The Xbox One, despite being a perfectly competent console in its own right, is not quite keeping pace with the PlayStation 4’s early sales. Many people put that down to the price, set by Microsoft at an ambitious £429.99 in the UK. Well, following a retailer price cut this morning, that looks like it will soon officially change with the Titanfall bundle.
The bundle, which we reported on earlier, is set to retail at a price of £399.99, including a code for the digital edition of the upcoming Microsoft exclusive (Windows and Xbox) and a month of free Live Gold, so you can play it. That represents a significant saving on a previously assumed combined cost of around £479 – £429 for the console and £50 for the game.
The new price comes into effect from February 28th in the UK and there’s unfortunately no plan for a deal, similar to the one Nintendo offered 3DS early adopters, which would offer rewards to early adopters who bought the console at its previous price.
This seems to indicate a desire to add value to the proposition for Xbox One, with a view to increasing its install base over the next few months. It’s safe to assume that Microsoft has some more in store for the end of the year, with their recent acquisition of the Gears of War IP and many rumours circulating about the Crackdown series surely just the tip of the iceberg. That said, ensuring that the console is still very attractive to third parties is incredibly important and a broader install base is the only way to guarantee that.
Titanfall is available on PC and, slightly later, on Xbox 360 but there seems to have been a much greater push for it on Xbox One. Having played the beta earlier this month, I was very impressed with how well it balanced several styles of play, how it made itself very busy with AI bots and good map design and how it made the gameplay fun, regardless of whether you were in a Titan or wall-running and jetting around the map on foot. It seems like the perfect game to appeal to Xbox’s traditional group of hardcore fans but also a great game to serve as an accessible introduction to next gen consoles and multiplayer fun.
Source: press release
Erroneus
Clever move Microsoft, as many properly are considering picking up Xbox One just for Titanfall. This minor price-drop and bundle with the game, will surly push some more to do it.
bunimomike
Agreed. We don’t usually buy a console for just one game but there’s a tipping point in justification and Titanfall has to be a huge one for potential punters.
JR.
It’s a good deal but are people really going to run out and buy an XBO to play Titanfall when its also available on PC & 360? Why spend £400 when you can pay £30-40 for the exact same experience?
bunimomike
A good move by Microsoft. No company wants to admit they were wrong with certain strategies but there are effective ways to circumnavigate such missteps. This being one of them.
camdaz
I don’t know about that, a price cut this early screams ‘panic, we got it wrong’.
Stefan L
Don’t forget how Microsoft gave away free games to early adopters of the original Xbox, when they realised that they’d priced that one too high and dropped it by $100.
Peter Chapman
hmmm. I bought it at launch an I would quite like some free stuff.
boeboe
Why don’t they just chop the Kinect? No one wants it and theres no software that justifies it.
Peter Chapman
it’s integral to the way the console interface works and the future of most 1st party software, elements of plenty of 3rd party software and one of their big hopes for a subscription/incremental pricing structure – Xbox Fitness.
boeboe
By elements in 3rd/1st party software, you mean like lean and wave type things?
Xbox Fitness: get me, to Mars. Good christ what happened to the world? Its like McDonalds sponsoring marathons; whilst you’re taking a break flashed of Doritos and Mountain Dew pop up on the screen. Theres a reason why the diet/fitness world is worth so many billions: because it doesn’t work! Mars.
Bilbo_bobbins
It’s needed, but also makes people think twice at the same time, why is a new console already getting a cut in price?
Dominic Leighton
I still couldn’t justify that for one game, especially if the 360 version of Titanfall turns out to be good. There’ll be a jumping on point somewhere for me but it’s less than £399.99!
MICKY17
Well that didn’t take long! But this will entice even more people interested in Titanfall to pick up a XBO even more so clever move Microsoft.
Starman
It certainly needed the price cut, and with Titanfall included its a decent price.
rama26285
A step in the right direction. It’s a shame they only include a digital copy though.
I also really hope people aren’t going to go out and spend £400 on a console for just one game! Pick a console for years to come, not just the first commercially hyped game.
stonyk
Somebody help me. Starting to feel tempted. Just readin up about it on the bbc website. Is it just me or do the bbc report on everything pro Xbone? Oddly the headline is Xbone price cut to match the PS4 but it isn’t really. its still £70 more AND thats without some stores offering the pS4 for £300.
Anyway, it is really tempting me now and need to try not to get drunk enough to do something stupid. Will definitely get this at some point but need to be patient for another price drop.
bunimomike
BBC’s Xbox (360 and One) bias is something that’s usually noticeable in every article they do. I often see Sony news either forgotten about or cast in a dim light when comparing how they run their Xbox articles.
The most recent – and I’m paraphrasing – said something like “but these sales figures are from Sony so take that with a pinch of salt” even though they quoted Microsoft’s figures a paragraph before and had no problem with that.
For a top level media and news company, I find their bias a bit of a disgrace to be honest.
boeboe
The fact that does happen isn’t as much disgraceful as it is disturbing imo. Tis disturbing.