A month later, the all-digital Xbox One S at $ 249 still seems untenable

It has been about a month since Microsoft announced its Xbox One S "All Digital", without a disk drive. At the time, we pointed out that the system's MSRP, worth $ 249.99, was too high considering the fact that the standard 1 TB Xbox One S systems, complete with a disc player and a game provided, sold at the same price or less at major retailers.

Now that the All Digital edition has been on the shelves for about a week, this fact has continued. While the less powerful system, without a disk drive, was officially supposed to lower the price of its disk-drive brothers, it seems that the opposite is still happening in some large retailers.

Yes, big retailers like Target and Best Buy are sticking to Microsoft's MSRP of $ 299.99 for a 1TB Xbox One S bundle equipped with a disk drive. This price gives indeed the all-digital edition of $ 249.99, accompanied by three downloadable games, a very good deal.

But the other retailers are not so cooperative. At Walmart, for example, you can purchase a 1 TB Xbox One S, with a disk drive, a downloadable copy of Minecraft and some of the game's DLC packs for only $ 214.62. If you want a newer game, Walmart also offers a 1TB package with Forza Horizon 4 for $ 246.79. Or if a FortniteThe theme package is more geared to your speed, you can get a 1TB system with 2,000 V-Bucks (worth about $ 20) and a $ 245.89 set of downloadable cosmetics.

True, it's not really a comparison of apples to apples with the three titles of the all-digital edition. But these grouped games …Sea of ​​Thieves, Forza Horizon 3, and Minecraft– are cheap conventional titles that were published a year ago, two and a half years ago and four and a half years ago, respectively. These three digital games are also available for free via an Xbox Game Pass subscription (included as a one-month trial with all Xbox One S sets).

If you're ready to shop around a bit and look for deals that are simply "filled in" by major online retailers, you can get an even better deal. WorldWide Distributors, through Walmart.com, offer a standard 1TB Xbox One S bundle-free price of only $ 207.75. Or you can get a set of disk drive with two games-Black Ops 4 and either Minecraft or NBA 2K19-For only $ 239.99.

On Amazon, there are also a number of "deals" made by Amazon that reduce the $ 249 price of the All-Digital edition. These range from the Minecraft package to $ 214 at a Forza Horizon 4 package at $ 246.79, and a few other offers in between.

Amazon and Wal-mart also offer direct sales of a few Xbox One S sets equipped with a disk drive, which cost more than all-digital editing, but less than Microsoft's $ 299 MSRP. This includes a $ 271.97 package with both Battlefield V and Devil can cry 5 on Amazon – a system with two recent games for less than the official PDS of the "game lot".

For comparison, I have not found any new 1TB PlayStation 4 at a major retailer that is below the current system MSRP of $ 299. But the PS4 continues to sell at a fast pace around the world, suggesting that any supply offered by Sony is selling quickly without it being necessary to resort to more aggressive pricing.

On the other hand, what seems to be happening on the Xbox side is that some retailers are trying to dump the Xbox One S bundles with a disk drive well below the price suggested by Microsoft (the fact that the Xbox One S 1TB hard disk drives were officially available at a price of $ 249 just a few months ago, and this is a fact that seems likely to continue until levels of The Xbox One S's supply is more in line with the existing demand or that Microsoft is lowering the MSRP of the Xbox One line as a whole.

Until then, the MSRP of $ 249 for the Xbox One S All-Digital without a disk drive will continue to seem a little unreasonable to anyone who wants to shop a bit.