I have no idea what this topic is about but i do want the XB1 to fail. I wish Sony had paid me for that, but they didn't.

I mean Sony sold about 5.6 million ps3's before the 40 gig at 399, with a 300+ loss per console thats at least 1.68 billion in loses right there.

http://vgsales.wikia.com/wiki/PlayStation_3

http://vgsales.wikia.com/wiki/Price_cuts

consequently since IHS pegged the xb1 to cost $471 kinect included, they would've take ~ 72$ in losses per console.

http://allthingsd.com/20131126/microsofts-xbox-one-cost-90-more-to-build-than-sonys-ps4-teardown-shows/

5.6 million with 72$ loss is 403 million. thats not gonna bankrupt MS in anyway, and more hw sales = more sw sales especially when X1 is dominating the sw front right now.

"Scumbag" consumers is going a bit far, don't you think?

At any rate I doubt anyone is really hoping for the XB1 to fail. I know a good few people who will be picking it up now that it's dropped the Kinect, and I'm sure that is something echoed around the world. That to me sounds like good business; listening to what the consumer wants and giving it to them.

Fair enough, but homing in on what consumer's actually want regardless of what they say is better buisness.

I mean look at the Wii, nobody demanded Motion Controls last gen, but now people expect them in some form or another this gen.

Consumers never asked for disc based games or online multiplayer or COD until the became a thing because consumers didn't know what they wanted.

Indeed they are.

Yes, I'm one of those that will be picking one up now that they dropped that useless (for me at least) kinect. I'm assuming they will update the firmware for those that don't have the device? I've not used one yet, so I don't know if the x1 will properly work without the device. But yes, I think it's a very good move on ms part.

I do believe many people want the Xbox to fail. However I believe their strategy is not in removing Kinect, it's in criticizing MS a huge amount after they remove Kinect. They probably even want MS to make Kinect mandatory again.

You can see this in the amount of whining. Pre Kinect removal, there was a TON of whining about how bad Kinect was, and very little defending it. Thus, once it is removed, everybody should be happy, it should be mostly praise, if the complainers intention was true.

Instead, we got a bunch of pro-Kinect complaining when they removed Kinect!

The EXACT same thing happened with the DRM too. Huge complaining when it existed, but rather than joy on removal, more complaining!

I believe the Anti-Xbox forces, who are indeed very organized, know that removing Kinect+lower price will lead to greater success of Xbox. So they are trying to pressure MS now to "take back" kinect. Not because they like kinect, or want Xbox to succeed, but because they want Xbox to fail.

A great example of this was last gen. MS had the lower priced core unit without a HDD. Sony fans HATED that SKU with a passion. Endless criticism and trying to force MS to rid that SKU, especially in the first 2-3 years of last gen. Remember that? It didn't work and the core unit helped 360 outsell PS3 worldwide, as they had feared.

Remember all the trumped up stories how GTA was crippled (no flying was the fake claim) because no HDD in every XBox, and stuff like that? Get outta here. As if people had magically forgotten the PS2 had no HDD the previous gen and worked just fine.

By your definition I'm a scumbag.

I'd think people conspiring against XB1 would say keep the Kinect, the $499 tag, and bring back the online checks.

The idea that MS will just massively subsidize the console is pure fantasy.
Inverse correlation of price to sales is obvious, so if MS was willing to do so, they could have done so from day 1.
Fact is, it was long known that both Sony and MS were less willing to subsidize consoles this generation.
The flip side to that is a shorter generation becomes viable when years of sales aren't needed to recoup early gen subsidization costs.
So even if MS were to subsidize more to somehow make up for their product having less inherent demand,
Sony would be heading to a nextgen sooner, and thus sabotaging MS' ability to recoup early gen subsidization.