Microsoft’s Xbox One has had a pretty rough time in China. Despite good early sales, the system is having problems, and now with the looming PlayStation 4, Microsoft and its retail vendors have resorted to dropping the price of the console.
According to Sina.com‘s gaming channel, Microsoft has dropped the price of the Xbox One console with Kinect and the Xbox One without Kinect by 500 RMB ($98). The Original launch prices for the Xbox One in China were 4299 RMB ($839) for a special day one launch unit with Kinect and 3699 RMB ($722) without. The consoles launched with two free games. The new prices for the Xbox One in China are 3799 RMB ($742) with Kinect and 3199 RMB ($625) without. The day one edition is still priced at 4299 ($839).
The price cut has been reflected on Microsoft’s official JD.com sales site and various other retailers in China. Some individual sellers have even lowered the price of the Xbox to match the PlayStation.
The price cut comes right off the heel’s of Sony’s own PlayStation announcement in China. Similar to when it launched in the US, the PlayStation has a lower price point, starting at 2899 RMB. Like the Xbox, Sony is reportedly planning some kind of gaming promotion to work into the launch.
Sina’s writer opines that the Xbox One’s launch price in China was way too high.
The Xbox One in China had strong sales initially, reportedly selling 100,000 units within the first week. However, the system soon hit a snag with delayed video streaming services and a lack of gaming content.
Sony’s own PlayStation announcement last week focused purely on the games, and while anticipation is high, many Chinese netizens are sceptical of the console’s chances since many of the shown games were very mobile-game-like.
In this writer’s humble opinion, the Xbox and PlayStation should both do well in China. Expanding the world of gaming is a good thing. That said, and please don’t fanboy out on me, I think the PlayStation 4 will sell better in China — during Sony’s Thursday press conference, they announced that they would be bringing the Final Fantasy X and X-2 remasters and Dynasty Warriors to China. The room exploded when those games were announced.
国行PS4仅售2899元 微软Xbox One跟风降价500 [Sina.com]
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One response to “The Xbox One Is Now Cheaper In China”
Price will be a very big issue. I think Sony is more aware of this. If they price the console around the same price as a semi-decent gaming PC then they will have a chance, although PC software prices in China are super-low due to piracy, so Sony will have to figure out a way of pricing these – maybe FTP will be a viable strategy for many games.
One reason goods manufactured in China are flowing outward is the currency exchange rate. This sacrifices buying power of locals in favor of market share and busy factories. Some of this is artificially controlled by the Chinese government. The only way the Xbox ONE is going to penetrate the Chinese market is for Microsoft to bite the bullet and reduce wholesale prices and “suggested” retail, even further below cost. A worker in China has to clock and lot more hours in on the job to afford the same video game console, or any other product, that the western worker . For a supposed communist country there is a great disparity of wealth in China. While I believe communism to be an unworkable form of socialism, the people there over all could benefit from a minimum wage. But, that’s not going to happen for the reason stated at the top of my paragraph.