Is another Xbox One price cut coming at gamescom 2014?

In the space of one week the Xbox One has seen four price drops in the European region; one so far declared as made in error. With Gamescom 2014 looming, are these drops indicative of a larger price drop?

[no_more_heroes]

It was a price cut? I thought it was just a cheaper option that came without Kinect. Price cut would imply that the original $500 Kinect version permanently dropped in price as well, no?

[DesVader]

There were more prices cuts than the non-kinect version ;). All good - cheaper for Christmas is a fine idea.

[iamnsuperman]

I can tell you the most likely reasons this is happening. There is a big conference coming soon and Amazon or other retailers have a bit of stock that needs moving. Cutting the price before the conference means they can shift more units. After the conference the price will go back to normal as, usually, following these events the buzz generated increases and Amazon is likely to push more unitz

This is just a simple case of Amazon trying to push units (hence the countries it has happened in). Signs from Microsoft say they wouldn't do this.

[bouzebbal]

price cut? i don't think they can afford another epic fail, especially after they lost half a billion in the last quarter.

[BiggerBoss]

While another price cut would be great for consumers, it would be a TERRIBLE PR move. The internet would eat MS alive

[Death]

They made 900 million in the division for the end of the fiscal year which was just released.

[Perjoss]

If it gets really cheap I might buy one to play Halo

[Magnes]

@BiggerBoss You are right MS is between a rock and a hard place. If they keep current pricing sales continue to lag if they drop price their image suffers.

[Kribwalker]

@abzddine

MS profited $6.5 billion last quarter and $22 billion last fiscal year. If you are going to poo poo someone's financials you should look in the mirror at Sony's as they have been in the red fiscally for at least the last 7 years, and by big numbers too

[ABizzel1]

I doubt it.

It would be great for the holiday sales, and all 3 manufactures should be able to drop price at this point if they wanted to. However, I think they want to have their full worldwide launch at a $400 price point for maximum Day 1 profit, then have a price drop Spring 2015 ($349) when their big guns start rolling out.

[SmielmaN]

I don't think it's coming here in Canada. I just got a bunch of emails from retailers offering 3 launch titles for $99 and a Forza+Ryse kinect bundle for $499. Either way it's evidence that the retailer and MS are trying very very hard to move the xbones. What was it MS said last gen when the PS3 cut it's price after about a year? Something like "when you cut price that early it sign of failure? Or something like this. But this gen they termed their unbundling/price cut as "options" and "value". I honestly think the next price cut by MS is met with a price cut or better bundles by Sony.

[ScottyHoss]

When will they make a discless X One? I would buy that for halo and forza, 350, but matching the PS4 makes it not worth it. Not to mention the size, taking out the drive might make it not so bulky

[Moe-Gunz]

Microsoft's entire profit and the Xbox division's profit is being confused here.

[lord zaid]

Amazon have cut the price of the Kinect inclusive bundle in Italy, France and Germany. And sometime last week Microsoft cut the price of the Kinect-free bundle in Spain, but then said they made a mistake.

Seems suspect, don't you think?

[HanCilliers]

I doubt Microsoft will do a price cut, it'll upset a lot of customers. I recon if this should ever happen, that it'll only be after the XB1 was released on all countries.

[ramiuk1]

they stopped making them at one point because they had so much stock in storage.u can still get the titanfall bundle in laods of shops in UK(available for around £375).

[tinynuggins]

There haven't been any xbox or ps4 price cuts yet. new skus are not price cuts. Retailer sale prices are not price cuts.

[rainslacker]

I suspect a 360 and PS3 price drop to be a more likely scenario. There is still steam left in them, particularly in the PS3's case, and while there may be some wiggle room on current gen, I doubt they'd do the price drop thing within the first year. Although, it has happened, I just don't see it as necessary since the consoles are selling well overall, just one poorly compared to the other, but well on it's own.

[Gamer1982]

Yeah the Kinectless version version was technically a price cut.. They cannot cut it again so soon as it would look to the mass market like they are in trouble. It would hurt stocks and MS care more about stock and investors than the average consumer.

