Does MS announce a 399.99 Kinect-less sku at E3?

[Steelmaker]

I think everyone believes that a price drop announcement at E3 is inevitable. However do you think MS announces a Kinect-less bundle or do they keep Kinect packed in and they just eat that cost? Or do they actually keep the 499.99 price tag? What say you?

[Monkey]

$399 without Kinect would be a huge mistake. Then they'd be the same price as the PS4 but with significantly less powerful hardware, without their differentiating factor.

$300-325 without Kinect would make more sense, or $399 bundled with Titanfall and Forza 5 digital codes.

$399 with Kinect makes the most sense out of those options. I could picture them making it official $450 with two packed in games with kinect as well.

[Grim Reaper]

i dont see them dropping the kinect/price anytime soon.

[ReverendSlim]

I don't see them doing a price drop this soon after launch, especially since they're selling a pretty healthy number of consoles, Sony's success aside. I do think they'll likely do value-add stuff like pack-ins, since that makes more financial sense.

[RaijinUT]

I would not plan on seeing a kinectless model of the xb1 unless things really start going really bad for MS. That or MS does look into selling off the Xbox brand and the new owner drops it.

I think you will see a price drop on the device closer to the holidays... even if the device is currently selling rather well. Things could all change at E3 though. Halo = demand. If MS creates a more demand for the device, then all bets are off for a price drop.

[dyne]

I see them doing a price drop before ever thinking of taking out the Kinect. It's part of the UI. It's not going anywhere.

[detective392]

I see a price drop but them keeping kinect. Stores are already cutting the price of the X1, it's only natural MS will announce an official price drop at E3 to make them look like the good guys.

X1, is still selling bad and the only reason sales have picked up a little is because stores are dropping the price on there own.

[MerrickG]

I now think they will change the price at E3. When you consider the fact that the PS4 still managed to outsell the Xbone with Titanfall bundles and everything. MS might be desperate enough to do it?

I am hoping they are.

[Blufury]

I think we see a $400 with Kinect bundle announced at E3. I was at Costco 4 days ago and saw 30+ Xbox Ones for $480 on the shelf. No PS4s.

[sukraj]

I don't see them bringing a new console without Kinect.

[Wingman1977]

I'm glad everyone in this thread has used logic and is in agreement that MS won't remove Kinect from the XB1 box (doing otherwise would admit defeat for it). For those who say that MS wouldn't drop the price permanently so soon after launch, remember the 3DS when Nintendo dropped the price very soon after it's launch. If MS really wants to make a splash, a $400 XB1 (obviously with Kinect still in the box) would do it (and for early adopters, it would be great if MS gave us 2 free games just like how Nintendo did for the 3DS early adopters).

[supersix4]

Originally Posted by Monkey

$399 without Kinect would be a huge mistake. Then they'd be the same price as the PS4 but with significantly less powerful hardware, without their differentiating factor.

$300-325 without Kinect would make more sense, or $399 bundled with Titanfall and Forza 5 digital codes.

$399 with Kinect makes the most sense out of those options. I could picture them making it official $450 with two packed in games with kinect as well.

Not only that but I HATE navigating the menus without... I'll never plug mine in, and everyone says I should to improve navigating experience but the menus are so god awful even if they did that I think it would make a lot of people hate it.

I can legit get around all the ps4 menus in 5 minutes and write it all out how to do what... Its that simple and user friendly.


Xbox 1 a maze of menus and sub menus unlike I've ever seen.

[KRW1]

The reason stores are discounting 'Ones is because MS have sold them loads so they can say they've shipped 'x millions'. Stores don't want them on their inventories because they'll show up as inventory when they release their figures for shareholders. It's not looking good.

Conclusion, they won't drop the Kinnect yet, but there will be a pricedrop.

[pcweber111]

Eat the cost MS. You made the mistake of pricing it too high because of Kinect so eat the cost.

[Master X]

They will not drop Kinect. I see a $449 price cut tho. A few retail stores did it for the Titanfall Bundle, that's when I got mine.

[ariakon]

Just going by the 360, MS does price drops in September so that buzz carries through into Christmas. Unless it starts to tank, that seems more likely.

[Derb]

They are still PR ing the Kinect with Xbox One with new content & it being an important part of its Eco System for the duration of the entire Gen's run.

To offer an Xbox One without it now would make them look like bigger @sses then last years reveal & E3.

Price drop on system or pack in bundles is my prediction.

[Elandyll]

Originally Posted by pcweber111

Eat the cost MS. You made the mistake of pricing it too high because of Kinect so eat the cost.

