This is an interesting piece out of Handy Tips (we know, we haven’t heard of them either): Microsoft is reportedly planning to reintroduce the Xbox One at a lower price point at Gamescom in August.
Gamescom is one of the largest (if not the largest) gaming events in the world and hosts over 275,000 people each year. The show takes place over three days (plus one day ahead of time for media) in Cologne, Germany, each August, and has been going on since 2009.
Microsoft has already confirmed that they will be hosting a press event at Gamescom on August 20th, though we don’t know the specifics of what will be shown. Phil Spencer will be helping the event, and it will be the first time we won’t see Don Mattrick taking the reigns to announce new products or get more information to the media.
A rumoured price drop to $399 is extremely unlikely, in our opinion, as it would not only likely cause huge losses for Microsoft (who probably weren’t making anything on the console to begin with), but also de-value its Kinect sensor included with every console. That very peripheral is what Microsoft has been citing as the reason for the higher price over Sony’s PlayStation 4, and lowering the price would only cause gamers to lose faith in the company. Then again, that faith can probably be bought back for, oh, about a hundred bucks.
It’ll be interesting to see how things play out, and you can bet we’ll report on all the news from Gamescom (remotely, of course) as it happens, beginning August 20th!