http://majornelson.com/2014/12/29/final-chance-buy-xbox-one-starting-349/

I am genuinely surprised and still think it's pretty insane that they are doing this. I was convinced they would make it permanent or at least create a bundle which would end up creating the same value per component.

And whats saying they wont?

Last chance to get the Xbox One at $349!

Because on January 4th, it goes back up to $350.

Makes sense. From what I hear Assassin's Creed Unity is worth about -50 bucks.

Knew they would actually do it although I expect by the time we get to E3 that sales would have gone so far south after this hoilday that they'll announce a permanent price drop.

Making it temporary puts pressure on consumers to buy it while it's cheap so they'd have a surge in sales which seemed to have worked in November. Maybe they think if enough people buy consoles during the sale they'll get an install base that would pressure other people to get on Xbone because that's what their friends are playing on. Those people just have to pay full price.

As I said from the beginning it would have been crazy for them to drop the price that early on. Not sure why anyone would think this was anything but a limited holiday promotion - that incidentally worked out really well for them.

@sinusoidal: He shoots, he scores!

@humanity: I think it's full-on crazy to do a price cut like that and then jack it up later on. I fully expected it to become permanent. Hell even with this news I somehow still expect that to happen.

If the rumours are true about the 20nm slim version in late 2015-early 2016 then they could just be waiting until they have a cheaper object to sell at a cheaper price without the permanent cutback in profits.

There's no reason to keep prices down right now. They're only just getting into their 2nd year and having prices go back up until next holiday season means they get to make another price drop announcement.

If they didn't catch up some in sales then maybe this price cut would have stayed longer.

The price-cut hit my European country and for the price of a 500 gigabyte PS3 with Destiny bundle I can buy an Xbox One with no Kinect, no games. Boggles the mind.

@big_jon: Nothing to do with being edgy (whatever the hell that even means these days). Blame them for picking such an annoying name for their console.

I had trouble naming it until their whole policy/requirements reversal. Then people were calling it the 180 and it kind of stuck. The other one was called the 360, this one is called the 180. It's easy like that.

I'd rather say 180 than Xbone at least. (RIP Xone)

@hassun: People write XB1 or XBO and it's fine. It's just like writing PS4 instead of Playstation 4. I don't really understand people that insist on writing Xbone or whatever when they could just write XB1 and all is understood.

Either way it's way too early to talk permanent price cuts. This will eventually happen but not yet. They've made a dent, spread more XB1 consoles over homes where they can get some decent word of mouth to people. It's not a terrible console by any means and most were weary of buying it simply because it was more expensive and probably because of some stigma from that ridiculous E3 period where you'd think Hitler was heading the development considering all the hate they got. Now they can hope that those who did buy it will talk their friends into getting it.

If their sales plummet again, then they might discount it at another holiday occasion. It would actually be a smart strategy to intermittently lower the price for short periods but keep it at a steady baseline for the rest of the year. When they get some more exclusives out of the gate it will certainly help them out.

At least you don't need to get the surveillance Kinect with it.

This seems like a really bad decision. Considering that a friend of mine bought a 'Bone for $350 and got 2 Assassin's Creed games and $70 in Amazon credit (making the real price $280 because Amazon credit is pretty much as good as cash) and was still a little on the fence about the purchase, who is going to buy it for $400? The holiday sales were too good, anyone who was on the fence probably boarded the 'Bone train, and anyone who didn't pick one up is going to be like "Well if I didn't buy one in December for $280 with 2 free games..." Plus there are no big 'Bone 'sclusie games coming out in the first part of the year. Who are they selling to in January or February? Their momentum could be totally disrupted. My prediction is that either a permanent price cut back down to $350 comes soon, or soft price cuts through retailer gift cards and the like stay around or increase.

Was Microsoft "edgy" for picking a silly name that could be riffed on in jokes so easily? The Xbone still reads like x-bone or is anyone who notices that "too edgy" for you too? :)

As for the price drop being temporary, it feels like a questionable move to bring it back up. It moves at $350 (or lower) because it feels like the right price point and not because people love it.

It's not a silly name, they market it as an All-in-One device so Xbox: One makes perfect sense.

Can't believe people still make console name jokes, do they think they are clever? Is anyone really laughing at gaystation 4 or failbox? Xbox 180?? Gamers were crying over the Xbox DRM announcement, then as soon as they change their policy they get made fun of for it.

