Xbox & Microsoft News/Discussion

[Mantis]

Funny though because a console being above £400 was unheard of and considered likely to fail prior to this. Now everyone was anticipating and speculating that the new ones would be over £500 all of a sudden it's acceptable for the £450 price tag. I guess people are just relieved more than anything.

[Raid]

It's not vastly out of proportion to other launch prices, but it's definitely on the upper end. The XBox One launched at £429, but that was when they were forcing you to buy a Kinect sensor alongside it (the PS4 was £349 for comparison). PS3 was £425 but that was ridiculed for months (and the competing XBox 360 was nearly £150 cheaper even in its most expensive SKU).

I don't expect the PS5 to be cheaper, but I don't think it'd be out of the question for them to come out tomorrow and announce £399.

[Achtung Englander]

If they do they will not make any money from them and hope to god to recoup on licencing.

Microsoft daddy is bankrolling Xbox child - that is why GamePass is what it is and the new console is below the $500 mark. Sony does not have that capital leverage. At best it can only price match $500 and even than I am sure it will be stretching its P&L.

[DjchunKfunK]

The Playstation division is currently propping up Sony, it's their leading division and the only one that is really making a profit, I don't think Sony corporate is going to want to eat a huge loss on the PS5. Added to that I think Sony are banking on the huge brand loyalty that they have built up to see them through the early period when their console is more expensive. Compared to the last generation I think brand loyalty has become much more important, as it has in society in general, people measure their value and status via the brands they buy however sad that might be. I could see the disc-less version possibly matching the Series X price with the non-disc one possibly being £100 more expensive.

[Mantis]

That's pretty much what I'm expecting. £450 for base model, £350 for discless version.

Though in reality I'm not sure that simply taking a disc drive out would translate to a £100 price cut. They'd almost certainly be selling those models at a bit of a loss if they knocked that much off the price just for removing the drive. £400 might be a more reasonable prediction for that model.

I would personally never buy a console without a disc drive though, my library is probably split 50/50 between physical and digital and I like to be able to sell titles on after I'm done with them. I'm sure many probably feel the same way. Might be that the discless model would have to be more aggressively discounted just to differentiate it enough from the standard model and convince people to make the switch. It'd make it a viable option for those wanting a full next gen experience but who are also a little bit skint, which is increasingly more people at the moment.

[Alan]

Discless does force digital purchase so it’s not quite as straightforward as part cost but I agree that I think it has to be 450 and 350 and they need to get their messaging straight on BC and stop being such a flustercluck

[Achtung Englander]

https://www.pcgamesn.com/game-pass-pc-price



Yes bad news always follows good. Interesting this came out today

[Alan]

Oh is the app going to not be a shitshow from next week? Awesome!

[DjchunKfunK]

That's pretty much what I'm expecting. £450 for base model, £350 for discless version.

Though in reality I'm not sure that simply taking a disc drive out would translate to a £100 price cut. They'd almost certainly be selling those models at a bit of a loss if they knocked that much off the price just for removing the drive. £400 might be a more reasonable prediction for that model.

If Sony sell the disc-less version at £350 they would be taking a massive loss as they wont make any money at £450 on the disc based version.

£7.99 for PC Game Pass is still a really good deal, was never going to stay at £4.

[Wrathbone]

AC Valhalla has moved their launch date to November 10th so is a launch title. Dirt 5 also announced as coming on the 10th as well as Gears Tactics.

If they're the big launch titles then I won't be taking the plunge in November. If there was something other than Cyberpunk I was interested in then I could be swayed, but as intriguing as the Series X is, it's games that sell consoles.

You'd think that MS would have learned their lesson about neglecting the games for their new games console after the disastrous Xbox One launch.

[DjchunKfunK]

AC Valhalla has moved their launch date to November 10th so is a launch title. Dirt 5 also announced as coming on the 10th as well as Gears Tactics.

If they're the big launch titles then I won't be taking the plunge in November. If there was something other than Cyberpunk I was interested in then I could be swayed, but as intriguing as the Series X is, it's games that sell consoles.

You'd think that MS would have learned their lesson about neglecting the games for their new games console after the disastrous Xbox One launch.

The bad Xbox One launch was nothing to do with the games it was the terrible messaging around the TV stuff, always online and used games. I do think that too much emphasis is put on launch lineups, they are usually pretty barren in terms of quality. PS4 had Killzone Shadow Fall and Knack as the big exclusives, Xbox One Forza 5, Dead Rising 3 and Ryse.

[Wrathbone]

The bad Xbox One launch was nothing to do with the games it was the terrible messaging around the TV stuff, always online and used games.

That's my point - the games were not the focus, and they still aren't. Why would anybody buy a games console without any new games worth playing on it?

[Mantis]

The lack of good games wasn't an Xbox One launch issue so much as a generation long one. -_-

[Wrathbone]

I'm not even talking about exclusives, more the absolute dirth of must-have games coming out in November. Aside from Cyberpunk I don't think there's anything that interests me, and there's very little on the horizon for next year either.

[DjchunKfunK]

The bad Xbox One launch was nothing to do with the games it was the terrible messaging around the TV stuff, always online and used games.

That's my point - the games were not the focus, and they still aren't. Why would anybody buy a games console without any new games worth playing on it?

That depends what you mean, at launch the Xbox will have Yakuza Like a Dragon and The Falconeer which are Xbox Series S/X console launch exclusives and Dirt 5 and AC: Valhalla. Plus a load of other third party stuff that is already out. There are plenty of games to play there are just no Microsoft first party exclusives apart from Gear Tactics which has already come out on the PC. Whether these games make you want to buy a new Xbox to play them on is another matter but I would argue that is almost always the case at the launch of new consoles. It is usually a mix of old software, third party stuff and a sprinkling of first party games which are usually not very good. It's the same over at Sony where the only confirmed first party game is Miles Morales.