With the next gen console war well and truly in full swing it seems that the early leader is the PS4, and the pricing may be one of the major factors. Microsoft has taken note very early on and made a move that wasn’t expected for some time to come.
Throughout the history of gaming people have always complained about the price of game consoles. Even back when the original NES was released in 1983 the retail price was around £199 which at the time was a huge amount of money for the average person, only reserved as a treat for birthdays or Christmas. Fast forward 30 years and things haven’t changed all that much with console prices still astronomically high and the new generation being some of the most expensive of all time. The Xbox One launched at between £420 and £470, depending on what bundle you chose, which is hard to afford even for birthdays or a Christmas treat.
With the PS4 outselling the Xbox One by quite a margin it may have quite a bit to do with the price, so maybe that’s why Microsoft have announced a price drop to £399 bringing it closer to the price of their competitor? They have also sweetened the deal by adding the highly anticipated Titanfall to the bundle, so it’s hard to imagine how this combination of a price drop and a massive title won’t help plug the gap that the PS4 is creating.
A great bundle worth every penny
The first question on everybody’s lips is whether this is an act of desperation by Microsoft? Now let’s face it the Xbox One isn’t in the league of the the Nintendo Wii U by any stretch of the imagination. In fact any games company would give their right arm to have the sales figures Microsoft have, but I believe this is all about status. In no way shape or form do they want the Xbox One to be considered the second best console in the world, so before this becomes a common opinion based on the sales figures Microsoft has made this price drop sooner rather than later and I think this is a very smart move.
This price cut creates some new buzz around the Xbox One and the addition of Titanfall makes this bundle a total must-have that will no doubt make the people who are still sitting on the fence consider the Xbox One above everything else. The whole bundle is due to be released on March 14 and I’m sure the entire games media will keep a close eye on sales figures for the next couple of months, so only time will tell if this strategy will work or if Microsoft will have to go back to the drawing board.