[JeffGUNZ]

It was not technically a price cut. They removed the Kinect camera, selling the console for $399. They provided a cheaper option by removing a piece of hardware that some people were hesitant in paying for that was mandatory. That's like saying if Sony sold a PS4 SKU with a camera in it as an option now and people are saying "Sony raised their price." No, they offered another option, a different package.

Also, they will not cut prices in America, the console doubled in sales the month they sold the kinectless console.

[Magicite]

MS is already loosing lots of money on X1 hardware, price cut might be not be an option anytime soon.

[MRMagoo123]

Lol disagrees , it's a fact MS have lost loads of money on the xbone so far , there report said over 400 million. Just because you don't like what this guy says doesn't mean it's wrong.

[Death]

They made 900 million on sales of 9 billion. Revenue was increased for the year by 3.2 billion, but the cost of revenue also increased which is where people are coming up with this 400 million figure. Take a look at the financial statement yourself so you can stop spreading misinformation.

[Allsystemgamer]

@death

Didn't Microsoft just release a statement saying they lost nearly half a billion in the xbox division?

[JeffGUNZ]

Here you go fellas, to clear up the misinformation:

http://www.winbeta.org/news...

MS actually gained revenue this year compared to last.

[BG11579]

The trap is in the words chosen to announce the revenue. They speak of xbox plateform not xbox one. If revenue has increased is because of the sales of the 360. That's why they announced they sold more the numbers of consoles sold, xbox one and 360 together.
If they would announced the numbers just by console the picture would be different.

[Spotie]

Well said, BG. There's a reason they didn't single out the XB1, but instead said "platform," which would include Live, the 360, and other such things along with the new console.

[Moe-Gunz]

Again Microsoft's overall profit is being confused with the Xbox division's profit.

[equal_youth]

yes in germany the kinect version will drop from 500 to 430Euros.

[MaxKingoftheWild]

Well, yes. That is exactly what it is. However, it's a lot easier saying "price drop" than saying "the entry price for buying the XB1 is now lower than it was at launch." when anyone says price drop that's obviously what they mean. No use to argue semantics.

[SonZeRo]

Soon the Next Gen (can we still call them Next Gen if they are already here?)consoles will be cheaper than Current Gen consoles. :)

[DesVader]

wishful thinking but unlikely :D

[Fanci]

They probably won't be as cheap as the last gen consoles right now for another 6 or 7 years lol

[dodgemoose]

Highly doubt this generation will last that long.

[dodgemoose]

PS4 and Xbox One are Current Gen consoles.

[WeAreLegion]

Someone told a joke and everyone took it seriously! What else is new on N4G? -_-

[stanr]

Still going with PS4

[DJustinUNCHAIND]

Cool story.

No one cares.

[poor_cus_of_games]

I do. The more the merrier.

[DeadlyOreo]

I do too. Wise choice stanr.

[bloodybutcher]

You seem to care enough to comment

[MRMagoo123]

You and the rest of the world's gamer population with some intelligence.

[xDHAV0K24x]

*claps* good for u little buddy!

[reaperofsouls]

@ stanr

smart man!

[Fanci]

Don't really need a price cut, especially here in Canada. Xbox One is actually cheaper here since the PS4 got bumped to $450

[kneon]

Yes it's cheaper but it doesn't seem to be doing them any good.

Looking at amazon canada there are ps4s in positions 2, 4 and 28 for sales so far in 2014. Xb1 are at 54 and 64.

It gets even worse if you look at the current ranking, ps4 at #4 while xb1 is at 139 and 236.

Surprisingly Ouya was number one, though from the comments it seems most people are buying it as a media box.

[xDHAV0K24x]

cheap means nothing. WiiU cheaper than both and been out longer!

[PrinceOfAllSaiyans]

Won't be surprising at all

[Sheikh Yerbouti]

Hey...whatever is good for gamers!

[BattleAxe]

If Microsoft were to scrap the pay wall for online gaming, then I would jump on board and pick up an Xbox One the very next day. They could offer Games with Gold as a value added subscription, just like PS+ is on PS3, and then of course EA Access is there as an additional option.

