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XBox (Games)

MS Worried About Meeting 360 Demand 79

Posted by Zonk from the they-rule-so-hard dept.
GamesIndustry.biz has an article up right now indicating that, at least in the UK, Microsoft is worried about meeting demand for the 360 because they think so many people are going to want to buy the console. From the article: "We feel as a company we've done the groundwork to get to a point where we can do the global release; we feel we're going to deliver and have a great Xmas...Will we execute well so retail will have good volume? Yes. But I don't think we're going to meet demand as people are going to come into this platform in a big way."
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MS Worried About Meeting 360 Demand More

MS Worried About Meeting 360 Demand

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  • umm... (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Admiral Ackbar 8 ( 848624 )
    *cough* hype *cough*
    • Yes, but this time they are going to take hype to a new level. I just got a contract from Bill Microsoft to kill 6 customers as they wait in line to pick up their pre-orders.
      http://www.maxbarry.com/jennifergovernment/ [maxbarry.com]
    • Well lets see. Each console MS sells will probably a loss for them.

      They are worried that they won't be able to lose money fast enough??? Riiiiiiiighht....

    • Re:umm... (Score:5, Funny)

      by craXORjack ( 726120 ) on Tuesday June 07, 2005 @11:32PM (#12754895)
      Hype? No way! The Xbox 360 is the most anticipated launch of a product in human history! I know it is. I read it in a trade rag. It was in an unbiased article sandwiched right between two huge glossy paged Microsoft ads. Could hype explain the massive groundswell of public interest this story has generated? Eight hours on Slashdot and almost 50 comments. Taco probably had to made arrangements with Akamai to handle the load. I'm almost afraid to hit the submit button because I don't want to be the straw that broke the camel's back, but if I don't hurry my post might get lost in the multitude so with fingers crossed here goes nothing!
    • In other investment news, SCO fears they won't be able to fulfill the huge demand in Linux patent licenses expected around Xmas time.

  • The marketing machine keeps hype alive! (Score:5, Insightful)

    by brs165 ( 858581 ) * on Tuesday June 07, 2005 @03:32PM (#12751237)
    Sounds like the beginning of a false demand being rumored to guarantee scarcity later on from frantic parents. What better way to create a sense of urgency than to start saying now, 5 months before launch, that the demand might not be met, and reinforce realtors to push the "Make sure you preorder to lock your availability in!", or "Don't disappoint little Johnny buy now because it might not be available for a long time." crap. It is just a vicious cycle being whipped up by M$. That way they can honk their horn about many preorders there are and blah blah blah...... I just shutter to think of the next XBox/MTV crossover event.

    • As opposed to Sony? (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Moryath ( 553296 ) on Tuesday June 07, 2005 @03:48PM (#12751407)
      Let's see... Sony underproduced the first run of the Playstation deliberately.

      Then they underproduced the first run of the PS2 deliberately to claim it was "selling out."

      Then they did the same with the PSP... as well as underproducing decent-sized Memory Stick DUO cards and then jacking the price up 200%.

      I detect a subtle pattern here. Couldn't tell you what it is, though.

      Let's look at the alternate option: MS is angling for their console to be the big thing. They're releasing it with NO competition, onto the busy holiday season, so there's definitely going to be competition for the units. Of course they want to have large numbers of preorders, because it's a marketing point.

      Of course they want to get as many units out onto the street as they can. Only someone who actually has a unit is likely to be receiving and/or buying a game for it.

      Yeah, it's a marketing spiel. But I'd rather they tell us right now, that they'll get as many as they can out the door and see what happens, rather than have them claim (like Sony did) that they had more than enough while secretly holding stock back in a warehouse just to create the illusion of scarcity.
      • Microsoft is trying to get a 360 in as many people's hands before the PS3 as possible. They will do everything in their power to make sure that everyone who wants one will get one.

        The biggest reason of all is their online service. They added all these bells and whistles to it, even making it free in a limited form. But who cares about a gamer's online rank if a small fraction of gamers actually go online?

        The second most important reason is getting those gaming dollars in their pocket instead of Sony's.

        • Re:As opposed to Sony? (Score:4, Insightful)

          by superpulpsicle ( 533373 ) on Tuesday June 07, 2005 @05:47PM (#12752638)
          NO they won't. It's half marketing and half manufacturing. It cost MORE $$$ to arm customers with an xbox at the beginning of the manufacturing cycle than the middle of a cycle.

          Think of buying parts. Parts cost $20 in 2005. Parts cost $15 in 2006. Multiply parts by a cazillion units.

          • It cost MORE $$$ to arm customers with an xbox at the beginning of the manufacturing cycle than the middle of a cycle.

