The Convoluted Bundle Wars

Welcome to the Bundle Wars. The very confusing Bundle Wars.


Check out that bundle........and notice its from the previous generation...............


Currently in the lead is Sony, who seems to be doing everything right. Even though they are becoming the most expensive system out there come November, they have the mighty and powerful Grand Theft Auto 5 supporting them. GTA V will be bundling with new PS4s in the Japanese region, European region, and if we American gamers are lucky, the American region. Sony might just be waiting to see if Microsoft or Nintendo is pulling out any surprises. That being said, it should be a sure-fire deal to make this deal a reality in the North American borders….it would make sense…right?

Microsoft has a Halo Bundle…..for Japan. No announcement for the United States getting the same deal, despite being dead last in the Eighth Generation and trailing Sony by a landslide. And despite the price cut, still no big bundle announcement to become the second major blow to the main competitor Sony. Now at $350 it only trails the might-as-well-be-non-existent-yet-it-still-won’t-die Nintendo WiiU. Microsoft needs to expand its horizons and not look like just a system with shooters. With two good Forza games, a San Andreas upgrade, and Sunset Overdrive Microsoft should really consider expanding its bundle options to deliver the best deal in the market. Until then, it just looks like a less-expensive PS4 with fewer games.

Of course, Nintendo has the biggest hand of them all. Never mind Call of Duty, never mind Grand Theft Auto 5. Nintendo has the awkwardly and rather uninspiring-titled Super Smash Brothers for WiiU coming out in November (Why wasn’t it called Smash Brothers Armageddon or Smash Brothers 4?) yet there is no mention of a bundle. How incredible would it have been if Nintendo announced a Smash Brothers Melee/HyperMelee bundle that would include the game, the Gamecube controller, AND Virtual Console access to Smash Brothers Melee? How much sense would it make for Nintendo to fight Microsoft’s price cut with the announcement of the Virtual Console finally expanding to Gamecube games?

Despite all the success from the three systems, their potential is still exponentially off. Sony needs to create the GTA V Bundle and make it for everybody, don’t be exclusive. And hey, why not also throw in a Last of Us Bundle? You are now the most expensive system in the market, so you need to crank up the value of the system while awaiting the next major game. Although you are winning the indie and third-party market, that can only take you so far until its obvious you need a first-party AAA title pretty soon.

Microsoft. For goodness sakes, Halo is a beast in the United States----where is the bundle announcement?!? You are dead last, with few prospects outside the Halo border for 2015, why aren’t you…never mind, I am done with you.

Nintendo, I am also done with you. Not bundling Smash Brothers, your biggest game in about a decade and extremely crucial to the future of your system, is a silly idea. Still not having Gamecube games in the Virtual Console is also a silly, silly idea. And still charging $5-$10 for NES and SNES games when the XBox 360 got a revamped PS2 game at just south of $4 is undeniably city.

As of now, nobody is winning the Bundle Wars, because nobody has figured out how to correctly market to American gamers that have yet to make their decision. And Black Friday is just four weeks away.





Pick it up people….