Walmart and Target offering deals on Xbox One

So I thought when the NPD numbers hit that MS would have to consider a price drop, or think about including a game with purchase. I thought maybe they would wait a month or two, see if February numbers were the same, and see if Titanfall could turn it around for March. Well, retailers apparently aren't willing to wait that long, and have taken it upon themselves to play "let's make a deal."

Walmart is currently offering a free copy of COD: Ghosts, BF4, Madden25, or NBA2k14 with the purchase of an Xbox One console. And Target is simply offering a 50 dollar gift card.

The PS4 has been continuously harder to find, it's is still selling more than the Xbox One, and now retailers are resorting to gift cards and free games for a console that is only about three months into it's lifespan.

Just how worried should Microsoft be?

Very worried they should just release Xbox Two.

It's going to be fine. They're still selling Wii U's aren't they?

That is true for values of "selling".

Worried is too strong a word. Concerned is better.

They should just give up and cancel the system. Partner with Nintendo to make the Wii Box next time around.

Concerned, yes. Panic mode... no. I think MS is in a tight spot as far as perception, but they also have deep wallets to make this work if they want to.

They need to start buying exclusives, add some extra incentives on top of Xbox Live (free games, etc.), maybe even a small price drop. I don't think it makes sense for them to remove kinect completely. As soon as they do, devs are going to give up on adding any kinect support in their games.

meh, it'll be fine. They'll get some timed exclusives or console-PC "exclusives" and make some money, sell some units.

honestly I'm just happy to see consumers vote with their cash this time around. MS is just getting a firm slap on the nose for their bad behavior. Hopefully they learn from it.

@bigjeffrey: I think Xboat is a better name

Yeah, I'd have to agree with @deinos. MS should be now where near panic mode yet. They do have to start being more strategic though. I don't think they can really back off of the Kinect though right now as that would definitely make them seem like they can't decide on a strategy long term and follow it through. We are still very early in both the PS4 and Xbox One consoles life cycle. Both consoles are selling and have pretty much already lapped Nintendo's Wii U which is a whole different conversation.

Keep in mind that NPD numbers for the next few months are going to be interesting as Sony releases the PS4 in their homeland of Japan this week. Once this happens Sony will DEFINITELY start touting their world wide sales numbers which is going to make Microsoft look like they are even further behind.

Microsoft really needs to stick to their guns with their vision, and try to get people on board with them. A price cut wouldn't hurt, but I think it's a little to early for that. I think a game bundled in with the system would be better, or even yet, just give a year of Xbox Gold with the system, since so much stuff is behind that paywall.

Some UK retailers were selling the PS4 for cheaper a couple of weeks ago... Should Sony start to worry?

They're selling pretty darn well but I think they should be concerned.

Drop the Kinect, cut the price, and I'm in when Halo comes out. I disagree that developers would stop making games that used the Kinect if it wasn't included in the box. They're making less than they were when it was optional on the 360, most of them were just bad games. Nearly all of the exclusives at the end of the 360 life cycle were Kinect games barring Gears: Judgement and Halo 4.

I think that was a Microsoft talking point that made sense when they were launching the Xbone because they wanted to push their device but now that people own them it's pretty apparent that they just wanted it included it because of the voice commands. Which could work with a usb microphone attachment.

Plus if the only incentive developers have to make a Kinect game is that it comes with the console then they're probably not THAT into making a Kinect game anyways and should leave it to people with actual passion for the device.

Did Sony come back from the PS3 when everyone was saying panic?? I think Microsoft will be ok.

Meh. The PS3 started out in a bad position, especially considering what a monster the PS2 was. They came back.

I hope so, too. Sony pulled the "customers will buy whatever we tell them to" at the start of last gen. They learned their lesson, but without some competition, who's to say that won't try that trick again?

Oh, come on with this. Jesus Christ.

I work at Walmart and basically we can't keep PS4's in stock for more than an hour. Seriously anytime we put some on the shelf less than an hour every time. On the flip side were swimming in Xbox One consoles. We hardly sell them.

Same thing happened with the Wii U, they should be concerned but not panicking, just need more games out for the system, same as PS4 for me.

I'm not saying that the system is a complete failure, and they'll have to sell off the Xbox division. I'm just saying that they should probably start worrying about the possibility of becoming a distant second in the current console race.

Like that. That shouldn't be happening in the US, which has traditionally been Microsoft's best market.

PS4 was already overpriced in the UK. It's the same with the Xbox One, which from day one offered a free copy of FIFA to attempt to make up for the pricing differences. If you could find a PS4 in any store in the UK, and Xbox One was almost always sold out, and despite this the Xbox One was still beating PS4 in sales by almost a 2-to-1 ratio, and UK retailers took it upon themselves to offer deals for the PS4, then yes, Sony should start to worry.

But that's not happening to Sony in the UK. However, it IS happening with Microsoft in the US.

