I think it is pretty telling how well the Amazon renewed Series S units are selling. It has been the top Xbox Series SKU on Amazon for like 2 or 3 months now at least I think. Firstly the fact that Amazon was able to obtain so many used units for their renewed program suggests that quite a few bought a cheaper Series S while waiting on PS5 and Series X availability in the early gen, and then sold that Series S later, and since PS5 supply is fixed and Series X supply isn't, it means that we saw quite a few people move from Series S to PS5 most likely, disappointing for sure. But, conversely, there is good news, because Series S is selling so well Amazon renewed, we do have more people coming back into the Xbox ecosystem to replace those people who sold their used S units.
The 2nd point, if Series S can sell this well renewed at $260, why in the world is Xbox still trying to sell a new Series S at $300? It's clearly not selling well at that price, the Amazon Renewed Series S is at #46 on the sales chart, while the primary new Series S SKU right now, the Bonus Bundle with the GaaS game cosmetics and microtransaction currency, is at #307 by comparison. With new Series S sales having slowed down as much as they have over the past few months, what exactly is Xbox waiting on? Last gen we never saw them hesitate to price drop Xbox One when it needed it, they were constantly giving it temporary and permanent price drops to entice sales. At the very least you would think Xbox would have come up with a more enticing bundle for Series S by now to help it sell, after a Holiday season of declining sales and now 4 months of declining sales in 2023, why not bundle a full game with Series S for $300? Redfall is the perfect opportunity as that is 1st party meaning they don't have to pay to compensate a third party for lost sales as a result of a bundled copy, and yet nothing announced so far. Diablo 4 bundled would be an even better choice, though they might not be 1st party by the time it launches in June thanks to the FTC.
I really think Xbox is going to have to step it up this gen in terms of pricing and bundling and limited edition console designs. They are not putting in anywhere near the effort in those areas that they did last gen, and the effort they put into those areas last gen is what kept Xbox afloat through the roughest period in it's history, PS4 would have easily tripled Xbox One had Xbox not been on the ball with pricing, bundling, and limited edition console designs. Now that PS5 is actually trippling Xbox Series sales worldwide this past quarter, what exactly is Xbox waiting on?
