Assassin’s Creed Unity Xbox One Bundle Confirmed

Microsoft is giving potential Xbox One buyers choices stacked on top of other choices this holiday season. After confirming a special edition Sunset Overdrive edition Xbox One and another custom painted Xbox One for Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, today Microsoft revealed another Xbox One bundle. The Assassin’s Creed Unity Xbox One bundle will arrive on November 2nd and include the game of the same name and more.

Microsoft revealed the new Assassin’s Creed Unity Xbox One Bundle in a post on its Xbox Wire news blog earlier today. Starting November 2nd, holiday 2014 shoppers will have the option to pick up the Xbox One with a bundled digital copy of Assassin’s Creed Unity starting at just $399.

The Assassin’s Creed Unity Xbox One bundle at $399 will come with a standard edition Xbox One with 500GB of storage, a single Xbox One controller, a chat headset, an HDMI cable and a power cable. Instead of bundling a physical copy of Assassin’s Creed Unity, the one Microsoft is including is digital so that users can pre-download the game ahead of its November 11th arrival in stores. Users will get to pre-download the game ahead of its release, but won’t actually be able to play Assassin’s Creed Unity until release day like everyone else.

There’s also an Assassin’s Creed Unity Xbox One bundle for $499 based off the Xbox One + Kinect bundle that Microsoft already sells. This version will include everything the standard bundle has, but also come with a Kinect 2 sensor. The Kinect 2 sensor allows users to play motion based games like Kinect Sports Rivals and Dance Central Spotlight. It also integrates with user’s cable boxes and television set. There’s also a copy of Dance Central Spotlight included with this bundle. Normally, the game would cost an extra $9.99 plus the cost of extra songs.

Both are a great deal. Purchasing an Xbox One on its own without a game or another bundled game today is $399 at least. Picking up Assassin’s Creed Unity costs another $60. The best of these deals though is the Assassin’s Creed Unity Xbox One Bundle with Kinect. Microsoft rarely bundles games with this version and purchasing a cheaper Xbox One then separately purchasing a Kinect adds $50 to the total cost. In theory, buyers are saving $120 thanks to the cheaper Kinect 2 sensor, free copy of Assassin’s Creed Unity and free  Dance Central Spotlight. That’s to say nothing of the free copy of last year’s Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag. It still costs $49.99 for the Xbox One through the Xbox Store.

With the Xbox One limping into the New Year with soft sales compared to the PS4, Microsoft needed a way to supercharge the console’s sales numbers and boost its profile. The company started the makeover with a sweeping overhaul of its offerings. First it announced that Xbox users would no longer need to pay Microsoft $9.99 a month for access to entertainment apps. Then it introduced the $399 Xbox One that doesn’t include the Kinect 2 sensor. It’s followed these developments up with a flurry of Xbox One bundles.

This year the Xbox One has come bundled separately with copies Titanfall, Forza 5 and Madden NFL 25. By the end of the year that line will include Sunset Overdrive, Call of Duty Advanced Warfare and now Assassin’s Creed Unity. We don’t yet know sales figures, but it’s hard to imagine that giving away free games with the $399 Xbox One while Sony gives away nothing with the PS4 is a great value proposition for Microsoft. Of course, it should be noted that users can’t trade in any of these bundled titles since they’re digital and not disc-based.

Read: Xbox One Bundle – Which to Buy

Assassin’s Creed Unity will take players to Paris, France and introduce a new member of the Assassin Order named Arno. Developer Ubisoft has made a ton of changes to the way the game plays thanks to the Xbox One and PS4’s new hardware capabilities. As such, the game won’t be coming to the PS3 or Xbox 360.

Interestingly enough, Microsoft says Assassin’s Creed Unity won’t be available in a bundle for PS4 users, referring to the Assassin’s Creed Unity Xbox One bundle as “exclusive” in its post.