Microsoft Again Reduces Xbox One Pricing to $350

Over the 2014 holiday season, Microsoft temporarily reduced the price of all Xbox One models by $50, with the base model selling for $350, a move that resulted in “a record-breaking holiday season.” But less than two weeks after returning Xbox One pricing to pre-holiday prices, Microsoft has relented, and has again reduced all Xbox One models by $50.

The bad news? Once again, this appears to be a temporary offer, though this time it’s not clear when the promotional pricing ends. My advice to Microsoft? Make it permanent already.

“Building off a record-setting holiday, we are excited to announce a new promotion in which fans in the U.S. can buy an Xbox One at a special price of $349, starting January 16, from their preferred retailer,” Microsoft corporate vice president Mike Nichols said in a prepared statement. “We are thankful for all the excitement for Xbox One this holiday and proud to offer more fans the amazing games lineup, Xbox Live gaming community, and continual innovation that Xbox One fans have come to enjoy.”

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In addition to this new—and apparently temporary—price drop, Microsoft also revealed some information about its successes selling Xbox One over the holiday 2014 season. But it fell short of matching Sony’s disclosures: That company previously revealed that it has sold over 18.5 million PlayStation 4 consoles to consumers through the end of the holidays, with over 4.1 million sold during the holiday season alone.

Here’s what Microsoft did say about Xbox One sales during the holidays.

Xbox One was the best-selling console in the U.S. in November and December. What Microsoft doesn’t say, of course, is that PS4 outsold Xbox One in both months overall.

Xbox One sold more games throughout November and December in the U.S. than any other current-generation platform. Again, this is a US-only claim.

Xbox One dramatically outsold its predecessor. According to Microsoft, Xbox One “weekly average sales during these months outpaced Xbox 360 by 50 percent at the same point in its lifecycle.”

In 2014, users logged nearly 8 billion hours globally in apps across Xbox 360 and Xbox One. This is a 50 percent increase from time spent in 2013.

So that’s all very vague. Looking ahead to 2015, Microsoft points to new games—Halo 5: Guardians, Forza Motorsport 6, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Evolve, Screamride, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Ori and the Blind Forest, Battlefield Hardline—and others as evidence that this year will be even better.

I guess we’ll see.

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Conversation 9 comments

  • rokuvaan

    17 January, 2015 - 5:12 am

    I hope its permanent, been thinking of switching sides. Just waiting for Metal Gear V to come out.

  • Arraidsiren

    17 January, 2015 - 6:07 am

    Grabbed the XBOX ONE with the Halo Masterchief Collection back on Thanksgiving and then picked up the Kinect Sensor. First of all, I snagged the XBOX ONE for $339 with an additional wireless remote and the game bundled for free. Right there, I saved $190. Then I used some Best Buy gift cards and picked up my Kinect sensor for a net cost of $50. So, I saved $290 overall! That being said, I LOVE the XBOX ONE with the Kinect for getting around on it to, for example, check out OneDrive, YouTube, XBOX Video, XBOX Music, etc. Also, the Halo Game is incredible. I haven’t really been into video games since the 80’s, but I’m finding myself looking forward to playing Halo CE Anniversary when I tuck the kids each nights. LOL

    The XBOX ONE completely blows away the PS4 overall in experience. Windows 10 integrated on it will be absolutely incredible with the universal app store. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the price stick for quite a while. 🙂

  • scottcarmichael

    17 January, 2015 - 8:39 am

    I haven’t decided on whether to go the XBox One or PS4 route…but I find myself more and more likely to go with the PS4, despite me being a pretty much exclusive 360 gamer (aside from a short stint with the Wii U) since all the Sony hacking nonsense back in early 2011. I still don’t trust Sony security-wise as much as I trust Microsoft…but that doesn’t matter.

    With full fledged support from Japan devs (where the XBox One continues the XBox trend of selling terribly) and slightly better specs that DO matter (I don’t really care about 1080p vs 720p…but if PS4 can match the XBox One res and turn the freed up hardware resources to making dynamic shadows/lighting, better post processing effects, etc. that’s the better deal), I don’t see why, even at $349, the XBox One is that great of a deal. At $299 it’d be a no brainer.

    But for $50 more I get a system that has slightly better specs and likely double the number of AAA exclusives, thanks to the massive PS4 support in Japan.

    • Arraidsiren

      17 January, 2015 - 12:48 pm

      How are the specs better? By the way, besides the gaming, XBOX does a TON more than the PS4. I highly recommend you spend a couple of days with one to see. Also, watch the HUGE XBOX ONE announcement as part of the Windows 10 event next week on 1/21 before you buy. 🙂

      • DepressedFan

        17 January, 2015 - 3:12 pm

        How are the specs better? By being better, that’s how. Everyone knows the PS4 specs are superior to the Xbox One. Some will argue like Paul that it’s no big deal. But it IS better…

  • Proesterchen

    17 January, 2015 - 1:49 pm

    If this was about any other company than Microsoft, I’d expect them to have recently been delivered a clue and either not re-launch the old price with the hilarious “temporary” sticker attached again, or at least drop it quietly, eventually.

    This is Microsoft though, so I’m certain they’ll again try raising the prices.

    *FACEPALM*

  • Cave Man

    17 January, 2015 - 2:25 pm

    when is the slim refresh coming ?!? no HDMI 2.0 no HEVC no 4K Netflix [UHD Video Content] : (
    360 didn’t ship with WiFi or HDMI and a small HDD so i can accept this transition period…
    sure, sure, fine, fine, but keep it priced right and microsoft if you want to bump up the price, when the next verison drops [assuming there’s a bigger HDD] just don’t forget to drop it again: around holiday time and for back to school and randomly for some unknown poorly advertized microsoft store event thoroughout the year and for those coming major 1st party game releases (value added bundles!)…
    darn it just looks like your a sucker if you dont get yours on sale and PRICE MATCHED !!!!

  • b4rtw

    17 January, 2015 - 2:25 pm

    The only right thing to do. Period.

  • Maria1999

    17 May, 2018 - 7:20 am

    <p>The Inside everything is the same, except that it is made at the other engine on the Unity, and in its black-and-white palette appeared a little more light and even color – yellow chicken, red button … Again an impeccable artistic style at the junction of gothic, noir, futurism and phantasmagoria. And again the boy runs along uncomfortable locations (through the forest, of course, too), escapes from evil dogs, brutally dies every five minutes and drags boxes. The mechanics are the same – the child can run forward and back, jump and grab for objects <a href="http://www.kizigamesxl.com/&quot; target="_blank">kizi</a> games. Fight it and have not taught – you need to run away, hide, cunning, entice enemies, forcing them to make unnecessary movements, and then again to run away or swim away.</p>

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