Xbox One Price & Release Date: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know

The Xbox One was released by Microsoft yesterday in a media event held at the company’s Redmond, Washington campus. The event was efficient and well run — Microsoft executives presented everything about the new Xbox One system, including the design, style, hardware specs, features, and more — but failed to mention the price. Here’s what we’ve been hearing about the pricing of the Xbox One.

1. One Report Says It’ll Be Very Expensive

The online retailer Zavvi thinks that the Xbox One will be released on November 30th, 2013, and will be priced at £399, without a controller for the Kinect. But, that’s all the information they offer, and they do add a little section about how “Release Date and Price yet to be confirmed by Microsoft,” so take this with a grain of salt. The price sounds a little steep, but considering the Xbox One will have a controller and Kinect attached to it, it may make sense that the system is so costly. The release date sounds spot on, however. Late November/early December sounds like a perfect time for a release, since that’ll be right before the holiday sales rush.

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2. Another Report Says It’ll Be Pretty Cheap

But, Paul Thurrott from Windows IT Pro, one of the premiere Microsoft bloggers on the Internet, has a different opinion on the pricing of the Xbox One. He thinks that there will be two versions sold: a regular version at $499 and a subsidized version at just $299 with a mandatory 2 year Xbox Live Gold subscription at only $10 a month. That would mean the subsidized Xbox One will be $540, according to Thurrott’s estimations. So, people who’ll be buying the subsidized version will be paying only $40 dollars more, but makes the initial cost a lot cheaper (only if this rumor from Thurrott turns out to be true, though).

3. So, Basically, No One Knows

Essentially, no one knows about the price of the Xbox One, and Microsoft and its employees have remained tight lipped about it. Check out this tweet from the Xbox Support Twitter account:

However, most assume that Microsoft and Xbox executives will discuss the Xbox One’s release date and price at E3 in June 2013.

4. Microsoft May Be Waiting For Sony

It may make sense for Microsoft to wait for Sony to announce the price of the PS4. The last time Sony and Microsoft released a video game console — the PS3 and the Xbox 360 — Sony severely overestimated the demand for the PS3 and priced the console at $499, while the Xbox 360 was only $300 with a $400 premium version. Undercutting Sony really boosted Xbox 360 sales, and it’d make sense for Microsoft to do it again. But, Sony will be expecting that. Does that mean both devices will be the same price? We should find out at E3.

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5. We Should Expect it in the Fall of 2013

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We should expect the Xbox One in the Fall of 2013. At the event, Microsoft did say that the system will be released “later this year,” so we can definitely expect it before the end of 2013. As we mentioned before, it makes sense that Microsoft will release that Xbox One around that time. The holiday season is perennially one of the most important times of the year for the retail industry, even more so for home electronics. By releasing the Xbox One around the holiday shopping frenzy, Microsoft can ensure that they have enough systems in supply while double checking the key parts of the systems and increasing the hype through media events and presentations. Everything about Microsoft’s event yesterday screams a Fal 2013 release date, and we would be shocked if the Xbox One wasn’t released between September and November 2013.