Eating the cost ($71+ per Kinect unit est.) would just make a case to actually spin off Xbox as a loss leader.
Between the R&D and all the marketing deals (EA - $400m +) made, it'll be a long while before the XB1 can prove profitable already.
But losing $71 per box sold (not counting the cost of the game packed in to make it more appealing, cf Titanfall and the $$ they must give back to EA to allow for that) x X million consoles per year will only lead the division to be flagged as "never profitable".

They have a tough choice between 3 hard options:
- Remove the Kinect and drop to $399. Basically a same price, less powerful version of the PS4. With a game packed in I guess. But that's pretty much admitting that their entire concept for the XBox One has been a failure, and implies the Kinect is indeed DOA (which it probably is, just not officially).

- Leave the Kinect and drop to $399, eating the cost. With this, the more they sell, the more they lose money. But at least eventually the cost of the components will one day (1 or 2 years) allow to be at break even. Of course Sony can drop their price by $50 and remain more attractive if their sales take off, rending the whole thing moot.

- Stay the course, hoping for a sales boost from the fall software lineup. Even with Sunset Overdrive, and possibly Halo 2 anniversary and Quantum Break, it seems doubtful. On the plus sides: continues to push Kinect forward, and no loss leader on each sale.

An "Hybrid" option would be to take a small loss ($50), having a big pack in game and keep the Kinect. Basically a $450 Titanfall package (Sunset Overdrive or QB in the fall?). This didn't allow the Titanfall bundle to really make a huge win in March, so I wonder if this would just be too timid of a move.

Beyond all that, there is also the psychological impact behind an "early" price drop. Generally speaking, a price drop can be succesful, but it can also mark you as the defacto "loser" in the race, and thus less "appealing".

Timeframe before first price cuts:

X360: 1 1/2 year, -$50 (20Gb model)
PS3: 7 months, -$100 (60Gb model)
Wii: almost 3 years, -$50
PS2: 1 1/2 years, -$100
Xbox: 6 months, -$100
GC: 6 months, -$50
DC: 11 months, -$50

[Steelmaker]

Originally Posted by Elandyll

Eating the cost ($71+ per Kinect unit est.) would just make a case to actually spin off Xbox as a loss leader.
Between the R&D and al lthe marketing deal (EQ - $400m +) made, it'll be a long while before the XB1 can prove profitable already.
But losing $71 per box sold (not counting the cost of the game packed in to make it more appealing, cf Titanfall and the $$ they must give back to EA to allow for that) x X million consoles per year will only lead the division to be flagged as "never profitable".

They have a had choice between 3 hard options:
- Remove the Kinect and drop to $399. Basically a same price, less powerful version of the PS4. With a game packed in I guess. But that's pretty much admitting that their entire concept for the XBox One has bee na failure, and implies the Kinect is indeed OA (which it probably is, just not officially).

- Leave the Kinect and drop to $399, eating the cost. With this, the more they sell, the more they lose money. But at least eventually the cost of the components will one day (1 or 2 years) allow to be at break even. Of course Sony can drop their price by $50 and remain more attractive if their sales take off, rending the whole thing moot.

- Stay the course, hoping for a sales boost from the fall software lineup. Even with Sunset Overdrive, and possibly Halo 2 anniversary and Quantum Break, it seems doubtful. On the plus sides: continues to push Kinect forward, and no loss leader on each sale.

An "Hybrid" option would be to take a small loss ($50), having a big pack in game and keep the Kinect. Basically a $450 Titanfall package (Sunset Overdrive or QB in the fall?). This didn't allow the Titanfall bundle to really make a huge win in March, so I wonder if this would just be too timid of a move.

Beyond all that, there is also the psychological impact behind an "early" price drop. Generally speaking, a prcie drop can be succesful, but it can also mark you as the defacto "loser" in the race.

Timeframe before first price cuts:

X360: 1 1/2 year, -$50 (20Gb model)
PS3: 7 months, -$100 (60Gb model)
Wii: almost 3 years, -$50
PS2: 1 1/2 years, -$100
Xbox: 6 months, -$100
GC: 6 months, -$50
DC: 11 months, -$50

Did the PS2 really drop 100.00 only after a year and half? I seem to remember that system being 299.99 for a LONG time before the first price drop (and I thought the first price drop was 50.00).

[dyne]

Originally Posted by Steelmaker

Did the PS2 really drop 100.00 only after a year and half? I seem to remember that system being 299.99 for a LONG time before the first price drop (and I thought the first price drop was 50.00).

Looking here http://vgsales.wikia.com/wiki/Price_cuts the PS2 launched in the US October 2000 at $299. It dropped to $199 in May 2002. So 20 months.