Xbox One Launches In November For $500/€500

No because they didn't follow it up by telling us we're all fucking sheep that will work ourselves to the bone for the very privilege of owning one. Paraphrasing a bit

The UK price is the same one the PS3 tried to launch at. Unlike 2006, we are about to hit a triple-dip recession and the safety net of society is trying to be dismantled as an unacceptable expense. So this is really a 'rich kids only' toy. The 360 launched (dual-SKU) at £210/280 (exchange rates have moved, relative earnings/wealth have not changed that much in the last decade to accommodate for that). So the 360 launched for (as low as) less than half of the £430 tag for this console. Even without the DRM/online requirement/one day all your games will stop working when the auth server goes dark then that is a pretty strong discouragement.

A $400 PS4 would just about be able to hit a £299 price tag including our sales tax. It wouldn't be ideal but I'd say that has a chance of success.

That would be without tax, since different states, counties and cities have different rates of tax. In Los Angeles, where I live, our combined state/county/city sales tax is 9%, so the console would actually cost $545

I don't know if I'm just getting old, or it's the work economic crisis or whatever, but transitioning to new console should be something that microsoft and sony really temp you to do; such a high price from the get-go just doesn't seem a good deal. Definitely more worthwhile to buy PC parts or something else. I think it is kind of outraging actually, and really hope PS4 goes for 400 or something like that. That would be so amazing, both for customers and for watching microsofts reaction!!

I want to see the PS4 first.

PC won't have everything, and I'm still ready for the new console generation. Time to start settin' cash aside.

blunder of the century

So basic one more reason not to buy a xbox one is microsoft actively trying to fuck themselves ?

Not gonna buy that *censored* anyway. Sure as hell not at launch and even IF at some point, ONLY after carefully observing how the MS policies develop.

Wow, we europeans get fucked over again, I wonder what the swedish price will be. We europeans are all rich apparently

Could be worse. It'll probably be $800 here in Australia. I hope I'm proven wrong.

500 dollars is a lot of money.

You'd think Xbox would be trying to secure Europe as it's usually a fight between them and PS as to who is dominant

@pete0r: Before tax.

Bummer for the Europeans. Probably not the best way for Microsoft to get penetrate a market that's Sony dominated.

BUT.... U.S has tax added on to that right?

Seems crazy that is costs more for Europeans when they are getting less features.

Well, they have to justify the cost of that sweet new Kinect that's bundled in every box, right? Isn't that what we gamers asked for? Oh wait...

Haha silly americanos at microsioft, let me enlighten you that the dollar and the euro have different values. How could you forget? Or did you simply not know? I google it for you!

Ermahgerd.

This price point tells me that Microsoft will aggressively be promoting their retail program. They have pushed the idea of the $99 Xbox 360 for over a year now, and it has worked out pretty good for them.

Purchase the system for $299, but you need to buy three years of Live with it at $14.99 a month seems to the sweet spot for them.

Man, consoles are so goddamn expensive. I'll stick to my PC, especially with the HEY YURR NOT MURICAN-tax.

Fuck that UK markup.

If you take into account the 20% VAT then the US price still converts to £384.00.

Edit: Just for a little perspective this was my original order for my launch day 360! Note that the price includes buying a game as well.

I was genuinely shocked at how high the launch price is, I thought they would never go higher than $399 and there wasn't even a subscription plan announced. For Microsoft's sake they will want to hope Sony announce the ridiculous $599 again otherwise it's going to be tough to compete in the European market.

@pie: This is the same price the PS3 launched for in Europe, so yes, this price is insane. It's not going to sell!

I could just hear the echoes of five hundred and ninety nine us dollars, from Sony's press conference years ago. He paused for applause too?! Holy crap, I really think Microsoft has shot themselves in the foot.

All Sony has to do is launch lower and their in...

So i take it that MS does not really care about Europe, that price will not really help them and to keep XBL paywalled most certainly won´t either.

I wonder what the rate of return is on this machine, are they trying to sell it at a profit?

Yeah I think I'd rather just spend that $500 towards upgrading my PC. PC+PS4 seems to be my combo and maybe the WiiU? Nintendo still needs to sell me on it.

