In a rather quick acknowledgment of the fact, GameStop has revealed that the newly priced Xbox One console which does not feature the Kinect has been ‘flying off shelves’ since its release recently. Microsoft would have hoped this to have happened since it was reeling quite behind the PS4 in terms of sales. This is exactly what propelled it to cut the price of the system down to 399 USD by removing the Kinect accessory from its bundle.
At E3, Bob Puzon who’s the senior vice president of merchandising at GameStop made this revelation, while also saying that ‘it’s a huge win and a huge opportunity for us.’ Talking to GameSpot, Puzon also admitted that the Xbox One with Kinect bundle priced at 499 USD is still ‘very vibrant’ for his company’s business.
When Microsoft had initially unveiled the Xbox One back in 2013, the company had said that it will absolutely require the Kinect to be connected all the time if the system needs to work. Following a furor by fans, this requirement was eliminated prior to its release, but Microsoft still insisted that the Kinect will remain in the bundle nonetheless.
It was a few weeks ago that it backtracked on this stand and revealed that a Kinect-less version of the Xbox One will be released with its price set at 399 USD, same as that of the PS4’s.
Sony’s console has been outselling the Xbox One for months now, but the eliminated price divide has now evened up things for the competition to become more intense.