Xbox One demand increased after price drop news, says GameStop president

Microsoft's Kinect-less Xbox One is $100 cheaper, which has raised demand according to GameStop president Tony Bartel.

21

Microsoft's recently announced Kinect-less Xbox One is also serving as a $100 price drop for the system, in a move that seems aimed at closing the remaining gap between it and PlayStation 4. That gambit appears likely to work, as GameStop recently noted it has seen increased interest in the console at its stores since the announcement.

"I definitely think we're already seeing in our stores [that] there's a stronger demand as a result of the price drop," GameStop president Tony Bartel said in an earnings call (via IGN). "The good news for us is... we'll sell a lot more units. And that means there will be more [Xbox One] units out there to put software on."

Xbox head Phil Spencer has said that offering a Kinect-free option was one part of his three-pronged approach to satisfy fan demands. The other two were bringing Games with Gold to Xbox One, and removing the Gold requirement for entertainment apps. All three were announced alongside the new Xbox model. The company hasn't abandoned Kinect entirely, though. Spencer mentioned that a standalone version will still be coming later, and marketing officer Yusuf Mehdi said that bundling Kinect was still "the right call" for the initial launch.

Editor-In-Chief
Filed Under
From The Chatty
  • reply
    May 26, 2014 1:00 PM

    Steve Watts posted a new article, Xbox One demand increased after price drop news, says GameStop president.

    Microsoft's Kinect-less Xbox One is $100 cheaper, which has raised demand according to GameStop president Tony Bartel.

    • reply
      May 26, 2014 1:03 PM

      Shocking.

    • reply
      May 26, 2014 1:07 PM

      That's baffling.

    • reply
      May 26, 2014 1:13 PM

      Early adopters should sell their kinect systems for the same price as a kinect-less Xbox and then buy a PS4 or a nice pair of jeans

    • reply
      May 26, 2014 1:29 PM

      It's not really a price reduction, is it? I mean, you are getting about $100 less product now for $100 less money.

      Seems to me it's really the same price, just a new base point SKU.

      • reply
        May 26, 2014 1:35 PM

        It depends on perspective, really. If you don't want the camera, you'll see it as a price reduction.

      • reply
        May 26, 2014 1:43 PM

        I already wasted $100 on a Kinect for my 360 and it's definitely not a selling point for the One for me. I also don't want the voice command stuff; if it the One actually provided some functionality -- like was a DVR or something -- I might be into it, but since it's just a dumb box that my DVR's running through, what's the point? I have a Harmony that controls everything else and I'm perfectly happy with it.

        In addition, if the voice stuff on the One works anything like the voice crap on my 360, I'd want to turn that crap off anyway. When I used to use my 360 as my primary media device for Netflix, it'd constantly pause for no reason while something was playing. The random freezing stopped once I disconnected my Kinect.

        It's a $100 noose around the Xbox One's neck afaic that's finally been untied.

        • reply
          May 26, 2014 4:44 PM

          The Voice stuff on the 'Bone is miles better than the 360 stuff.

          • reply
            May 26, 2014 5:18 PM

            I'd never use it.

            • reply
              May 26, 2014 7:18 PM

              We'll you certainly won't now, but you might have been pleasantly surprised.

        • reply
          May 26, 2014 8:11 PM

          [deleted]

        • reply
          May 27, 2014 8:21 AM

          Kinect demo'd really well in the store. Then you brought it home and tried to play games with it and realized it was frustrating as hell and pretty much impractical. It's a bug, not a feature.

          I believe MS thought it was a game-changer when we saw it as just another gimmick like the Wiimote and were already over it.

      • reply
        May 26, 2014 1:54 PM

        [deleted]

      • reply
        May 26, 2014 2:52 PM

        $100 less AND doesn't include a kinect. Win win if you ask me. Seriously if both packages were the same, i would buy the one without a kinect.

      • reply
        May 26, 2014 8:13 PM

        It's an Xbox One Core

      • reply
        May 27, 2014 4:25 AM

        That's correct, as far as I can tell.

    • reply
      May 26, 2014 1:43 PM

      Laws of Supply and Demand stand strong.

    • reply
      May 26, 2014 2:19 PM

      [deleted]

    • reply
      May 26, 2014 3:43 PM

      That's curious. I would expect the opposite effect in the short term as consumers hold off purchases until the lower priced sku is released.

    • reply
      May 26, 2014 4:09 PM

      Thank you, Captain Obvious.

    • reply
      May 26, 2014 5:00 PM

      I really hope the President is smarter than that. Demand for the Xbox barely budged as a result of the price change but the lower price increased the number of people willing to purchase.

      • reply
        May 26, 2014 7:13 PM

        Are you pulling out the academic definition of demand here? You know what he meant.

        "Demand" means "quantity demanded" in this instance. Of course he isn't referring to the economics definition of demand, since that is a graph of quantity demanded at every possible price and can only be shifted by non-price factors.

        • reply
          May 26, 2014 7:41 PM

          It is not an academic question when you are discussing the impact of a price change. Price can change demand if it opens up distribution channels that didn't exist before (I guess you could say it reveals the true demand curve as well) and that is one of the most frequent reasons given for a request to decrease pricing but is incredibly rare in practice.

          I'm guessing the coded message he is sending is that the elasticity multiplier is closer to 0 than Microsoft had hoped.

          • reply
            May 26, 2014 8:31 PM

            Are you taking about the price elasticity of demand when you say "elasticity multiplier?" It's been a while since I've taken economics, but I never thought of PED as a multiplier.

            There were also a few other changes that happened along with the price change that could have possibly shifted demand. The removal of the Xbox Live paywall and announcement of more details of the upcoming Games with Gold for Xbox One could have increased demand, however slightly.

      • reply
        May 26, 2014 7:45 PM

        He said increased interest which could mean anything from preorders of the new SKU or people coming in the store to ask about the console. The new sku is released until early next month so it will be another month before we will find any kind of hard sales figures.

    • reply
      May 26, 2014 8:53 PM

      With how fast they hit the panic button, I will wait until it is $300 or $400 bundled with game and Kinect this fall. (I missed the sales earlier, due to lack of money)

      • reply
        May 27, 2014 6:55 AM

        ^ I'm kinda with that guy, x-mas 2015 kinect bundle 399 with game/games, plus a couple games worth playing will be out.

    • reply
      May 26, 2014 9:55 PM

      I don't understand how this could happen. It's totally against the laws of supply and demand.

    • reply
      May 26, 2014 10:18 PM

      Why did Gamespot feel compelled to announce this?

      • reply
        May 27, 2014 8:12 AM

        To drum up more demand. Today's market is heavily affected by public opinion and hype. If the undecided folks are browsing around the web and see an article like this saying how demand has risen for the Xbox One, then suddenly they want to buy one before stock runs out, even though they may not be sure why they want it in the first place.

Hello, Meet Lola