Worth it to wait?

So, I currently own every console except a xone. I would get it this year, but I have way too many games to play as it is. The deal that Microsoft has on their website is really good though, the Ac bundle with a $50 gift card.

I heard that the price of the xbox will be going back up to $400 in the new year. The optimal time for me to buy this system would be sometime holiday 2015, when all the deals are going around, but will the xbox be as cheap as it is now? Or, should I purchase it now and just hold off on playing it until I've enjoyed my other platforms for a little while.

You should go ahead and purchase a Xbox One. I'm not sure how long Microsoft plan on keeping the price at its current state of $349.00 (there are many solid game on the Xbox One as well).

PS... Xbox Live is better than PlayStation Network and that's the honest truth not some fanboy statement.

@AdrianJNYC:

I wasn't asking if one of was better than the other. Simply wanted to know if the price will be higher or lower next holiday season based on the current trend. Microsoft is off their slump so theres no need to price cut heavily to get their name out there, but it will be old hardware next year so they will have to do some kind of price cuts, I'm curious to know if it will be more or less severe than what they are currently doing.

I don't believe it's a temporary price drop (or if it was, it will go back to $350 soon enough), that's just marketing to inflate demand. We've seen this tactic before many, many times over the decades. Also, it's not $349.00, it's $349.99 (Basically $350, the ninety nine cents is another marketing move employed by various companies to get you to believe you are paying in this case, $349.00 like you typed, but you aren't, you are paying $349.99. By removing a single penny from the price, it gives the impression you've removed a whole dollar. I was not sure if that pricing strategy really worked on the public, but you mistakenly typed $349.00, so I guess it does work). Just be on the lookout for that stratagem next time you go to the supermarket, all kinds of products employ it.

To me since the announcement of the $349.99 bundle I heard marketing. It always was just PR and marketing as far as I was concerned. It's happened before and it's an old trick. I never believed it was limited deal for a second, it just puts extra pressure on the consumer right now and sets up a big generous PR move after the holidays. It's a way to create some demand. They do a deal and come off as the good guys hopefully generating goodwill after the fact.

Watch how easy it is with this mock up PR statement I wrote:

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"After the raging SUCCESS of our $349.99 Xbone temporary price drop to the holidays, we here at Microsoft have decided to extend the promotion permanently for all consumers to enjoy the great value the new Xbone offers! We understand the holidays were busy and people may have missed out on the fantastic promotion so we are extending this amazing deal indefinitely!"

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They can even spin it so the promotion is limited again until May (E3) time. They will most likely start removing bundled games and just keep the price point. It really depends also on their internal figures and how hard they want to compete against the PS4. If they decide they hit higher than they expected, they could decide to revert to the old price point only to be saviors at E3 by going back down to $349.99. They left themselves open for that. Go from $349.99 Holiday 2014 to $399.99 for a few months then back to $349.99 at E3 2015 with the above fake PR statement. That's a lot of work though and it could get people apprehensive. They want to avoid any and all backlash regarding the Xbone. I think the above fake PR statement I made up works well to announce after the holiday season is over. It's the kind of PR we've seen before. The same way they removed Kinect's requirement months before the Xbone launched allowing them to sell a Kinectless Xbone in the future if they wanted, despite all their PR talk of Kinect being essential to the Xbone and stating Kinect would NEVER be removed. You have to read between the lines with marketing.

Of course, sales and numbers will come into play. They have access to their internal figures. For instance, if this promotion didn't work, we would have seen perhaps a lower price point introduced sooner or more bundles for more games. I'm under the impression the promotion worked well though. If they found the sweet-spot with the current deal, then it's going to be set in stone for awhile.

As far as I'm concerned, that is just a smart sales tactic. I wouldn't believe the the price is going up to $400, or if it does, it will only be temporarily $400 until E3 or another event...but that's a stretch as they want to avoid bad publicity. The "temporary" part of the current promotion is a retail sales tactic employed on a grand scale....if it goes up, I'll be blown away.

As far as best deals? I've seen the Xbone for $330 bundled with two games and a $50 gift card, which was sort of a $280 Xbone.

