Xbox One's Latest Price Cut Only Temporary, Microsoft Confirms

Microsoft's newly announced Xbox One price cut, which brings the price for the current-generation system down from $400 to $350 in the US effective Friday, is only temporary. The price will eventually return to $400, Microsoft executive Michael Nichols says, though it's unclear when that will be.

Yesterday's official announcement of the price drop made no mention of an end-date for the new, lower price point, suggesting it was a permanent price drop. However, Nichols confirmed in an interview with Polygon that the price drop was only temporary but wouldn't say when it will end.

"It's a temporary reduction and we're not announcing an end date at this point," Nichols said. "We want to see how people react to it."

The price drop announcement yesterday caught some by surprise, as it came just 12 days after Microsoft increased the Xbox One price from $350--which it retailed for during the holidays--back up to $400.

Nichols said Microsoft "made a bunch of moves to engage fans better" on Xbox One over the past year, including the launch of high-profile new games, improvements to Xbox Live, and the initial price drop, which saw the system's introductory price fall from $500 to $400.

He added that Microsoft was "as aggressive as we could be," going on to say that "the results were staggering." Today's latest price drop is meant to continue that momentum.

"Looking at just how much engagement there was over the holidays with usage of the system and the advocacy from our fans, led us to do a new promotion," Nichols said.

The Xbox One outsold the PlayStation 4 in the US for November and December, though on a worldwide basis, the PS4 was the top-selling console for all of 2014.