The Xbox One is currently on sale for $449.99 at all Best Buy, Walmart and Target locations and their corresponding websites. The price cut also applies to Titanfall bundles.
Amazon is offering the standard Xbox One for $479.99 and the Titanfall bundle for $499.99, but the promo code “XIAMAZON” can be used to knock $50 off the Titanfall bundle. Kotaku reported earlier today that the code could be used to purchase an Xbox One Forza 5 Bundle on Amazon for only $400, but that has since disappeared. GameStop is not offering the console at a discounted price.
According to Polygon, the sales are not representative of a price cut from Microsoft. “This offer is available at Walmart and Best Buy retail stores in the U.S. for a limited time,” a spokesman told Polygon. “Microsoft sets a suggested retail price, but specific pricing and offers vary by retailer.”
Microsoft has been very creative in its bundling and marketing plans, but the company remains steadfastly against an overall price drop. AllThingsD’s teardown of the system revealed that it costs about $471 to build an Xbox One, so a price cut would mean selling the console at a loss. The teardown mentions that at least $75 of this costs is from the Kinect.
Rumors have circulated that Microsoft is considering removing the Kinect from the console package and selling it separately the way the PS4 does, but no official comments backing up that rumor have been made. The console’s price was already cut in Europe.