E3 (early summer 2015) is a prime time to do price drops and right before holidays is another. Of course, if the machine is selling very well, they won't drop the price for awhile (see Xbox 360 prices 2005-2014). Waiting for holiday 2015 will definitely get you better bundles with better games than what's available now. Halo 5 will be out then for instance.

I own both, but in doing so I find myself playing one less than the other (My PS4 is for exclusives and multipalts due to the tech, my Xbone is for exclusives).

This link might help you because ultimately it comes down to which games you want.

If there are a bunch of Xbone games you want, go for it. http://www.listwar.com/released-games/

@SolidTy:

Thank you, Gamespot released this article, that the Xone will be $400 as of January 3rd.

I just wonder how long it will stay at that price for, considering the biggest appeal of the system is the bundle and price tag (to the mass consumer). Curious to see how the system will fair in 2015 before the holidays.

@polishkid99: It looks like they are going for scenario B then, but I wouldn't worry about it as E3, CES, and more are right around the corner.

I can easily assure you that it will, at the very least, be $350 for the next holiday season, but I suppose it can go even lower than that, perhaps to $300 or somewhere around $330. I would advise you to wait until then, as I've been doing the same for both the Xbox One and the PS4.

You can always get electronics cheaper if you wait but then you don't get to use it now.

You should definitely get a Xbox One now. With all of the exclusives it has, it will make you forget about all of the other consoles.

To me it makes no difference, where I live the console is worth 500 US dollars, there was no reduced price for us, but I don´t see why you should wait to get one, it´s not going to go cheaper, most probably it will rise during the first days of the year, 50 dollars doesn´t sound like much but it´s still 50 dollars less if you get it now.

There you go:

http://www.gamespot.com/forums/system-wars-314159282/xbox-one-holiday-price-cut-ending-on-january-3-31768298/#26

wait till next year. they will have a slim version and an even BETTER deal than the great deals they had this past year.

might even have a halo special edition console.

@makemefamous07:

I love fighting games and I grew up with them. I didn't care for Killer Instinct. It was too dumbed down for the masses/casuals with the dial a combo easy style the new developers implemented. I own the original Killer Instincts though, I remember when KI was only an arcade game and later ported to the SNES. I remember buying the SNES game and I got a music CD with it.

The new Killer Instinct got a lower 73/100 at metacritic, so the new KI definitely didn't light the world on fire and isn't a game everyone loves according to the critics (link below). It's true that pleasing everyone is a tall order. I think something like Street Fighter 4 I could endorse with a sweeping generalization like that, but not the new KI (although I wish I could after all the hours I spent with my new KI copy). As a legacy and long time fighting fanatic, I have definitely played the hell out of this new version, but what is there is style and flash over substance and balance. I'm good at it, but it's just not what I was hoping for in a modern fighting game or an update to a RAREware classic I hold dear.

http://www.metacritic.com/game/xbox-one/killer-instinct

I got Killer Instinct at Xbone launch and I own all the characters with season 1. It's not bad, don't get me wrong, but you said specifically "Killer instinct which everyone is loving if u like fighters" and I love fighters but I don't love KI. It's alright though, but I wouldn't put KI in the same league as Halo or Forza which are well respected franchises with very high critical scores and droves of fans.

As a longtime fighting game fanatic and longtime Killer Instinct fan, I wanted to weigh in on this since the TC may actually also wonder about KI and I can provide my take on the same game.

Get the Xbox one now $350.00 for a Xbox one console with 2 games Assassin's creed Unity and Assassin's Creed Black flag. plus a gift card thrown in worth $50.00 which you can use for an Extra controller or for Xbox live or for another game.

This is the best deal for Xbox one console. Now is the time to "jump in" as Microsoft likes to put it. Xbox one is normally $400.00 for a Xbox one console with No games or the extra $50.00 gift card which is a nice "Throw in"

It is all about the throw ins.

there's really no point in owning one if you're not going to be able to play it due to a huge backlist, but if you want to take advantage of the specials then now is a good time, I keep seeing it listed at $350 for the AC Unity + Black Flag bundle, and seen multiple stores still offer things like a $50 gift card. That's pretty good.

Wtill though, if you wait and if you own an Xbox 360 and have a current XBL Gold account, log onto Xbox.com and redeem all the GwG free games you can so when you eventually do get an Xbox One you'll have a nice list of free games waiting for you.