Reality Check: B/C Isn't A Big Deal

[Zanten]

I'm in the middle, as I do think it's going to have an impact, but how big or small said impact is depends on a couple of factors.

First, console trade-in deals. Haven't really been keeping track myself, but there certainly seemed to be some decent ones floating about, wherein you handed in your 7th gen console, and got a fairly nice discount when purchasing an 8th gen console. (Seem to remember seeing one that gave you 150$ credit, which would turn the X1's current price to pretty darn cheap.) Of course, normally the trade-off to this is that you no longer have your 7th gen console, and can't play any of the games from that generation anymore, barring remasters. A library of 7th gen titles that function on the Xbox One does have the potential to make future trade-in deals more appealing, with a sense of 'I Can Have My Cake, And Eat It Too.'

HOWEVER, the extent to which the above happens depends on the second point; how quickly they can get the library of available games up to its peak, and what that peak is going to be. If they wait too long, there might well be such a backlog of 8th gen games for new purchasers, accessing 7th gen titles just might not be that vital a selling point. Whatever the case, the 'must keeps' are going to be different for each person, but the wider a net Microsoft can cast in terms of 360 games compatible with their hardware, the more likely someone is to put their 360 (and whatever titles they don't need) in trade towards the purchase of the one console they can still play their preferred 7th gen titles on.

So, yeah. I think it has the potential to make a solid impact, in conjunction with trade-in deals and peak-sales-periods temporary price cuts, but HOW MUCH of an impact will largely depend on implementation.