Xbox One drops to $249, now half of its launch-day price Microsoft clears out "bulky" older consoles ahead of redesigned Xbox One S.
By Kyle Orland Ars Technica 7/25/2016, 1:52 PM http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2016/07/xbox-one-drops-to-249-now-half-of-its-launch-day-price/ If you're not interested in the upcoming Xbox One S and its 4K and HDR color capabilities, now might be the perfect time to pull the trigger on the standard, bulkier edition of the Xbox One. As part of a limited time "Summer Sale," Microsoft is now offering the console at $249 with a 500GB hard drive and your choice of one of a number of games, including Gears of War: Ultimate Edition, Quantum Break, Forza Motorsport 6, Rise of the Tomb Raider, or Rare Replay. This is actually the third time that the Xbox One has seen its price drop in the last two months. Microsoft lowered the asking price to $299 in late May, just weeks before E3 (though that price had been offered a few times before). Then, during E3, the company announced a new "promotional" price of $279 that was supposed to last through October 1. This weekend's additional price drop, coming so soon after E3, could be seen as an indication that the "legacy" consoles aren't selling so well now that the redesigned and slightly more powerful Xbox One S is about to hit stores. That redesigned system will launch August 2 in a $399 edition sporting a 2TB hard drive. Versions with 1TB and 500GB hard drives will be available for $349 and $299, respectively, at a later date. Are the PS4 and Xbox One really that expensive, historically? The Xbox One's new price point is roughly half of the $499 asking price when the system launched in late 2013 (those launch systems did include a Kinect camera but didn't come with a bundled game). Previous Ars analysis shows that consoles usually don't drop to 50 percent of their launch price until their fourth or fifth year on the market, though there's a great deal of variance surrounding that historical average. The Xbox One is now also cheaper than the struggling Wii U, which still sells for a $299 MSRP with a 32GB hard drive and a bundled game. Sony's PlayStation 4 has maintained its $349 price since last October, save for a brief $299 dip during last year's holiday season.
_______________________________________________ Medianews mailing list [email protected] http://etskywarn.net/mailman/listinfo/medianews_etskywarn.net
