The Xbox One debuted last week to a fairly negative reception. With an emphasis on TV over gaming, and hardware specs that fall below what Sony announced, many Xbox fans are hopeful that a lower price point may help to support the more "entertainment-centric" approach of the next-gen console.
While the information is currently unconfirmed, and likely won't be officially revealed until E3 at the earliest, many rumors concerning the launch price of the console are floating around.
Amazon Germany has listed the console at £510, or around $781 USD. Amazon UK also listed the upcoming console, although at a significantly higher price of £599.99 or $912 USD. It bears noting that Amazon may be listing the console at a high initial price point so that it can email potential buyers about price drops as the console nears release.
In addition, Amazon's pages state that the cost is a placeholder for now. The reason why their listed price is important though is that Amazon must honor the lowest pre-order price before it ships, meaning these numbers might be where the retailer thinks the high-end for the official Xbox One price will be.
Online retailer Zavvi has also posted a listing, at a much more reasonable price of £399.99. This comes out to be around $608 USD, which is still a lot, but much less than either of Amazon's rates. Zavvi also marks Nov. 30 as the release date of the console.
Zavvi's listing is notable as they haven't stated that this price and release date are placeholders. They likely are, but it's also possible that the retailer may have gotten the inside scoop on Microsoft's plan.
Meanwhile, according to noted Microsoft analyst and blogger Paul Thurrott, the Xbox One will launch at around $500, with the possibility of a $300 option bundled with a two-year contract to Xbox Live.
"[Xbox One's] going to be expensive," Thurrott stated on the What The Tech podcast.
"500 bucks, 300 dollars for the subscription, that sort of thing."
To put it all into perspective, the Xbox 360 launched in November 2005 at around $399, or $299 when included with a hard drive or game bundle. Due to an overwhelming demand though, the consoles sold out at official retailers in a shockingly short amount of time. Prices on eBay and other online resellers peaked as high as $700.
One can hope that Microsoft will have learned its lesson this time around, and early reports indicate that this is the case, with the company ramping up production to meet the projected demand.
Microsoft has yet to make any comment on the matter, so currently all of this information is purely speculation. More than likely, the Xbox One will not launch anywhere near $700 and will probably be pretty close to the range the Xbox 360 saw.
We will hopefully find out more when Microsoft makes its E3 presentation on Monday, June 10 at the Los Angeles Convention Center.