For the past few months, gamers have been able to enjoy Microsoft’s recent Xbox One price drop. Dropping from $399.99 to $349.99, gamers have made the Xbox one their console of choice for the 2014 holiday season. Microsoft’s pricing change was not a permanent one however, as starting January 3rd, 2015, the price will go back up to $400.
The popular Assassin’s Creed promotional bundle as well will be going back to $400, as will the same bundle but with the Kinect option. Even though this Microsoft-sanctioned Xbox One price drop will be ending soon, it doesn’t mean that consumers won’t be able to get the system for a steal anymore. Retailers such as Wal-Mart, Target, GameStop, Amazon, and other places are still able and welcome to create their own prices, or to offer games or gift cards for those who get the system.
Hopefully Xbox One’s strong holiday sales will be enough to keep Microsoft sane for a while, since it’s likely sales will drop once the price goes back up. Since their release last year, Sony’s PlayStation 4 has greatly out-performed the Xbox One in both sales and user satisfaction. The month of November 2014 saw the XB1 finally outsell the PS4, likely due to the significant price drop and slew of great Black Friday deals.
“We are committed to making Xbox the best place to play, with this year’s best games, the best community of gamers to play with, and terrific value” said Mike Nichols, the VP of corporate marketing at Microsoft. We are amazed by the excitement Xbox fans have shown to start off this holiday. November set a new record for sales of Xbox One, and Xbox One was the best-selling console in the US and UK.”
As of November, the Xbox One finally sold more than 10 million units. It will be interesting to see how the company fares in the coming months following the price increase.
Photo Credit: Frederik Hermann
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