A United Kingdom retailer, Maplin, has cut the Xbox One price from £399.99 to £349.99, which is the same price as the Playstation 4. Now this is not an official cut by Microsoft, however, Maplin likely cut the price to improve their lackluster sales of the console. And as GameSpot points out this is the first time anywhere that the Xbox One and Playstation 4 has had the same price.
This attempt to boost sales is an indication of Microsoft losing the global fight: particularly in the United Kingdom. For instance, a GameSpot article from the beginning of the year indicated that in the United Kingdom the Playstation 4 is selling 1.5 consoles for every Xbox One, which was a complete reversal from the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 generation. Now Sony’s previous generation was considered a failure with the United Kingdom market, but since then, they have increased their market share from twenty-three to forty percent in the last two years: it received a huge boost from the launch of the Playstation 4.
Now, this Xbox One price cut is no surprise; the surprising aspect is how it is coming from the retailer and not from Microsoft. Sony is clearly winning these markets and have globally out sold Microsoft with the next generation consoles: the Playstation 4 has sold 6 million systems as of March 8th, while the last Microsoft report from 2013 only had the Xbox One at 3 million. Microsoft needs to do something to derail the Playstation 4, which was the fastest selling console in the United Kingdom’s history. On top of this, Xbox One was killed by the Playstation 4’s sales in the United States; in January, Sony’s new console nearly doubled the sale of the Xbox One, which was reverse of December. But it is important to point out that in December Microsoft outsold Sony because the Playstation 4 was having availability issues: with this issue gone it seems that Microsoft’s extreme price will now dictate their sales. Now, hopefully with the release of Titanfall Microsoft’s sales will get a boost, but overtime Microsoft will be hurt by this $500 or £399.99 price tag. Yes, Xbox One will be sold, but if they want to stay competitive with Sony, Microsoft will have to eventually lower their price.
Last, it is unknown how long Maplin’s price cut will be in effect or if this will change Xbox One’s price in any other market. For any information about the Xbox One or Playstation 4, please continue to visit Gamer Headlines.
Source: GameSpot