VG247: Cheaper XBONE model to be released later this year

http://www.vg247.com/2014/01/31/senior-publishing-source-confirms-new-cheaper-xbox-one-release-for-2014/

....most likely kinect-less xbone

No shit. Did people think it was going to be $499 forever?

Hopefully it'll make their loss even bigger or be that ridiculous discless model.

If they took away the Kinect and blue-ray player, then I would consider getting one when the library ramps up...maybe...

To be honest, I would love to see a cheaper, discless PS4 (but that is not going to happen). I do not like to deal with physical media.

Glad I've waited.... I think I'd like to get a kinectless, disk driveless xone. Keep the ps4 as the more traditional console and let the xone be the on3 that gets my mind set on a digital future.

Ell-oh-fuckin-ell at people trying to defend this fucking weakbone at $500! AS IF!

Also, you guys are out of your mind for wanting a game console that can't play used or borrowed games. Shame on you.

drop the disc drive and Kinect and they can put it at $350... though, now I worry MS will get PSP Go kind backlash from retailers (no disc drive!), that'd could be the stake through the heart kind of move for MS, plus these games are getting goddamn ridiculous in size, they'd take forever to download, just the multi-GB patches are bad enough from the sounds of it

plus, anybody who had an Xbox 360 probably knows how MS keeps store prices high, having games for $60 when people can buy new copies in the store for $40 or $30 or even $20, they're horrible for flexible pricing, and when games do drop price they still can be had for much less... I bring this up because if people think they're saving money buying a cheap system with no disc drive are going to be disappointed when they can only acquire those games through MS's store

well, MS biting the dust in the console market would make choosing between a PS4 and an X1 an easy choice whenever I get the funds for that stuff

MS won't be happy at these leaks; a lot of people weakly thinking of getting an Xbone for Titanfall are going to hold off for the cheaper console with the larger unreplaceable hard drive that we know is in the making.

It's #Getoverit the rematch. You didn't want DRM in your console? Well now you get one with no disc drive.

Watch as no one says a fucking thing because it's merely assumed that it's just a way of making the console cheaper.

I might buy another xbox 1 later in the year.

While I suspect many will attribute MS's misfortunes this gen to the third console curse, I wonder if there's a Phil Harrison curse... I mean he was executive vice president of SCEE and a director at SCE when the PS3 was at its worse, he left to go head Atari where he watched it die, now he's in a prominent position working at MS... just saying there's a pattern here as well.

Misfortunes? They sold 3.1 million units within 1 1/2 months.. and it's not even available in all the regions. That's pretty damn good friend.

I'd happily buy a cheaper XBO, if it still had an optical drive, and still had the 500GB hard drive too.

I love the execs on the Xbox team. I like your strategy, I like it a lot. Please stay in your respective positions for as long as it takes!

Fulfulling preorders in a month or two isn't the big deal. Keeping that demand high is, though. 1 out of every 4 XBones didn't sell. That is why this desperation move is happening.

I wonder if they hadn't gone halves and shown off a driveless console last May with the same shitty DRM policies. What would the reaction have been?

So it will be cheaper, but still have a shitty library of games? Eh they could drop it to 100 bucks and I still wouldn't care until it gets a solid library of exclusive titles.

Much as I liked my xbox 360, I still barely played it because all I did was play stuff on it I couldn't play on pc, or ps3. Which wasn't a lot really that I wanted and the xbox one is going down the same path.

I would be more interested in one if they didn't include the Kinect, got rid of that ridiculous xbox live gold for everything online or at least made it seem like a good value, and stopped trying to shove it down my throat as a media device. But price drop all they want, Ill get one in a couple years once there is at least 20 games on it I cant play anywhere else.

Jesus OP I wish you would learn how to fucking read the forum before posting old news.

My dad is waiting for a price drop, so this might seal the deal.

No thanks.

Just because you don't...doesn't mean others are against physical media. I want physical media for everything.

If they can get the price down to $299 and remove the stupid paywall for things like Netflix and Amazon then it will sell well. Otherwise the PS4 will dominate this gen. A $350 price won't cut it, even if they still included Kinect.

Of course, it doesn't mean others will want digital media, but it is what I prefer. I think it would be interesting to see how a discless version of each system would sell. I wonder how much the blu-ray component of these system's cost? Not sure if it would be feasible at this point, but it would be an interesting experiment. Perhaps we will see this happen next gen.

I don't want to buy the X1 until two things happen....price drop and it builds a solid library of games unavailable on PS4. 360, and PC. However, if the only option is disc less....then I won't pick it up no matter what.