            Maybe so, but MS's strategy here is market dominance, then profit through games and online services. If they lose money in the beginning, then so be it. They are looking at the big picture here. MS didn't make decent (any?) profits from the xbox 1. But now, people don't look at the xbox in a much worse light than the PS2, whereas before the PS2 was pretty clearly dominant in the consol
        • Well, first of all, the 360 will always be Xbox Live aware (unless you specifically disconnect), so your friends will be able to see you online along with what game you're playing, send you messages, talk to you via voice, and even send game requests - all in ANY game. So you can play offline games without worries about missing your online friends.

          Second, I believe all games are supposed to give you various "awards" for game accomplishments, which go into your online gamer card. So even if you can't play
      • I really don't think MS would deliberatly underproduce to "sell out", that would be the ultimate in stupidity. They know there is a limited time window in which to establish the biggest xbox360 user base as possible, and that is the time before ps3 launch (and before the inevitable hype machine). The only way to maximize this is to meet demand. If someone has to wait too long, ps3 thoughts just may creep into their heads, and MS knows this.
        • They only need the supply there when the PS3 launches, Sony will produce a shortage as well so MS could snag those who can't get a PS3, look over at the X360 and realize that they can get a system with more games (well, it better HAS more games at that point in time) at a lower price without having to stand in line for hours or pay thrice the retail price at ebay.
      • Actually Sony didn't underproduce PSPs, as a result the system didn't sell out and Sony had to retract their press releases stating it has sold out everywhere when people throughout the US were reporting huge stockpiles of PSPs left in many stores and the pitiful sights of a store display containing a huge number of PSPs nobody cared about with a sign "only one per customer due to high demand". Ebay auctions attempting to benefit from the initial shortage ended under retail price, etc.
    • "Sounds like the beginning of a false demand being rumored to guarantee scarcity later on from frantic parents"

      Yes: it is a variant of the well known "guru effect" coupled with percieved scarcity.

      They tell only the first ones will have it; due to artificial scarcity (ie: retaining stocks for a while) it is percieved it must be true, so even people in dude will buy it thinking they won't be able to do it later.
    • ...and reinforce realtors to push the...

      Because the thing will be so expensive most parents will need to sell their house to buy Johnny one?
    • Make sure your preorder to lock your availability in!


      Just like how I didn't preorder Halo 2, and I had to wait, like two hours! What if you had to wait for two hours for an XBox 360!?

  • pretty smart marketing, n'est-ce pas? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by yagu ( 721525 ) <yayaguNO@SPAMgmail.com> on Tuesday June 07, 2005 @03:32PM (#12751239) Journal

    So, does anyone else remember the marketing ploy enhancing the desirability of Cabbage Patch Dolls? Once again, genius marketing.

    (any guesses how inflated the price will be once the perception is out there the 360's will be "rare"?)

  • Thats not a story (Score:5, Insightful)

    by FidelCatsro ( 861135 ) <fidelcatsro AT gmail DOT com> on Tuesday June 07, 2005 @03:32PM (#12751240) Journal
    Its a marketing ploy , they are trying to drum up numbers by making it seem rare.
    quite an old trick really

    • Re:Thats not a story (Score:2, Interesting)

      by Poietes ( 753035 )
      They pulled the same hyperbolic BS when they released Halo 2, remember? "On November 9th, when Halo 2 is released, the biggest sick day in history may occur." Come on. For a mediocre FPS that you can't use a keyboard/mouse combo in? Yeah right. Gotta hate those marketers. Liars.
      • Dear sir,

        Would you like some cheese with that wine? If playing Halo 2 on your Xbox doesn't seem complete without being able to play with a mouse and a keyboard, I suggest the SmartJoy Frag. http://www.lik-sang.com/info.php?products_id=5438 & lsaid=322441 [lik-sang.com]

        Well, I don't actually know if you have a Xbox or not...I would guess not...but this still solves that whole keyboard/mouse-on-xbox issue.
      • Surely you do realize that Halo 2 sales upon release day topped the opening weekend box office take of the top movie of all time, don't you?
        • ... and yet the game was extremely boring. I did manage to complete Halo without understanding what was supposed to be so good about it - but Halo 2? Really. Two "levels" or what I should call them and then I haven't touched it again.

          I feel sad for people who think of Halo when they think of videogames. They've really misunderstood the whole thing.

          • Congrats, you don't like Halo or Halo 2. That doesn't mean that nobody else does - judging by the popularity of it over Xbox Live, plenty of people do. That includes me, and I spent countless hours on Quake/Quake 2/Quake 3 in the past, the game that more or less defined the FPS. So it's not like I'm clueless or misunderstand games.

