 this year that is exactly where MS will go. Even if Sony can afford to go to $299, going to only $349 allows Sony to put a great deal of value into bundles, and it means Sony can go to $299 for Black Friday and Cyber Monday (as long as they can supply the market.

Excellent well thought out plan, but with one huge thing missing.  It doesn't matter if Sony only goes to $349, Microsoft may still go to 249 because 349 isn't winning it for them now.  Honestly, think about it,  how low would Microsft have to go...to win?  Anyway there is another reason why they are hesitating the price drop.  Adding games to a bundle is a way of adding value with reducing the actual percieved value of the console itself.  That is what Microsoft has done to the Xbox.  They have to have games and a controller bundled at a lower price than the PS4 just to get a sales boost.  

Microosft needs to find a way to make the Xbox One attractive enough for it to sell without cheappening the value of the their brand.   People believe that the Xbox One is not worth the purchase if the PS4 is the same price.   Sony has somehow managed to retain that 399.99 MSRP and a sales advantage over a cheaper competitor who dominated the US last gen.   So, effectively, even if they Sony manages to tie Microsoft in the US - Sony wins the generation by a land slide. 

Regardless of what anyone says, everyone (fro Shu to Phil Spencer) knows its over.   The competition that is.  Which is a good thing.  We can finally get back to the games. 

I don't think MS believes the competiton in the USA is over, and it is clear that MS is determined to be the number 1 8th gen console in the USA. They will keep pushing for this result until at least Holiday 2016. If PS4 is still ahead after holiday 2016 I think MS will be ready to admit defeat. For this year, I don;t see Xb one dropping to $249 if PS4 is at $349. MS will have a lot riding on Halo 5, and also to a slightly lesser degree Tomb Raider. I'm sure they believe that a $50 price advantage + Halo 5 + RTR will give them a substantial holiday win. And with the 10 months leading up to the holidays looking to be closer it is likely that any lead PS4 builds up over that time will be overtaken during the holidays and Xb one will win the year. And for MS that will be a major PR boost even if PS4 stays number 1 LTD. I don't know if MS would do a 2 game $299 bundle this holiday with RTR + Halo 5, but if they did, or perhaps if they did a 2 game $349 bundle with $299 being just for the base Xb one sku or Xb one + 1 game then I do see that as being capable of Xb one significantly outselling a $349 PS4.