Gamer's Outpost LLC

by Dave Thier via Forbes

We have seen some impressive Xbox One bundles in the past, but this one takes the cake, at least for now. Best Buy has announced a back to school sale that that combines Microsoft’s 500 gb Xbox One (with either Halo: The Master Chief Collection or Assassin’s Creed: Unity+Black Flag) with a 40-inch Samsung TV, aimed at incoming college students. The TV costs $429.99 on its own, which, when assuming $30 (could be slightly higher, could be slightly lower) for the bundled game, puts the price of the actual Xbox One hardware at $40. This is of course the logic of the bundle, which assumes that you would have bought all the of individual components for full price separately, but still, if we assume that, that’s an Xbox One for $40. That’s not bad. That’s not bad at all. The deal will run Sunday Aug. 9 through Sunday Aug. 15, so look for it then.

There are other ways of quantifying this deal, of course: you could say that its $280 off of the complete package, or it’s a 40-inch Samsung HDTV for $150. But I obviously prefer the one that considers the Xbox One at $40, if only for sheer hilarity’s sake. On the other end of the spectrum, you could pay $500 for the Xbox One Halo 5: Guardians Bundle, with no TV included.

“It’s the perfect college student deal, as a gaming console like the Xbox One is a college essential and a 40-inch TV is a great size for a dorm room,” Best Buy said in a statement.

If this sort of thing is on the table, it might be just the beginning. Microsoft was very aggressive about its bundles last holiday season, and there’s no reason to think that it won’t do the same thing this year. The Xbox One is still trailing the PS4 by a significant margin, something that I don’t think Microsoft has quite made peace with. I’d expect the tech giant to bring its considerable marketing resources to bear in an attempt to make this the Xbox One’s turnaround year. The PS4 might prove insurmountable at this point, however. Install base and momentum are hugely important in this industry, and Sony has firmly established itself as its market leader. I know I’ve convinced at least one friend to get a PS4 instead of an Xbox One for the sole reason that we’d be able to play Destiny together.

Keep an eye here for more video game deals as the holiday season gets underway.