            Remembering that everyone eles is not like you goes a long way.
  • So preorder today or you won't get one until 2008!
  • That sound like exactly the sort of thing I would want to have in the press if I were Microsoft. Report that theoretical demand is high and that you may not meet those theoretical numbers, which causes an upswing in pre-orders, which results in high demand, which you report.. Wash, rinse repeat. Smart.
    • This also covers their butts if they are really unable to manufacture enough consoles, or they have planned to throttle production to control the amount of money they lose on launch for each console (and of course, keep demand high).
  • ...Seriously though, this has to be the pinnicle of marketing hype; when you release a press statement saying you're "concerned" you may not have enough units to supply the incredible demand for it.
  • I'm not surprised by this at all. Don't get me wrong - I'll be one of the first in line to buy an Xbox 360 - but this is nothing more than a publicity stunt.

    By dropping these comments and hinting at the impending explosion of their new console, Microsoft is just giving off the impression of its popularity. If things get repeated enough, its always in the back of your mind when you hear it mentioned.

    I have no doubt that this console will sell very well. I do doubt that Microsoft is going to allow a r

    • I do doubt that Microsoft is going to allow a retail shortage to occur.

      I wouldn't be surprised. It sure as hell worked for the PS2. More importantly, at the beginning they almost don't want to sell that many units. You need the systems out there so you can sell the games of course, and the more systems you have out in the wild, the easier it is to get games made.

      However, Microsoft, like Sony, needs to balance this need with the desire to not piss millions of dollars away. You can be sure that they're goi

  • I understand, Microsoft (Score:4, Funny)

    by AtariAmarok ( 451306 ) on Tuesday June 07, 2005 @03:44PM (#12751358)
    I understand your message. The Xbox 360 will be so rare that I have no hope of getting one. Might as well forget about it, and get a "Revolution" instead.

    Is that your intent? Thought so.

  • Hype? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by RogueyWon ( 735973 ) * on Tuesday June 07, 2005 @03:46PM (#12751382) Journal
    I see all the comments so far are basically saying this is a deliberate part of Microsoft's hype campaign.

    They're probably right.

    However, there's one indication I've seen that Microsoft's predictions might not be so far off the mark. I play FFXI; a MMORPG with a high (I'd guess about 40%) proportion of Japanese players. I've had conversations with quite a few Japanese players who are actually pretty exicted about the 360. Given the original X-Box basically vanished without a trace in Japan, this could be a potential indicator that the 360 is destined for bigger things. At the very least, it seems that Microsoft's deliberate targeting of Japanese developers is at least going some way towards achieving its intended effect.
    • Umm... the only thing they're doing for the 360 version of FFXI is upping the resolution. Not redoing textures, not adding content, not improving the engine in any other way...

      Of all the reasons I can think of to get a 360(and there are several, they just don't appeal to me), FFXI isn't very high on the list.
      • I never said FFXI was the reason, rather that Japanese people I'd spoken to in FFXI were pretty excited about the 360.
        • It's called a selection bias. If there is some particular reason why FFXI players would want to get an XBOX 360, which there apparently is, then it isn't very surprising that many japanese people you talk to who also play FFXI a lot are interested.

  • and... (Score:1, Funny)

    by LewieP ( 883971 )
    we're going to struggle carrying all tho cheques to the bank, especially if we are laughing at the time...
  • This is one of those /. discussions in which every post, excepting the first, can be justly modded Redundant. Since we all had the same exact same thought, what can we actually discuss?
    • Good point...though probably the first one could be modded redundant as well since we've all gone over this before. But hurry and get your Tickle-Me Xbox, suplies are limited :P
  • In all honesty, this has to be more hype than not. We all know for a fact that the installed Sony base is something like four to five times larger than the Microsoft customer base. They might have gotten a lot of things right this time around, and seem to have addressed some of the issues they had with the Xbox, but let's be realistical here folks.

    First, they've got both Sony and Nintendo releasing behind them. Even though the Xbox 360 and the PS3 have comparable specs, if the PS3 releases later, it's b

    • Not to mention that a lot of people have said it won't be backwards compatible, or will only be partially backwards compatible (I can't recall if this was ever confirmed as certain or not).

      The 360 will be emulating the Xbox, and those working on the emulator are specifically focusing on making sure that many of the top games and most demanding games are working correctly, knowing that a huge majority of the rest will be fine if they can get the big ones taken care of.

      So yes, the 360 will be backwards co
  • With targeting one billion players I would worry, too...

