Earlier today, Geoff Keighley said the price for the Xbox Scorpio is likely to be $499– an assessment that the analysts at IHS agree with, too. The thing is, IHS also seems to believe that at this price, the Scorpio’s impact on the larger market will be minimal, especially outside of the US and UK.
“The expected price differential between Project Scorpio and Xbox One S is high enough to reduce the impact of the new platform on the broader console audience,” IHS said in a statement. “Project Scorpio is not the device to re-ignite Xbox One sales in continental Europe and to gain market share from Sony in key sales territories outside of USA and UK.”
This is actually something I agree with, and said myself a few days ago. When I made a list of mistakes Microsoft needs to avoid this E3, I said they can’t afford to price the Scorpio at over $399, saying, “for Scorpio to actually have the impact that Microsoft and its fans are hoping it will, it can’t be too expensive- anything more than $399, and Microsoft is condemning the Scorpio to a niche, unable to actually do much to the PS4’s lead from a developer’s or consumer’s perspective, since its impact on the market will be minimal at best.” It looks like IHS agrees, too.
Let’s hope that the price leaks are wrong- $499 would kill the Scorpio dead in its tracks.