If they were to do this, things would swing heavily in their favour very quickly. PS3 was great value, and if Xbox One could replicate that, I would consider this generation to be saved. I think that Microsoft has lost enough ground to Sony that this could surely be on the table during board meetings over at Xbox. Give people free access, and then all you have to do is sell the hardware, and sell compelling software, and then you have a PS3 type of situation.

[90Supra]

I think they would lose more money by dropping the subscription for XBL then they would by cutting the price of the console...

It won't take long for them to be able to cut costs on the hardware manufacturing side, so dropping the price of the console at retail would only be a temporary loss in money...

Losing the money they charge for XBL is forever......unless they pull another 180 later on down the road...

[BattleAxe]

Unlike when the PS3 launched, I haven't heard of Microsoft losing money on the production of the Xbox One, so they should be good there.

In terms of losing money on the mandatory subscription, they would still make money from Games with Gold just like Sony and PS+, and I'm sure Microsoft gets some kind of a cut from EA Access, Netflix and whatever other subscription services they offer on Xbox One. People will buy the subscriptions if they see value for their money. Also, if people understand that online doesn't require a subscription, Microsoft would gain more in sales, and in turn, they would sell more software, and possible more optional subscriptions.

Remember also, when you sell more consoles, then you sell more extra controllers, larger hard drives, headsets for voice chat, Kinect Sensors and on and on. So there you have not only an increase in software sales, but also a sales increase in peripherals, which I'm sure nets them quite a bit of money.

Just to compare the last generation consoles, Xbox 360 had a pay wall, while PS3 didn't. Xbox Live had a total of 48 Million accounts by the time Xbox One launched, while the PS3 had 110 million accounts. Not ever Xbox Live account had an Xbox Live Gold subscription.

Look at how much faster the PS3 sold over the Xbox 360, selling more consoles while being on the market for a full year less. You might ask how there were only 48 million Live accounts with 80 million consoles sold, and the reason is because of the hardware failure rate.

When you look at lifetime software sales between the PS3 and Xbox 360, you look at the one year head start that the 360 had over the PS3, the fact that most of the time multi-platform games were better on the 360, and you look at the massive amount of marketing that Microsoft put behind the 360 and their biggest games, the 360 didn't sell all that much more than the PS3. To date, Xbox 360 has sold 898 million software units versus PS3's 836 million software units. Everyone was always complaining about Sony's poor marketing or complete lack thereof, and yet look at what they accomplished. Just my opinion, but I think there's a case to be made.

[iamnsuperman]

@battleaxe

What you propose is madness. Interesting fact but Sony went from earning millions to billions from plus by making it compulsory for online play. Also, despite have more general accounts, the plus adoption was a lot less than the Live adoption (hence the big increase in money). Microsoft would be a fool to get rid of that as their biggest earner is live (since the profit of a system is marginal).

All you have to do is look at Sony last generation to see the impact not charging had. Sure more systems were pushed at a higher price range but the amount of money that made was a lot less. Microsoft could afford to spend billions on timed exclusivity and they showed that by throwing money all over the place. Charging for live is vital. Putting apps behind the paywall isnt

[rainslacker]

@Battle

To put it in another perspective, assuming that every single person on XBL got it at discount for $30, 48 million subscribers makes up over 1.4 billion dollars a year. Granted we can say not all of them were gold accounts, but even still, that's a huge amount of money to give up.

Even assuming they break even on the hardware, they'd have to sell 5 games per year per person to make up that loss of revenue from XBL being free. Then to make up the other revenue from the games they'd lose going towards that, they'd have to sell additional games to cover marketing, production, distribution, and general costs, etc. It's not going to happen, because as it stands, XBL is a steady revenue stream, whereas game purchases can be fickle.

[Eonjay]

That wouldn't work because the margins on selling consoles is low. Their bread and butter is Live subscriptions.

If they can keep you subscribed for 8 years, they would effective cover the entire cost of manufacturing and then some.

[xDHAV0K24x]

good cuz they will ;)

[Gamer1982]

HAHA remove the subscription charge and still give you games for gold for free?? @battleaxe??? Some people really need to think before they type.. That would NEVER happen as that truly is throwing money away.

