…Nothing?
I am 99% certain I saw some MS official marketing material with MSRP cited instead of ERP (and other way around). So not sure that angle on things is legit wrt drawing any inferences from. Even with MSRP of $500 they can still just drop the price if they wanted to anyhow.
I’m expecting $400/$500 PS5 setup. I think MS is fine as is and think their All Access option is still easily the best way for them to market their box. If I were MS, I’d do a few things for launch on the software side instead:
Halo MCC XSX update with RT Minecraft path traced (1080p/60fps on XSX and 720p/30fps on XSS) Minecraft Dungeons RT FlightSimulator Halo Infinite MP beta w/RT Cyberpunk on GP @ launch (bury CDPR in cash)
- market BC+ upgrades for major titles that PS4 gamers woulda missed out on this gen
- market All Access as THE way to buy the XSS/XSX
- give away 3 months of GPU for anyone buying the XSS/XSX outright this holiday
Note: This is less about combating Sony on price (they won that battle no matter what with All Access and XSS). It is more about rewriting the narrative surrounding launch software and the notion that GP only gets ‘old, indie’ titles.
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I think we’ll see gameplay videos ramp up as we get closer to launch.
I thought the OP was more around Microsoft’s pricing strategy rather than games.
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Release a XSX without a disc drive for $199 and drop the XSS to $49 /s
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They just need to have a marketing as good as Sony and invest as much as Sony in marketing (especially Europe).
MS is not spending enough in marketing.
If $400 is possible for PS5de, why Microsoft didn’t do the same with XSX? A $400 Series X is much better than $300 Series S.
Do nothing. I think they are the prices MS is expecting from Sony.
They can’t go lower than $299 for the S and if they change the price of the X it’ll show they don’t believe it’s a $499 machine.
Don’t forget the ps5 camera (optional) and the built in mic recording…Kinect is that you?
Xbox would remain at a strong price position, if the PS5 comes in at $399/499. If they are truly dropping the Gold requirement for online play, which I believe is critical to their “Xbox is a single ecosystem across a myriad of devices” messaging, that’s not a bad announcement to have up their sleeve for a rainy day; i.e., sometime around Sony’s Wednesday showing.
Going forward, their focus needs to be on further developing and promoting Game Pass and their first-party offerings. If they do that, in aggressive fashion, they’ll be better than fine.
I’m not quite buying the logic that the lack of a Blu-Ray saves $100 to be honest - but, yeah, £399 has worked well for Sony so I can see why they would try and hit that price again.
As for Xbox? I would say “buy Series S for $100 cheaper and then subscribe to Game Pass and get access to over 100+ games and 4 generations of BC - opposed to buying PS5DE for $100 more and then buying games for the thing at full price.”
…that was quite a mouthful but you get the idea. 
Dirt 5 developer did say they’d be talking about the game and Series S very soon, so there’s that.
It’s not just the lack of drive, it’s the increase in digital sales because you can’t buy or use discs as well so you take the bigger hit on a digital edition, knowing you’ll make that money back later.
I got the impression that didn’t work out so much for the Xbox All-Digital Edition, all the talk I saw was that it was overpriced, in part due to retailers demanding a bigger cut due to no retail game sales for that hardware.
They could prove it higher and do well as market leaders.
MS still has an unbeatable price combo imo. They have the high end for performance and the low end for value.
Even if it is digital sales 100 dollars is a huge margin. The disc drive itself don’t cost that much as they buy them in bulk. Digital games don’t save you that much, unless they are taking a huge loss and trying to be competitive.
If they cut too much cost it won’t be good for the books for Sony.
I don’t believe the $399 price. A PS5 that is no cheaper to manufacture than Series X, and that costs only $100 more than a 1080p machine? The financial hit is too much In my opinion. Sony has not infinite money, not now, not in this recession and I don’t think they can afford to go in deep red for the only profitable sector that they have (I don’t believe that with this pandemic Sony movie studios will be in the black)
I don’t think it would bode well for MS if Sony can hit $400 for the digital edition of the PS5. I think Sony has enough mind share to command $400 for a full powered Console sans the drive but I can see the general public saying “it was $400 last gen so why not?” The series S is a wild card though. Going by Jez, $400/$500 is a lock.
Nothing. They do nothing. Both of their systems and prices are well positioned. They have the most powerful system at the same price as the disc based PS5, and they have a performant cheaper option $100 cheaper than the Digital Edition.
Literally nothing. They have an entirely different strategy this gen. Sony has theirs. Both will be successful, Sony more so due to the huge market share they have. Xbox will continue to expand through services and multiple entry points into the ecosystem, and have a much stronger gen than last time around. The Series S will be a high seller due to the low entry price.
There, spoiled the next 7 years for everyone!
Also have to factor in Game Pass. Even a 399 for the PS5 DE, people still have to buy their games which is going to play into their purchasing decisions. Plus the All Access plan makes it easier for people to get the XSX/S
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