So Microsoft had taken the same 'we'll win this generation's console war because we won the last one and everyone likes us better' stance with the Xbox 1. You know, the same stance that hurt Sony so much going from PS2 to PS3 (taking essentially the entire life-cycle of the console to get even again).
So now they've decided to release a version without Kinect, i.e. lowering the price by 100, which seems like a clever move.
But read these snippets from one of their spokepersons, many completely contradicting earlier viewpoints. Corporate bullshit to the max!
"...for years now we’ve been trying to be very customer focused, looking to our fans and taking their feedback. You can track all the way back to E3, where after we got out we had a lot of good feedback about how you can play games, used games, and online connectivity. We’ve been very responsive, and this is consistent with that approach."
"...the reason people buy these consoles is to play games."
"It’s hard to really assess the gap in sales. They’re in many more markets right now than we are. They’re in 40+ markets, we’re in 13. People have been more satisfied with the Xbox 360 than the PS3, so in that respect people have less of a need to upgrade in the short term due to regular updates for the Xbox 360."
Full article:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2014/05/13/microsofts-yusuf-mehdi-explains-the-xbox-ones-split-with-kinect-2/Really. People upgrade from PS3 to 4 (no Xbox users do this apparently) but Xbox users are so much more happy with their 360 that they don't want to get the 1? How can you even say such a thing with a straight face?
Regardless. We'll see what it does for them. I think the 100 dollar lower price point will really help them, especially to keep 360 players that haven't upgraded yet. Those that went PS4 though....
Competition is good though, keeps quality higher and prices lower (though AAA-titles more the same arguably).