[Perjoss]

When you are falling behind sometimes you need drastic measures to catch up again. Never say never.

[BattleAxe]

Who said anything about giving Games with Gold away for free?

[90Supra]

It's very possible...

The PS4 has been dominating them in sales...

[Gamer1982]

Possible? Yes. Likely? No.

There plenty of reasons why they don't want to cut right now which I could list but a couple are the fact they are already losing money on each box so a another $50 price cut would be madness. Also lowering price might hurt 360 sales something they also do not want to do even though they seem to have stopped supporting it.

[JeffGUNZ]

Eh.

You gotta look at it through a financial stance. The PS4 is selling great, but because the PS4 is selling well doesn't mean the X1 is selling poorly. It's simply just not selling as well. MS will be looking at their numbers and will see if the console is meeting their expectations or not. The Kinectless Xbox one is a good start and I think once we see Halo, Gears, and Quantum Break come out, the numbers will increase.

The PS4 is just breaking all kinds of records, so it makes it look like the X1 must be failing. When in reality, it's still higher in sales at release to now then the Xbox 360 was in the same respected time last gen.

[Tedakin]

I'm tired of them saying it got a price cut. It didn't. A price cut would have been if it had gone to 399 and kept the Kinect. It got a new SKU, missing a 100 dollar item. Technically the Xbone is the same price as it always was.

They should make it $349 :)

[MasterCornholio]

They still did it to lower the price though so the console could compete better with the PS4. Whether you like it or not they removed Kinect to drop the price.

Or did you forget about how Microsoft said that Kinect was essential to the system and that they would never remove it from the package because it provided more value to consumers than the PS4.

"They should make it $349 :)"

I agree with you that a weaker console should be priced cheaper. The one of the issues that the Xbox One has is that the PS4 is more powerful yet it carrys the same price tag.

[Tedakin]

A price drop means you get the same product for less money. They removed a hundred dollar camera and made the product 399. That's not a PRICE DROP. You pay less, and you get less. The 499 model with the Kinect included is still being produced and sold... at 499.

[slapedurmomsace]

Just to play devils advocate...the PS4 has already had a price drop too than. They had a pre-release price drop when they decided to remove their camera and MSRP $399.99

[MasterCornholio]

@slape

"They had a pre-release price drop when they decided to remove their camera and MSRP $399.99"

Nope Sony already stated that they were always aiming for a 399$ price point for the system with or without the camera. The executives removed the camera because they didn't to take a huge hit with the console at launch. With the way the PS4 is selling I'm pretty sure they are happy for doing that.

http://www.vg247.com/2013/0...

“Designing PS4 was all about learning lessons from PS3 – ease of development and the cost of the system is a big part of it,” he said. “We always wanted to hit $399 and we designed the system and carefully chose out of all the potential inclusions of the core hardware components and we made a system that we could sell for $399."

[slapedurmomsace]

@Master

http://www.nowgamer.com/new...

and even if the article you posted is correct...all that means is they decided to go a head and take the camera and still charge the same amount..

as I said, just playing devils advocate

[BX81]

Show me where it says a price cut is the same exact product for less. If they cut the price, they cut the price. No need to get all worked up because they cut the price of the xb1.

[JeffGUNZ]

@BX81

It's implied brother. Come on now, you know this. It's like a car. You see a fully loaded Honda Civic at the dealership. Moon roof, leather seats, top electronics, heated seats, etc. Then, Honda releases a Civc LX package for a few thousand cheaper. Sure, the exterior looks the same and the engine is the same. Yet, you're missing the moon roof, leather seats, heated seats, nicer electronics inside, etc. Both are available for sale, you would call that cheaper model a price cut? No, it's another OPTION.

A price cut would be if the Xbox One was 499 with the kinect and they permanently lowered the price to 399. They are still selling the kinect X1 for 499, they just offered a lesser package (ie model, just like the civic). The Xbox 360 did this last gen. with the Xbox 360 Pro and the Xbox 360 Arcade models.

