In that case deals like that don't run for long and Ms/Sony probably see the loss incurred worth the disruption of the launch of the official bundle. In which case you were also right with your first statement. 

Yeah, MS can pay for a week's worth of people picking up a game of choice, but any longer than that and the complications of royalties and such would become much too difficult to navigate. Basically, MS would be paying every retailer to pay for a free game everytime anyone bought a console. Just plugging in certain games, as with the name your game bundle, is much easier, and likely much cheaper, as I'm sure the publisher and MS (or Sony, or Nintendo) come to an agreement that is good for both sides. 

Funny story, the Walmart closest to me still has the BO3 bundle marked at $349 and the Uncharted LE at $369. I swear its trying to take over for the Kmarts that went under in my area. 

If MS decides to give away any $60 or less game with every Xb one sold, then there's pretty much nothing any individual publisher can do about it, because it is customer choice and MS merely need to pay the retailer the cost of the game. If MS decided to give CoD infinite warfare away with every console, then that would be an issue for Activision with the whole marketing deal they have with Sony.

But the whole thing with software bundles with 3rd parties is that both companies share in the cost. I don't thin MS wants to take a $50 hit on every console it sells. Especially as it's probably selling Xb ones at a fairly low margin already.

Welcome back GG :D

So MS is swamping the market with bundles, doesn't seem like the best of strategies. I mean create a few small bundles and throw in some exclusive games that perhaps didnt sell as well as expected but people might be interested in.

With this I agree, this would be the best time to promote MS exclusives. Something like recore that bombed and reviews would be good aded to an already existing bundle. Its an extra game that would cost them les to bundle and pushes brand awarnes by being an exclusive.

With big third party multyplats, people tend to know that they run better on ps4, so they might say yea it cost more, but im getting the best version and my friends probably have this since its the most popular console.

2 hours since last update:

HARDWARE
#22 PS4 Black Ops III Bundle (same)
#23 PS4 Pro (same)*
#32 XB1s-500gb Halo Bundle (up 4)
#53 PS4s UC4 Bundle (down 1)
#70 PS4 UC4 Bundle (down 2)
#89 XB1s-2tb (up 7)
#99 XB1s-2tb Gears Bundle (re-entry)*

Does not affect this month (*)

SOFTWARE (pre-orders only)
#06 3DS Pokemon Sun (same)
#07 3DS Pokemon Moon (up 2)
#10 XB1 FH3 (same)
#16 XB1 FH3 Ultimate Edition (up 3)

PS4: 5 SKUs, 4 in the top 100 / 2 in the top 50 / 0 in the top 20 / 0 in the top 10
XB1: 12 SKUs, 3 in the top 100 / 1 in the top 50 / 0 in the top 20 / 0 in the top 10

XB1 S going up because of the new game included.

If they're doing this now to boost sales who knows how far they'll end up going come black friday 

How do we expect PS4P Sept pre-orders to affect the Oct Amazon chart. Could we be looking at a situation where an XB one sku sits atop the Amazon monthly chart for Oct but PS4 wins Oct NPD?

If PS4P sales are strong through Oct then that probably won't happen, but if the PS4P sales taper off quickly in Oct and then shoot up again in Oct then the Sept Pre-orders could represent most of the Oct PS4P sales.

9 hours since last update:

HARDWARE
#18 PS4 Black Ops III Bundle (up 4)
#22 PS4 Pro (up 1)*
#25 XB1s-500gb Halo Bundle (up 7)
#49 PS4s UC4 Bundle (up 4)
#61 PS4 UC4 Bundle (up 9)
#87 XB1s-2tb (up 1)

Does not affect this month (*)

SOFTWARE (pre-orders only)
#06 XB1 FH3 (up 4)
#08 3DS Pokemon Sun (down 2)
#09 3DS Pokemon Moon (down 2)
#15 XB1 FH3 Ultimate Edition (up 1)

PS4: 5 SKUs, 4 in the top 100 / 3 in the top 50 / 1 in the top 20 / 0 in the top 10
XB1: 15 SKUs, 2 in the top 100 / 1 in the top 50 / 0 in the top 20 / 0 in the top 10

Added Gears OG XB1 bundle, LEGO OG bundle and OG QB Bundle.