Remember UK and Euro prices include TAX. In the UK we pay 20% tax. US prices vary because tax rates vary state-to-state. So the price is really $500 + tax in the UK it's £429 inc TAX.

I didn't watch the whole conference, so I have to ask: did they address some of the blurry points of that document sent days ago?

@razielcuts said:

No thanks Microsoft, no thanks.

Man, 2008 was great. I imported so many t-shirts that year.

I'm going to assume the controller isn't included with that price too. So with tax its $600, and with one game it's up to $660.

I've spend +600€ on a stupid iphone.

500€ is a fair price imho

Too pricey for me, especially factoring Xbox Live at $60, though I bet they will be able to move a fair number of units at that price.

To be fair, both the European and UK prices have tax already added (VAT), while the US price is before sales tax (If the state or city has one)

Since VAT in the UK is 20%, and 20% of 429 is 85 pounds. The real cost is 344 pounds. In USD that is $536.64. (Yes I know VAT is calculated differently than a sales tax, but this is a rough estimate)

So yeah, it still sucks. But it isnt a crazy price difference when you look at it without tax. VAT rates are a different issue

@gringbot: You seriously think they'd release a SKU that doesn't have a single controller?

$499 plus sales tax usually comes to about $550 which at current exchange is about £355 or 415 Euros at current rates.

The rest will be due to import duties, language and plug changes etc.

Cost of living adjustments etc

Basically they price it that way because they can.

I don't see why $500 is a terrible price since I remember the 360 launched around that price if you wanted the HDD and wireless controllers and the PS3 launched at $600.

Not surprised.

I spent $1000 on my computers GPUs alone. $500 for a console seems reasonable.

It kind of seems like people are forgetting this thing comes with a Kinect. True many of us couldn't care less about it but it is still in there. Assuming US pricing and arbitrarily saying a new Kinect would retail for $100, the console itself is really $400, after a fashion.

Doesn't matter, I know, but I thought it was worth pointing out.

@th3_james: That's your own fault, dude.

Wait, why didn't I see this sooner?

THE NUMBER OF THE BEAST!

So that's why they did it!

The price isn't that bad. This is around the same price all new consoles launch at, (Outside of the PS3). What people don't realize is, inflation. If we take inflation into account and the how strong or weak our USD is now compared to the past generations, then it works out to the same price.

Plus, the price will drop in a year. This is to get the most money out of the people that are going to buy it first. Simply put, if you can't afford it in the first place, than maybe you shouldn't buy one.

Really not that huge of a difference. 400.00 US Dollars of 2005 are worth 465.75 US Dollars of 2013. Still would rather spend a few hundred more to build my own good steam box. That is if I can get most of these games on PC.

499€ = 680$

More money for less content, since Europeans will not have the same amount of features like the Americans.

I don't get it.

You seem to forget how taxes and VAT work. The actual price difference after you equalise for VAT and taxes is about 30 pounds, which is not insignificant, but also not enough to get your panties in a bunch about. If you want to argue $500 is too much to begin with, sure.

I can upgrade my gpu quite nicely for only a hair more than half that price. Or go keerazy and upgrade half of my rig altogether.

No thank you, sir.

if ps4 goes for less it won't be by very much. pretty sure they'll lose a lot already even at $500. we'll see i suppose.

was thinking wih all their recent drm nonsense a $400ish price would be microsoft's ace in the hole...

@solh0und said:

I just checked my receipt from 2005. It was $399, for the premium SKU with wireless controller and hard drive with fancy silver trim. You are thinking of the silly bundles many retailers forced on people for launch.

@rolyatkcinmai said:

so you're telling me you have a >20% tax rate?

fuck that noise also.

A Mercedes SLK350 build in germany bought in germany with less extras than the US version costs 52,900€ (70,100$), it costs 55,400$ in the US. German tax is 19%, US is about...6%? Anyway, german price without ANY tax is still equivalent to 58900$.

US always get's the better end, but MS not even going down 20€ at this price (I mean, we agree, that even 500$ seems high. I'm sure that kinect is expensive and really good, but the stuff under the hood is not worth 500$, let alone 500€ or 430£(=503€ or =670$)

As you see, the tax argument is not even half the truth. Also, what's with TiviTiviTivi in Europe?