[BitbyDeath]

It's now cheaper than it was before, how is that not considered as a price cut? Generally price drops occur from internal changes, but this is really no different.

[MasterCornholio]

"They removed a hundred dollar camera and made the product 399. That's not a PRICE DROP."

And your telling me that they removed Kinect to give the consumer a choice?

The reason why they removed Kinect was because the competitors console was 100$ cheaper plus the Xbox One was way behind it in terms of sales. Microsoft's solution was to drop the price by dropping Kinect. That's the truth. If the Xbox One sold as well as the PS4 they would have never removed Kinect because it was part of their original vision and it used to be essential to the operation of the system.

I'm not saying that the kinectless SKU is a bad thing but they should have offered that SKU at launch because many people didn't want to pay 100$ for the camera.

[mahmoods26]

They're already losing money on each console. There won't be a price drop.

[Shadowolf]

Exactly! Sure Microsoft has deep pockets, but not even a rich man wants to dig a deeper money pit where he is losing more money. While offering a Kinect-less SKU makes sense in light of the increasing momentum by the competition, Microsoft still loses a great deal of money based on the R&D which went into developing and manufacturing of the Kinect 2.0 which at the moment has come to a sales stand-still with the introduction of the $399 SKU. Microsoft unfortunately is not close to breaking even on each Xbox One sold. Games with Gold and software sells is where Microsoft is more than likely barely getting over the hump at the moment. A significant price cut could be a serious gamble for Microsoft right now. Would a $50 price drop help Microsoft to begin selling more Xbox One's over PS4's at retail? Based on the current state of affairs I honestly don't know.

[mananimal]

@Shadowolf 9.1

"Would a $50 price drop help Microsoft to begin selling more Xbox One's over PS4's at retail? Based on the current state of affairs I honestly don't know"

answer: I'd say based on the current state of affairs' a $50 price cut wouldn't help Microsoft enough to catch PS4 in consoles sold.

They need exclusives, and they don't have enough of them coming out fast enough.

[HoldenZA]

I really hope the price comes down.
The preorders are out in South Africa for R6200 (without Kinect), which translates to around $580.00.

Just too much cash for the current offering of titles.

[Theyellowflash30]

I would go out and buy one if they did....

[DarkOcelet]

Haha the xbox one in egypt costs 5500 pounds thats like 800 usd , so we need the price cut ..

[3styler]

So the xbox section is already losing close to 400mil for Microsoft, and people really expect a price cut...seriously?

[Lawboy2]

U do know that xbox section didn't lose 400 million...the difference in revenue from this time last year and this year was 400 million...

[Eonjay]

Thank you for that clarification. That makes more sense to me but there are many diverging stories that use terms incorrectly.

[3styler]

Okay I stand corrected.

[Shadowolf]

@Xaeros7, that is what I was eluding to earlier. While I would certainly entertain an Xbox One price cut, at the moment the Xbox division is bleeding Microsoft. Compelling and exclusive software can be just as effective as a price cut if positioned correctly. Losing more money with price cuts also cuts into the budget possibility of acquiring more unique AAA exclusives, so there is definitely a balancing act needed. Unfortunately, if Sony continues to increase their marketshare lead, Microsoft's hand might be forced.

[3styler]

Exactly, a price cut is not the only way to go in order to pump up sales in a large scope, it would be like a knee jerk reaction more than anything else and I don't see how Microsoft would be making bank with such a move.
It's only been out for almost a year and having two price cut (Kinectless pack) in that period is not only looking bad but it reeks of desperation and I don't think shareholders would be okay with that.

[revben]

it is not bleeding. it had 1.7 billion in gross margin. but last year it had 2.1 billion in gross margin, a difference of 400 million, and that has nothing to do with a lost.

[GundalfDeGrej]

Instead of giving the console a price cut they should increase the value of it by giving us more and better games. I mean I wouldn't mind a price cut but I doubt they're gonna do it this soon.

Bring some surprises to the table! People love surprises.

[ssjkiet]

To me.. the X1 is like a little raft boat trying to stay float. Bunch of holes.. Trying to plug them all up with duct tape..