They've been very clear from the start that this price drop was for the holiday season only. And given that the price drop worked exactly as intended to where they sold a crapton of consoles this season, it should not be at all surprising that they're following through now that they're on solid ground. Frankly, the console is worth more than what they're charging for it right now, but they needed to do this as a show of goodwill to make up for some early missteps and to try to change perception. It remains to be seen whether people will go apeshit over the "raise" in the price. That's certainly possible, because for some reason people love to jump on the "fuck Microsoft" bandwagon and harangue about how anti-consumer they supposedly are while completely giving Sony a pass for their tacit refusal to offer much of anything in terms of incentives, but that's another topic entirely. The price cut was a savvy business move to capitalize on the 2014 holiday, and it did exactly that. The X1 is a very good value at its current price, and is still a good value when they go back to charging (gasp!) a whole $50 MSRP more for it on January 4th.

As an aside since it was brought up, worrying about the name of a console is really pointless. I know the internet loves to mock the bullshit marketing/branding that went into coming up with the Xbox One name (and it is a bit cheesy, IMO), but what do people really want? Sequentially numbered everything? That's the other end of the spectrum where no work is done at all. HERE IS NEW NUMBER. COMMENCE EXCITEMENT. Let's give the Xbone or Xbox 180 crap a rest. That shit belongs on console wars forums. Additionally, if you're into the whole brevity thing, it's more cumbersome to type either of those things than to simply type X1, XBO, XB1, etc., which as @humanity mentioned, will be 100% understood on gaming forums every time. I'm not just trying to pick on the OP here, either. It's just that I'm so fucking tired of the internet high-fiving itself over lame shit like snarkily re-naming a product. Given that we're now over a year into the life of the new consoles, it's no longer cute or clever (if it ever was). JMO.

Yes, us intellectuals are far above those ridiculous names.

/raise glass

@notnert427: I like the system quite a lot, use it about 5 times as much as I use my PS4, and have advocated for it with others (for example I pushed the friend I mentioned earlier upthread to jump on the $280 offer). I call it the 'Bone because it's fun to call it the 'Bone and it doesn't hurt anyone. Lighten up.

I'd rather not have this devolve into 'discussions' about what abbreviation to use for the Xbox One or just how much Microsoft screwed up in the run-up to the launch of their new console. I honestly did not use that title to be snarky, that's just what I call the console.

I'll change the title to Xbox One if it makes people happy. Let's just stick to the pricing aspect.

@humanity: I just think it's crazy that they would do a temporary price cut like that. Does that have a precedent? I can't really think think of one off the top of my head.

Not to mention fucking hilarious. He should have added "M$" to it to really make a statement.

@bigsocrates: I really wonder how much the increase in price is going to affect the sales numbers and of this holiday discount period has been enough to get people over the "xbox hating speedbump" as it were.

Nah. It is a silly name regardless of what the marketing says. Some people just bought into that marketing.

What else was silly? Xbox 360 and Xbox, but also Wii and Wii U. Playstation to a lesser degree.

I didn't realize it was a temporary thing.

It's an odd decision... though I'm guessing it won't matter much to people. In Canada, the PS4 went up by $50 to $449.99 and no one really said anything, though that was due to our weaker dollar.

Odd.

@caesius6: My entire point was that I did not believe it was a holiday promotion but an actual price cut.

Why does it make perfect sense? This would be like Sony releasing something called "Playstation Prime". It makes perfect sense to "true believers" and is "huh?" to everyone else. Is "Playstation Prime" a service or a device? Is "Playstation Prime" the next console or something that compliments the PS4? Who knows but man is "prime" edgy!

As for making fun of names, this is what these games these console run promote. These games want the buyer/player to be aggressive and forceful and punishing any weaknesses. *shrug*

ps. If the XBox One is one of those "all-in-one", it doesn't do a very good job where my clunky, ancient MacBook Pro is closer than that thing is.

Been thinking about getting a new console soon this kinda pushes me towards a ps4 a little more

@sagesebas: Remember the mantra:

Buy consoles for games and not games for consoles.

If you follow that, I don't think you will regret your purchase(s).

Wait, what? A promotional price for the Xbox One ending soon (just like they said it would) is pushing you towards a PS4 (which continues to cost as much MSRP as it did at launch)?

http://www.giantbomb.com/articles/xbox-one-dropping-price-to-349-again/1100-5173/

WELL