Xbox One Returns to $400

[darkknightkryta]

sony has shown it can still do very well with sales globally with out winning the holiday, but the holiday sales have a major impact on sales in the US going forward I think at this point in time. Also now they have a bigger battle ahead of them than they did before because they dropped the ball for holiday sales.

I disagree.  Sony's going to go strong all year, and if they don't wanna drag the gen out as long as last gen, they can easily afford a 299.99 PS4 for the holidays and moving forward.  It'll spurge sales quite a bit.  Microsoft most likely can't bank on sales for the rest of the year now at 399.99.  They also can't price match the PS4 at the production facilities since the APU is quite larger and more costly to manufacture than the PS4's. So MS is going to sell terribly for the whole year and then when the holidays come along, the PS4 will be selling 299.99 at profit while MS will be selling the Xbox One at 299.99 with 2 games at a massive loss... again.

[7H3]

Well I think the surge in the US for Xone's will help carry through the year. Hereto, Sony's hype is dimming now compared to Xone just getting started. Sony needs to do more than some (probably really great First Party titles) in the off season as it won't be as big a boost as it was this past year. Sony needs to do a small price drop now that Xone is back up to normal pricing to help regain its hype. Just $25 drop would do wonders to really push sales. I also don't think sales this year will be as high as last year. I predict close to 30m by this time next year for ps4 sales unless they drop the price like I mentioned which depending on when could be a big push of up 5m extra sales.

[darkknightkryta]

Well I think the surge in the US for Xone's will help carry through the year. Hereto, Sony's hype is dimming now compared to Xone just getting started. Sony needs to do more than some (probably really great First Party titles) in the off season as it won't be as big a boost as it was this past year. Sony needs to do a small price drop now that Xone is back up to normal pricing to help regain its hype. Just $25 drop would do wonders to really push sales. I also don't think sales this year will be as high as last year. I predict close to 30m by this time next year for ps4 sales unless they drop the price like I mentioned which depending on when could be a big push of up 5m extra sales.

Why would the Xbox sales keep up?  People will realize they only have to wait until Christmas to get an Xbox One on a fire sale.  If anything sales can be worse now than last year if MS doesn't get the price down.  Plus the Xbox One has NOTHING until Halo.  Sony has two large exclusives coming out in the spring with Batman in the summer.  Plus if Sony feels the need to, they can easily drop the price of the PS4 down to 299.99 and not suffer losses.  Microsoft can't say the same.  But then again Sony can do nothing and not advertise their two heavy hitters.  This has happened before...

[Raven]

I think the likely scenario is that once the AC bundle runs out, which is looking like it will since Amazon has done nothing but pull from other stores to sell it since the sale ended, Xbox sales will tank again. I don't think it will be as bad as it was last year but I don't see Microsoft maintaining their current momentum. I don't think Microsoft is going to be able to pull another "two free games bundle" for awhile, either. They may try an Evolve bundle next month and a Witcher 3 bundle in May but that will be it for the first half of the year. There is nothing exclusive of note coming to the platform until possibly Summer.

I also don't believe that the X1's holiday momentum will last considering that the holiday lineup of exclusives wasn't actually that great. Forza Horizon 2 reviewed very well but its sales didn't reflect that. It's actually a sad truth that despite Forza Horizon 2 launching as a better product than Driveclub, the latter has been getting a lot more post-launch attention. Initially bad but lately positive. Sunset Overdrive, whose critical reception was good but not anything that Infamous: Second Son didn't basically match much earlier in the year, also didn't seem to sell that well. The only other game that got much attention for the holidays was the Halo collection. Between a lower than expected critical score and online problems which are ongoing, including a recent mess at an e-sports event, the buzz around that collection has been negative. That's not a good note to leave people on going into the next year with really nothing to offer over the next 6 months or so.

[Rorono]

I don't think Evolve and Witcher bundles will help much. PS4 still won against Madden bundle and the PS4 did not need a price advantage to do that
Plus, why pick X1 with one of those multiplats when you can pick a PS4 + that game + The Order/Bloodborne?

Though SCEA has been the least smart branch of Sony so who know if they won't screw it up with lack of marketing + no pricing incentives whatsoever. For example, if buying PS4 + Witcher 3 + Bloodborne costs people 520 bucks (400 + 60 + 60) while X1 bundle with Witcher 3 is 399.99..... that'll certainly help the X1. It's all in the hands of SCEA, I'd say.

[Raven]

I don't think Evolve and Witcher bundles will help much. PS4 still won against Madden bundle and the PS4 did not need a price advantage to do that
Plus, why pick X1 with one of those multiplats when you can pick a PS4 + that game + The Order/Bloodborne?

Though SCEA has been the least smart branch of Sony so who know if they won't screw it up with lack of marketing + no pricing incentives whatsoever. For example, if buying PS4 + Witcher 3 + Bloodborne costs people 520 bucks (400 + 60 + 60) while X1 bundle with Witcher 3 is 399.99..... that'll certainly help the X1. It's all in the hands of SCEA, I'd say.