[reaperofsouls]

good analogy

[MultiConsoleGamer]

Which is exactly the image this Black PR agenda piece is trying to convey.

See this is how N4G really works. Its a network of agenda driven PR sites all working in connection with the owners of this site. The front page is ALWAYS filled with articles like this one. (An article that asks a common question and yet tries to conceal its more obvious motive.)

And while token positive articles for Xbox or Nintendo occasionally hit the front page, they only do so as a pathetic attempt to preserve the illusion of impartiality of this site.

Meanwhile those of us with access to the big, paid analytics sites know what's really going on at N4G.

Xbox and Nintendo fans will NEVER get a fair shake on this site. This site is the Hanoi Jane of phoney video game news aggregators. Thank god an alternative is finally in the works.

[ssjkiet]

Ok, Here is a cookie.

[MultiConsoleGamer]

Come on friend. Do you honestly think they would have a price drop so soon after another recent price drop? You're smarter than that. The purpose of this article is to ask a seemingly benign question but to imply a more serious situation.

I guess I'm just cynical being a publicist and knowing how this stuff really works.

[CongoKyle]

I sure as hell hope so! I'm a PC gamer born and bread but I've recently been playing a lot of console (Destiny, Last of Us) and I think it's time I got a console of my own. Not sure what this price cut means for South Africa though.

[Mithan]

They can't cut the price! What about all those people who bought it for $500 9 months ago! They will be outraged!

I am still upset that Sony didn't reimburse me the price of the original PS2 that I payed $350 for, after it dropped down to $99 after about 10 years. Like WTF Sony!

I payed $500 for my Xbox360 and MS still hasn't reimbursed me for the drop in price!

Clearly, they shouldn't drop the price because it might offend those early adopters!

[gamer7804]

They won't cut the price so soon after the new kinectless version. maybe temporary deals and price cuts like they had before the kinectless version, but nothing permanent yet. - prediction

[GodGinrai]

I hope so. I got a gang of people waiting to jump in. they would have bought one already if MS handled their business better in the first place! Better late than never though.

[kewlkat007]

There was a price-cut?

[Jury]

It smells of desperation

[Goku781]

If you made Xbox One free I think there's alot of people that still wouldn't want one.

[LordMaim]

Hell, I'd take a free Xbox One. Then I could play Dead Rising 3 now instead of September.

[MonkeyOne]

Microsoft needs to get out of the silly gaming console business and focus on their core business.

They're lost billions of dollars on nonsense like Xbox, Zune, Surface, Bing, Skype and other goofy adventures.

The Xbox division at Microsoft is not going to grow the company.

[cruzngta]

They need one badly! They are getting raped globally and PS4 is selling faster than ever. $349 or if they could afford $299 - that would help alot and help gain some ground b4 its too late. Come on MS... drop the price and make this a little more interesting. They have the games they just need another price cut and that will help alot.

[Blues Cowboy]

I feel that MS needs to make the Xbox One cheaper than PS4, even if only by a tiny symbolic amount. They effectively killed Kinect, yet the Xbox One is still the same price as a more technically proficient machine. This is untenable, as much as I love my Xbox One.

[Predaking77]

With all the millions lost in the xbone launch I cannot see Microsoft giving another price cut, it would be insane but on the other hand it would show the xbone is doing even worst than we though possible.

[revben]

they did lose money! they lost gross margin. big difference.

[Tzuno]

Wait for Slim on both consoles.

[Codewow]

If it happens I am all for it. :D

[gazgriff2k12]

lol xbone for 99p please buy need extra pennies

[Azzanation]

Amazing hearing all these fanboys talk smack at a company bringing us cheaper products... Your talking about one of the richest companies in the world offering price cuts to 1 of there products. This wont break MS's bank and the trick with consoles isn't selling the hardware, its selling the software and subscriptions. That all pays its way. More X1's sold the more income they can make.

[xDHAV0K24x]

different sku!! smh

[HollywoodLA]

Yeah, there's a price cut coming. If Microsoft really wants to lose more money on their console, sure.

Cut the price, watch the division drown, and let Sony win. Great plan!