The bundle in question is set around the release of the new Xbox One title “Titanfall,” a development that has plenty of gamers quite fired up. The bundle in question not only includes the Xbox One, but also throws in a copy of “Titanfall” and a free month of Xbox Live Gold access for $500. That doesn't sound like a price cut, really, but when one considers that the price for the Titanfall bundle is the same as the price of the Xbox One without “Titanfall”, it does at least technically become a price cut. Those hoping for the “Titanfall”-themed controller, meanwhile, will be out of luck, as that's not included in this bundle. The copy of “Titanfall,” oddly, will be in the form of a coupon code for the digital release.
The downside is that said bundle won't be available forever—it's strictly a limited-time sort of affair—and it will be available on March 11 for the release of the Xbox One “Titanfall.” Those who stuck to the last generation for now will get access to the title on March 25, at last report, so a bit of a lag but not a terrible wait.
Essentially, according to Xbox marketing head Yusuf Mehdi, the launch of “Titanfall” called for a bit of something special, and thus offered up the system so that those who sat on the fence would have more of a reason to join in. Indeed, this likely qualifies, essentially offering up the Xbox One for a $70 price cut, except here, the price cut is in the form of additional merchandise.
On the one hand, it's a good idea. Plenty of gamers were likely sitting on their collective hands in a bid to wait for the price cuts to land before making the big buy, and if Microsoft needs anything right now it's more numbers in terms of the total Xbox player count. The bigger the install base, the better a case Microsoft can make to the game developers to keep the titles coming. But by like token, there's an issue here that should be noted. Is Microsoft inadvertently teaching players to wait? Really, it was right around four months between launch and the first price cut, after a fashion, so maybe Microsoft's showing the gamers that it's better to wait and get the game that might not have been had otherwise than to buy on day one and not get the game?
I doubt that will be a problem in the short term; there will be plenty of gamers eager to get in from go, just as there will always be gamers willing to wait until there are five good titles, or ten good titles, or whatever before laying out the cash to buy a system. Still though, it's good news for the patient, and at the rate things are going in this newest run of the console wars, the patient may well reap still bigger rewards down the line.