That otter make him an eager beaver.

Cool. I don't. I don't care about physical. I haven't used a disc since ages ago and I don't plan on starting now in 2014. Physical media was the reason I moved from consoles to PC in the first place.

So why not have two versions? One for you and one for me. All I want from these companies is to take DD seriously. Bring down those prices. Makes no sense that a DD copy costs the same as a retail disc one.

I agree with you on the library. Both systems are lacking on great titles right now, but I guess that it to be expected. In a year or two, I imagine both systems will have a worthwhile library.

As far as, discless systems go. I know a lot of people who feel the same way you do. They like to have a tangible form of the product, and there is nothing inherently wrong with that. A discless system may very well flop. It would be interesting to see DD sales for both systems a couple of years from now.

I can't see them removing kinect, I think if anything it will be the disk drive. That way they can get people using their online store, and buying into digital, which is ultimately where Microsoft want to go.

I dont think we'll ever see a kinect free Xbone. IT's too much a part of the core system. Guess we'll see.

LOL kids and digital.

Kid? Good one but no.

Hell can we still even justify the xbone at a cheaper price tag? It's still a weak sauce piece of trash.

Call it... Now where is Stormy Joke and the rest of the lemming squad who think xbox sales are good,this is the same company that took 2 years to lower the price of the xbox 360,by $50 in the premium model and $30 on the core one.

And 3 years to get a $100 dollar total price cut to $299 premium.

They are in a tied spot just like sony was on 2006,oh and remember when the PS3 loss backward compatibility where it is say that it will lose either kinect or the Blu-ray drive,i hope is Kinect what goes away.

hahhahahhaa please let this be true, i really hope it comes without a disc drive. just so i can watch xbox crumble haha they are so clueless if they actually go ahead with this

Drop the Monthtly fee's and id think about purchasing one for 300 pound.

You better believe I will bash it to hell and back... I cant believe there isn't more of an uproar over this. Then again, I don't think many people know yet... or the fact it isn't even completely confirmed yet.

The only reason it isn't making a bigger splash around these parts is because the PS4 and X1 already have a console released with a disc drive and most the people here are those who closely follow the industry and are likely to already OWN whatever console/s they desire.

To the mainstream though? This needs to be brought to their attention... I really don't think the disc-less console will fare well... then again maybe that is just wishful thinking. That option is no better than MS's original plan.

Over what? Over an optional version that you can choose not to buy? Is there an uproar for a steam machine without disc drive?

From what I have seen around most forums I visit there isn't a lot of hype for the Steam Machine. However, funny you bring this up... I'm not going to go digging through my posts, but a couple weeks back or so I DID make a post saying I was wondering if I could have a custom built steam machine WITH a disc drive.

PC gamers are used to digital gaming because for the most part they have no other option, I also realize there are people like you out there that prefer digital over physical.

I'm just saying it didn't go down well before, and I hope it doesn't go down well again.

You may not be a kid and honestly I am curious of your age... Why is it that physical doesn't matter to you as much? Space issues? I am not flaming or bashing, I seriously would like to know.

I prefer physical media, and I don't want to see it vanish from the console industry. I watched it disappear from PC gaming, and it never sat well with me. Does that mean I don't have a Steam account? No... I do. However, I only have a handful of games, because it makes me sick every time I purchase a game I cant hold in my hand. Why? I'm not really sure. However, I would NEVER pay full price for a digital game unless it was one I REALLY wanted and could not get it any other way.

I like to get games as soon as they launch... and I don't want to wait for them to drop in price or have a Steam sale. Also, games on Xbox live and PSN just don't drop in price all that much. If this goes over well, don't expect it to be like Steam where sales are common place.... expect MS to expect top dollar for digital fluff.

Maybe that is what they mean by the cloud. Digital air...

Well, when Sony had to cut out B/C from the PS3 to save production costs and accelerate price drops, I know I was dog-piling them over it. However, for all intents and purposes, people stayed pretty quiet because Sony desperately needed to cut the price of the PS3 to be competitive.

However, since MS opened this gen up with insane DRM, will people put two and two together if they abandon the disc drive as a cost-cutting apparatus? I mean, how much does a disc drive really add to production costs? Not a lot. Ditching Kinect alone will save a LOT more than the pittance of a bulk produced disc drive for a tried and true format like BluRay.

Obviously, if MS can put the hatchet to the used game market, they stand to make a lot of money off of getting people to buy licenses to everything. Will people fall for it?