NPD numbers are US only, but you're right that they will be interesting over the next few months. Titanfall certainly could move some Xbox One consoles, and Infamous could very well do the same with the PS4.

@spaceinsomniac: My take on it is we should want ALL company to be worried about their products. We want these guys to come out swinging. MS did not come out swinging this gen and they lost market share as a result. Come on and lets start a big old brawl for us console makers. MS is not worry yet, they are concerned. We want them to worry as to give Sony a fight.

Well said. Sony worrying about Live gave us PS Plus. Competition is always good news for consumers.

I've seen numerous One's in the wild. 0 PS4's. Are PS4s sitting on shelves in certain areas?

Don't be silly. They would never use any logic to their naming scheme, so it's be something like Xbox 11.

I've been saying the same thing for a year now - Sony's arrogance and ignorance to what people wanted led to third place performance, which led to them being forced to get their shit together, and look at them now.

Same thing is going to happen now. Sony will lay waste to MS for a couple years, which will make MS stop being so clueless, and they'll come out better for it.

@kanerobot this is so true and I have been saying the same thing myself. PS + and good game deals were products of Sony's efforts to pull people to their lower selling system - the same types of strategies will be used by MS this time around. All of this has happened before and will happen again.

The Xbox One managed to sell over 3 million units in around two and a half months. That's incredible. I am not comparing it to anything else - just because the PS4 is doing better doesn't mean that the X1 still isn't doing well itself. Just because it's not selling the most doesn't mean it's a failure.

Threads like this - the "just how worried should X be?" after sensationalizing an event - are getting really old. If it's not Nintendo it's Microsoft, and if it's not Microsoft it's Nintendo. It's getting real fucking annoying seeing dumb flamebait topics like this all over the place.

Nintendo Microsoft is Doooooooomed!

*cough*

Sounds like they're trying to improve sales of their console.

To be accurate, it sounds like Target and Walmart are trying to improve sales.

Whoever used the word failure? Corporations probably should worry about a their product's sales, when their competition is selling almost twice as many of a similar product. At the very least, that seems like a good time for concern.

At my Target, the cabinet is completely full of Xbox Ones. The PS4 cabinet actually has a few PS4s in it too though. At first glance it looks like Xbox One isn't selling, but it's possible that there are about the same number of each, it's just that the PS4 box is so much smaller than the Xbox One that the appearance is completely different.

No one said anything about it being a failure, I'm just simply pointing out that it's not like the console isn't selling. These consoles were just released. Look at the PS3. It was 2+ years before it started selling well, yet people are shitting on MS already after 3 months because it's "only" sold 3.5 million so far? Gimme a break. In fact, Sony was down ~ 4 to 1 in 2007 and because of the reasons I mentioned in my post, they got back up there. Which, like I said, is what MS needs to and most likely will do. It's basic business competition = innovation concepts. But reacting that fast after only 3 months isn't expected and even Sony took years to do it, so no, I don't think Microsoft should be worried right now. They will take their time and react accordingly just like Sony did.

Here's the thing the number of consoles they are selling is actually quite good . The problem is they have a competitor that is selling double what they are. The real question is is number of systems sold above or below what they predicted. If its on track then they have no reason to worry, yes they have a competitor but if they are meeting their sales expectations then they just need to worry about the systems future while if they are below their expected sales figures than the need to worry about the system as it is and what could be done to meet or exceed sales expectations.

Bottom line no they shouldn't be worried because guess what they sold a shit load of them regardless.

This community is chock full of armchair analysts, it is a little ridiculous.

I got a free copy of NBA 2k14 with my purchase of an xbox one a week after release and I was shitting bricks because I thought microsoft was done for. They are still here but there's still so much fear, especially with scary ass threads like this :(

The worry I'd have within Microsoft's Xbox division is the new CEO. Satya Nadella was the head of the cloud computing division and heavily involved in the business divisions at Microsoft. I mean Ballmer had to step down because of poor performance in hardware divisions and having to play catch up with everyone. The board picked Nadella because he is not a hardware guy but is the guy who has been involved with future and business software. Microsoft is heading towards IBM and further away from Apple.

So if the Xbox division is not making significant profits within a few years I can see Nadella cutting the Xbox division to reallocate the funds and focus Microsoft on business solutions and recover in the home PC space.

Did someone say Amazon Xbox? Seriously though, I'm sure someone would buy Xbox if MS ever wanted to sell. That wouldn't necessarily mean any sort of failure, either. After all, Disney bought Star Wars.

You're right, that wouldn't mean doom for Xbox but there are very few companies that could seriously buy the brand and are in the hardware business. Samsung, Apple, and Google are at the top of the list. Amazon could be a dark horse in that list given they have been getting into hardware and software with their tablets and e-readers.

Amazon recently bought Double Helix, perhaps better known as the developers of Killer Instinct.