Microsoft has brought the price of its Xbox One back down to $349 after briefly raising it back to its original price of $399 at the start of the year.
The leading software maker did not specify why it decided to bring the price of its eighth-generation video game system down, but it appears as though the two-week period of selling the Xbox One for $399 didn't bode well for the Redmond, Washington-based company.
Last year, Microsoft managed to get ahead of Sony's PlayStation 4 in sales for the first time in November, breaking a nine-month leading streak by the Japanese console maker.
Microsoft's success was largely attributed to its $50 price cut introduced during the Black Friday shopping craze leading up to the holidays, along with the attractive gaming bundles Microsoft threw in for good measure.
However, Microsoft decided to bring the price back of its console to $399 on Jan. 3 presumably because the company was losing too much money over the price cuts. Rumors have surfaced that Microsoft lost as much as $300 million by selling its consoles at $349, but with the PlayStation 4 selling somewhere around 14 million units worldwide, Microsoft had to do something to catch up.
Now, Microsoft has decided it would rather sell more of its consoles and lose money on low prices than to lose even more money by not being able to sell any consoles at all.
Still, Microsoft is quick to stress that the latest price cut is only a "promotion," not a permanent change of the Xbox One's price. Also, this special pricing is not likely to come bundled with the buyer's choice of Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag or Assassin's Creed: Unity.
"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 tomorrow, Jan. 16, from their preferred retailer," said Mike Nichols, Microsoft's corporate vice president of marketing for Xbox.
Nichols also announced that Xbox One continued its lead over PlayStation 4 for the second month in December, all the more reason for Microsoft not to pull the price up for its console. During this time, the Xbox One's weekly average sales outpaced the Xbox 360 by 50 percent at the same point in its life cycle. From Nov. 24 to Jan. 3, Xbox owners spent the most time on their consoles than any other time in the past, according to Xbox Wire editor-in-chief Will Tuttle.
The Xbox 360 also fared well over the holidays, as Tuttle said it became the best-selling seventh-generation console of all time in the American market.