@Snugenz I apologize for getting it wrong. I'm not above admitting when I've made a mistake. You consistently defend the XBone, though. I guess I was out of line.

Guys, having Kinect free means 150 dollar lower price, without blu-ray also 50 dollars, this means Xbox One could be easily 299 us dollars.

Like Microsoft said: THEY NEVER DROP KINECT or there will be no games on Kinect. If Microsoft drops Kinect, then Microsoft loses automaticly against Nintendo and Sony. So yeah, Microsoft drops blu-ray which helps them lower price to 399 but it will be still with kinect

lol so the used games uproar wasnt heard by ms or are they going to allow sale, trade in and borrow of digital games? either way i think that drm is going to creep back in

doesnt steam let you lend games out? i totally heard that was possible. im not sure about trading in digital titles yet but i heard lending games was there. maybe thats why no one is raging about it

It's good to see someone else gets it... It isn't about a way to cut production costs and compete... it is a different route to the same means they tries to pull before. I really hope that intelligence levels are high enough to realize this. I REALLY worried the first time, and people shocked me... maybe they will do it again.

I started gaming with atari. I had my fair share of discs and cassettes. During the Xbox/PS2 era I had both those consoles but modified my xbox and installed almost all the games on it.

As someone that grew with physical media for games this was amazing for me. I didn't have to go and find the disc everytime I wanted to change the game I was playing. I didn't have to worry about scratches on my discs or my disc drive slowly dying, something that was common on my PS2.

So I got spoiled by that and next gen comes I buy a 360 expecting the same experience but no. MS didn't do anything new, it was still discs and you couldn't mod the console anymore. That was dissapointing, I was expecting more from a company like MS because I knew Sony wouldn't dare anything crazy. Funnily enough my brand new console decides to make a lovely scratching ring on my brand new game so I said f... that and went PC. I was right. PC would eventually ignore physical and focus on digital. Retail with its discs didn't have any saying in the prices of DD games, steam could price them however they want without the fear of pissing of retail. Something MS and Sony couldn't do.

So yeah that's why I hate it. It's an archaic piece of tech. For me it makes no sense to have digital data on a physical form.

It gets lost, the vast majority of my past library of games are god knows where but I can find everything on the web, DD. Physical is prone to damage and I sure as hell don't like changing discs every time I switch games. Plus I don't like the clutter you have to deal with physical. All I want is to type the name of the game and start playing. The game is what I care about, not how it is packaged.

Fair enough. Thank you for giving me a well thought out response to an honest question. For those like yourself this endeavor would work out nicely.

I have never had some of those problems you mentioned, but I am sure if I had consoles that scratched my discs up when I was younger I may have a different attitude today. As it stands however, we are on very different ends of the spectrum.

Hopefully we can both get what we want without compromise. If not then I'm sure our paths will cross again and we shall be unwillingly forced to do battle.... lol

(*insert Cable Guy star trek theme here)

Most likely a dic drive less Xbone.

After the last e3 I would be very wary of any digital only xflop. I knew that MS would try to bring back that plan just never thought it would be so early.

They can't possibly ship this without Kinect, that's the whole reason the Xbox One exists. It was built on the shoulders of Kinect's functionality. If they ship a model without Kinect attached, it'll be a fragmented mess and a near admission of their poor decision to include Kinect in the first place. If it worked flawlessly and made life easier, it would truly be a cool addition. Sadly I don't think that's what's happened so far.

Have we gotten numbers of profit margins for each company yet? Raw hardware data regarding how much it costs to build and ship an Xbox One and a PS4? I'd be very curious to see if MS is enjoying higher margins than Sony.

Yeah. Just drop XBLG and it's easily the best value on the console market, even at $500.

That is if you believe that Kinect cost $150 when is the GPU of the xbox one and shapes what do the brute force on the camera.

I don't think MS will slash $200 dollars out of the xbox one,1 year after launch..

And a console without a drive.? May i remind you of how sad the PSP Go sold.?

But MS has Kinect and is losing already.

Blu-ray will not help the xbox one shave $100,and a console without a drive will hurt MS more than help it,people will see it as an attend to control content,which it is since MS policy on downloaded games is different than on physical copies,is way more strict sony to by the way.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136268

You can get a Blu-ray drive for $50 LG MS who buys them in the million get them way cheaper than you,if anything Blu-ray could save MS $30 dollars at most per unit,which is not enough for $100 price cut unless MS want to eat a loss.

options are good i like this. i dont borrow or trade games and the closest walmart to me is an hour drive away. digital copies of games are my first choice. i already have my xbone but might grab another one for my rec room if this is true