According to a recent announcement made by the company, Microsoft Corp is slashing the price of its eighth generation gaming console, the Xbox One by $100. Moreover, the company is also removing the requirement of a ‘Live’ Subscription worth $60 to be paid by the users in order to view popular and demanded entertainment apps, such as ESPN and NetFlix. The company is primarily making this move for spurring the sales of its console against the devices of its competitors like the Fire TV of Amazon and the PlayStation 4 of Sony Corp. This is simply another reversal that the company has had to make for its new console.
As per Anto from www.azcult.com, the Xbox One is lagging behind in sales as compared to the PS4 of Sony Corp and is also facing tough competition from other rival devices and streaming boxes, which include the new entertainment and gaming device of Amazon that costs about $99 and Apple TV as well. As far as the marketing of the gaming console is concerned, the software giant has backtracked more than a few times. Even before the console had been made available to the public, the company had chosen to eliminate the requirement for users to maintain a constant internet connection when they were using the Xbox One.
Furthermore, initially, Microsoft had announced that no support would be offered for used games in the console, but had to change its mind after an outrage from the gaming world. On Tuesday, the company made an announcement that as of June 9th, the console will be sold for a cost of $399 to people if they purchased the standalone system while the one that comes with a ‘Kinect’ motion sensor will be available for its original price of $499. Kinect is basically a sensor that tracks the body and hand movements of the users and had been regarded as integral previously by the company’s executives for experiencing the new console.
The Xbox vice president for marketing and strategy, Yusuf Mehdi said that this price cut would definitely appeal to the users of Xbox 360 who haven’t been able to try out the new console because of the affordability problems. He said in an interview that this would lead to market growth for the company. As in the case of the Wii U console of Nintendo and Sony’s PlayStation 4, from June onwards, users of the Xbox 360 and Xbox One will not have to pay the company for using the entertainment apps.
Previously, content from popular apps such as HBO, Hulu and Netflix could only be streamed by Xbox users who had opted to pay $60 for subscribing to the Xbox LIVE game and entertainment service. Since Sony and Microsoft launched their consoles in the holiday season, the Xbox One has been lagging behind its rival. It was announced by the software giant last month that since its launch, a total of 5 million units of Xbox One had been sold while Sony’s PS4 sold about 7 million units, even though it was launched a day late.