Will MS drop the price of the X1 next week?

[Zanten]

It could all come down to a gamble, and whether Microsoft believes that Sony will have a clear shot at taking an October victory if they do nothing. I mean, even with Spencer's comments admitting the PS4's lead and saying that winning isn't their focus, I sort of figure that this is the ONE month, of all the months, they'd very much want to win, because it's the month that their biggest property, bar none, launches. Halo is seen as a sales juggernaut, and rightly so, meaning I don't think the PS4's price cut momentum being all it needs to 'Beat Halo Month' is a thing they want to have happen, ever. More than November or December, I think that the month the Prodigal Child returns is the one month they want to be able to wave the victory banner, if any month at all.

So it could boil down to 'Does Microsoft think Sony will win October if they don't match the price cut?' Presumably they have their fingers significantly more on the proverbial pulse than anyone on the site (though how much they can glean on how their competitor is selling, I've no idea,) and so it's possible that whatever their market monkeys tell them has them confident that they can still pull this victory out of the bag, be it bundle pre-order numbers or whatnot. If that's the case, then they'd be far better served holding their own price cut for November, when the PS4 is going to be having both Call of Duty and Battlefront bundles hitting the shelves.

However, if they're concerned about winning October, cutting the price again before Halo launches would help solidify an October win, as it would bring their regular consoles back to a price advantage over Sony, partially negate the higher pricing of their Halo bundle in particular that might be holding back its sales potential, and spark enough of a sales rush to keep them ahead. Even a cheaper Halo bundle would help, a 349 one just packed in with Halo 5, maybe throw in the MCC, with none of the limited edition 1TB yada yada, which would be perfect for people who don't necessarily plan to install oodles of games on their console at a time.

Soooo, yeah. I think that if they feel there's a threat to their ability to win October, they'll announce either a cheaper Halo bundle option, or cut prices outright before Halo launches. If they don't, then it might suggest that they're at the very least confident that Halo's sales-bootingness will provide all the moved units they need to win October, and are saving their additional measures for the more challenging month of November.