In the wake of increased pressure from the Sony PlayStation 4, Microsoft has chosen to slash the price of the Xbox One in the U.K. to £399. This move is in no way surprising, because the console has been lagging behind the PlayStaiton 4 since it launched back in November of 2013. At the moment, the PlayStation 4 is over 5 million strong, while the Xbox One is still struggling to reach 4 million units in sales.
To put icing on the cake, Microsoft is offering a limited edition Xbox One in the U.K. with TitanFall preinstalled on the hard drive for the same price.
Before the price cut, the Xbox One was selling in the U.K. for £429, which is approximately $713. The new £399 price tag will place it at around $664 in U.S. currency. At this moment in time, Microsoft has not stated whether or not a similar price drop will roll over into North America. However, considering the state of the market right now with the PlayStation 4 dominating every week, one shouldn't be surprised if Microsoft announced a North American price drop in the coming months.
"The reason we're doing this is that we're committed to giving gamers the best value that we can," said Harvey Eagle, Xbox's marketing director in the U.K..
"We're only a few months into a generation of consoles that are going to last for many many years to come," he added.
"And now just feels like the right time to make the adjustment on the price."
Usually when a console launches, the price cut doesn't happen until a few years down the line, so this price cut is a clear indication that the Xbox One is not performing as well as Microsoft would have liked. It's been a long time since the console market witnessed a price cut in the first 3 months of a new console's life cycle.
Folks in the UK won't be the only ones to get a TitanFall bundle. Microsoft's very own, Major Nelson, announced a TitanFall bundle for North America at the same price of $499. This bundle will begin going on sale come March 11, and will include the Xbox One, Kinect, a single controller, headset, and digital copy of the game itself. Furthermore, it will also include one month free Xbox Live Gold membership.
