Post of the thread!!! 

You couldn't be more true. The US market is very fickle. They really just go with whatever is either the cheapest, most hyped or a decent combination of both. Anyone looking at sales of a platform in the US in one gen as an indication as to why it will dominate sales the next.... will be in for a very very very big surprise.

It's nothing like taking out wifi and the disc drive. Not even close. It's just a new SKU. It's more comparable to Sony taking out the touchpad out of the controller, and marketing the controllers cheaper.

If they didn't care about image, then all they had to do was go on stage and say "Hey, we've listened to all you gamers out there, and we've made the decision to offer a Kinect-free One SKU for $399.99. We want to stress that Xbox is and will continue to be the best place to play".

Walk off to thundering applause.

They've made plenty of public 180s before that were met with positive feedback, why stop now? They even threw in a free $60 game just a few months after release with every One, do you think they worried how early adopters felt then?

People are going to notice the price drop anyway the next time they wak into Wal Mart or Best Buy. The only difference is now it will take a while for the entire public to learn of it. They could have earned a lot of publicity, mostly good, by announcing it themselves.

It can and probably will be rectified by advertising, but you're right its not a price drop, a straight price dropped would've been better imo.

we are saying the same things but looking at them differently. ah well......

every 180 they have made has been as public as an announcement on the internet. The same way they announced this price drop. I don't know how to explain this to you, but a price drop after just over 6 months on the market is just not a good thing. You are basially stepping on the toes of all the people that bought the console at the more expensive price. Even if you remove features, those people would have probably bought the cheaper sku if it was made available to them. They asked for it before you launched your console but you didnt do it. You insisted on policies and went s far as saying the XB1 cannot work without kinect.

Then 6 months later, you do this. No, thats not the kinda thing you market. You may think it is, but just know they have focus groups that have analysed all this and realized that pulling support, doing 180s, taking out stuff no one wanted to begin with.... aren't things you go on stage and announce even if its for the best. Give those wounds time to heal or not it makes you look weak and like you have no idea what you are doing. There is a reason they announced the price drop weeks before E3. Its bad press, it needed to be dealt with and not take anything out of their confrence. The last thing they want is for the gaming medias main story coming out of E3 to be "after months of losing to PS4 MS has been forced to drop the price of XB1 and take out kinect, which mind you... just a year ago at this very E3 they said couldn't be done". Trust me, thats how the media would have spun it, cause thats what they have been saying even with MS stealth announcement.

I'm still too heavily entranched in last gen, as I always feel that Sony doesn't have a chance in US against Microsoft, I felt like that every month except for May NPD where I'm sure PS4 will obliberate the Xbone. March NPD was a big perspective changer for me.
As for June I'm inclined to agree, but I think it will be close.

I think any  of the good publicity coming from E3 would easily outweigh a few critics on the internet.

When they offered Titanfall free just three months in, where was the outroar? Critics should have come out and bashed Microsoft for not offering it to early adopters, butt very few did (there were some here and there, but very few overall). Most saw it as a great move to help with sales.

Announcing the new SKU at E3 wouldn't result in that much bad press, especially since most of that bad press had come and gone when they revealed it months ago. They had very little to lose and much more to gain with an annoucement.

I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree.

This is a no braiver.It's still on top after the $399 console. It will never change.

you'd think Xbox in its home market with a big pricecut would be nailed on to win NPD

hard to believe the Boxnation won't back their console for the NPD win with a pricecut,they surely would not so long ago

Ps4 won against xbox one with titanfall + price cut + promotion (400 dollars + free titanfall..) + massive commercial.

So she can easily won against this little pricecut..by far.

Same for the halo collection, it will not change anything. Only the BIG game, halo 5, can do something for xboxone actually.

Yes, easy.