Not sure how exactly it all works but I don't think SCEA has free reign to cost the company money with bundles and price cuts. I'm pretty sure what happened over the holidays globally was a larger, long-term company strategy. Not necessarily one I agree with as I honestly feel losing money now to grow the install base means more money from PS+ later. Though I can't say for certain that would be better since I don't have access to Sony's financials to see what they might need that money for elsewhere.

[Rorono]

Not sure how exactly it all works but I don't think SCEA has free reign to cost the company money with bundles and price cuts. I'm pretty sure what happened over the holidays globally was a larger, long-term company strategy. Not necessarily one I agree with as I honestly feel losing money now to grow the install base means more money from PS+ later. Though I can't say for certain that would be better since I don't have access to Sony's financials to see what they might need that money for elsewhere.

SCEE has been doing better deals despite the fact that it doesn't need to though. Just for the sake of growing user base even further and faster.
I still think that making The Order and BB bundles at 399.99 wouldn't cost them money. Ps4s are profitable. At most, they just be giving up that profit without actually incurring a loss. Worth it for the increase in market share and additional PS+ subs.
If they price it at 450 sales will be down YoY because as more time goes on, people left over to buy are more and more inclined to wait until better prices, as they already were more patient to begin with.

[Raven]

SCEE has been doing better deals despite the fact that it doesn't need to though. Just for the sake of growing user base even further and faster.
I still think that making The Order and BB bundles at 399.99 wouldn't cost them money. Ps4s are profitable. At most, they just be giving up that profit without actually incurring a loss. Worth it for the increase in market share and additional PS+ subs.
If they price it at 450 sales will be down YoY because as more time goes on, people left over to buy are more and more inclined to wait until better prices, as they already were more patient to begin with.

Sure, and SCEJA has been giving neater incentives like custom faceplates, free themes for PS+ users, and even exclusive PS+ content for certain games. Notice that those two markets are guaranteed to get more PS4 sales yet Sony is doing more for both. Why? Probably because the reward is more guaranteed for the effort. SCEA is going to have competition no matter what they do and Sony is probably not keen on the idea of spending money in a market that will be more difficult for them to gain ground in. So they do everything at the last minute in that market and to less effect. If Sony absolutely locks down the European and Asian markets, which they already have big leads in, they can afford to lose the lead in the North American market anyways.

[Max King of the Wild]

Well I think the surge in the US for Xone's will help carry through the year. Hereto, Sony's hype is dimming now compared to Xone just getting started. Sony needs to do more than some (probably really great First Party titles) in the off season as it won't be as big a boost as it was this past year. Sony needs to do a small price drop now that Xone is back up to normal pricing to help regain its hype. Just $25 drop would do wonders to really push sales. I also don't think sales this year will be as high as last year. I predict close to 30m by this time next year for ps4 sales unless they drop the price like I mentioned which depending on when could be a big push of up 5m extra sales.

I don't know what games would help that. The increased price will damage perception "I just saw this for 320 dollars... I'll just wait till  its on sale again" and in march xbox had the most hyped game of the year. I can see the xbox being down Yoy... Especially next holiday the price cut won't have as large of  an effect as well as sony actually cutting the price of their system. You're also crazy if you think they'll just have 30m this time next year. 35m at the least

[7H3]

I think xbox will be up YOY and will easily win next holiday as well. The only way Sony sells more will be if they do the same thing MS did such as price drop + bundled games for free with the console, and they'd have to be new games. I don't know what sony could put out like that unless they have a SFV PS4 bundle for $299 that might do well enough to make it a close battle.

[ethomaz]

January will be lower than last year.

[Rorono]

I think xbox will be up YOY and will easily win next holiday as well. The only way Sony sells more will be if they do the same thing MS did such as price drop + bundled games for free with the console, and they'd have to be new games. I don't know what sony could put out like that unless they have a SFV PS4 bundle for $299 that might do well enough to make it a close battle.

If SCEA is smart, they could win
If they keep the 400 price the whole year (which they should, but with at least one free game most of the time), and then drop to 300 on the holidays, it'd move mountains. First real price drop after two years and 100 bucks with some game or games thrown in. Bigger effect than a second X1 price drop which was already commonly sold at 280-300 (thanks to vouchers and credit) in 2014, so in order to also have a huge magnifying effect MS would have to drop it to something like 200

[7H3]

All MS has to do is release halo this next holiday

[darkknightkryta]

All MS has to do is release halo this next holiday

Just like releasing Halo this holiday worked out so well?  Xbox One sold on the price cut + bundling alone.  This also had the adverse affect of devaluing the Xbox One.  Why is anyone going to buy it off season, especially with nothing coming out for it, when they can buy it at Christmas for an even cheaper price?  Like Halo 5 will push about as many consoles as next year's holiday price will.  Till then, Xbox Ones sales are going to tank.

[Rorono]

All MS has to do is release halo this next holiday

To do what? Sell well? Yes.. To close any inch of the sales gap? No