Viper87227
Fully [H]
- Joined
- Jun 2, 2004
- Messages
- 18,017
So this will NEVER happen, but if MS made iit $99 and they would sell a metric shit ton. They'll lose money on each console, but they will make it up on the digital spectrum. OTOH... you know it will come with a 500gb HDD which will suck. You'll constantly be deleting and re-downloading games. But won't happen. It'll probably be like $179 and maybe $149 by next BF or Xmas.
TBH tho, omitting the $20 BR drive isn't a huge deal in cost savings. This is purely a move to go all digital. And for some people with shitty internet or data caps (like, a LOT of the USA) this is not going to go over too well.
While I agree that $99 is extremely unlikely, it absolutely sell a ton of units. Even at $149, I think they could sell a lot. You're spot on that the lower retail price really has nothing to do with the cost savings of omitting the disc drive, and everything to do with the potential for higher profits in a digital only library. MS can risk breaking even or losing money on every console knowing that they stand to make good money by upping the adoption rates of digital games... especially if they can use it to push game pass. A low cost console that they can use to get people into long-term game subscriptions could be very lucrative. Even marketing it as high end 4K set-top box in hopes to sell games to people who don't normally buy game consoles could play out. There is lots of potential here, especially if they make it smaller and quieter in addition to cheaper.