  • Sony (Score:1, Flamebait)

    by Winterblink ( 575267 )
    At least Sony wasn't stupid enough to brag about not meeting demand *before* the Playstation2 came out.
    • You mean Sony wasn't clever enough to brag about not meeting demand before the PS2 came out. Before, Sony was competing with the hype and marketing of Nintendo. Microsoft will pose a much greater adversary in that arena.
  • ...I'll be taking pre-orders shortly for the fifth printing of my new, yet-to-be-written novel. You know you want to read it, because I say so!
  • Yes, i can see the hype engine in play here, but there is one bit of a valid point to this. Microsoft is actually planning a global launch. In the world of video games, the two major markets are the US and Japan. Europe is slightly behind that. Microsoft is saying that there could be a problem in meeting the European demand. This could very well be the case if Microsoft makes sure the demand for the US and Japan are met.

    If nothing else, making a claim like this will increase pre-orders. This could be
    • While Japan's certainly a major market, it isn't for this generation XBox sales---in the past week, it's sold a total of 161 (not a typo!) units accordinc to Media Create's [m-create.com] sales numbers---fewer than the original GBA, and one for every 200 PS2s sold in the week.

      While MS is banking on it doing better next gen than this, the Japanese titles creating what hype there is are both slated for Summer '06, some few months after the PS3 launch. Thus, barring something major coming up in the next few months, the init

  • We have to help Microsoft! (Score:3, Funny)

    by Dormann ( 793586 ) on Tuesday June 07, 2005 @04:27PM (#12751832)
    Whatever you do, don't get an Xbox 360

    Think of the children!

  • they have one less person to worry about... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by teksno ( 838560 ) on Tuesday June 07, 2005 @04:41PM (#12751972)
    while this is nothing more than hype, similar to that of when halo 2 was released (btw i went to best buy at 8 pm and got a special edition copy with out having to wait in line...)

    the y still have one less person to worry about as i wont be buying one... i am personally waiting for the revolution from nintendo...as they are the only real gaming company left...

    sony and MS are trying to sell gaming as a fad, the next hip thing...nintendo just wnats to push units to push games...look at the hype machines from all 3 companies...the two major players this year an undoubtly MS and sony...all they are touting is graphics capabilities...while nintendo realizes that they cant compete in that are so they dont...instead focousing on gameplay. when i play a game on any system, i want to enjoy my self. and frankly...i havent been enjoying all the BS hype from the 2 evil mega corps.
  • Suprisingly (or possibly not), when people hype a product like this saying "people are going to come into this platform in a big way" it usually backfires. If this 360 isn't everything and more than consumers are expecting, word will get out quickly. I call it "viral anti-marketing" - if you predate your customers and don't meet their expectations.

  • We won't be able to produce as many consoles as previously expected.

    MS is still new to the industry and hasn't produced a game console like this with custom components before. Taking into consideration the early launch date and they need enough consoles to spread around the world...that's a pretty tall order.

    • Re:Translation (hint - Not Media Hype) (Score:4, Funny)

      by Sylver Dragon ( 445237 ) on Wednesday June 08, 2005 @11:01AM (#12758587) Journal
      I don't think the world launch is really that big of a problem for Microsoft here. Europe isn't as large of a gaming market as the US or Japan, so it's not a big factor. And with Japan, the only way MS will be short units is if the boat, carrying the one container of XBoxes, sinks. Even then, they could stick someone on a commercial flight with the two new Xboxes in carry-on luggage, for all of their loyal Japanesse customers.
      This is 100% hype. They want people to buy an Xbox 360 before the PS3 hits, so that they can have an large install base before competition exists. This "article", and others like it for the PS3 and Revolution (what is it with going in circles this generation?) are just marketing tripe designed to get people excited about a system, when the real important part is the games. Yet, people will fall for it, and it will all happen again next generation. Sad really.

      • Wow...those are some frightening assumptions mixed with what I hope is sarcasm. Gonna go out on a limb here and assume 1. you've never been involved with a global release of software or hardware and 2. you're making comments off the top of your head.

        Couple things to consider:
        - There's a history of hardware shortages for game consoles. Next gen consoles have more processors and more custom components, some of which may be common between MS, Nintendo, and Sony. So there may be a pool of suppliers who still

  • Of course they are going to have a shortage. It's a well known business strategy. "A little shortage is a good thing." It's working with the laws of supply and demand to a companies advantage. A company doesn't even have to announce the shortage to reap the benefits of one.
  • They're just trying to make everyone want one.

    If they were really concerned about being unable to meet demand, they'd just raise the starting price, and/or try to increase production. There will be no shortage unless they've decided to create one.
  • We're also thinking about possibly adding the warning to the box that the excitement, utter euphoria, and overall satisfaction XBox360 will bring to your life will completely revolutionize your way of life.

    Even Bin Laden himself has written us and says he wants one, so we're also planning on using them in the war against terror to persuade evil men of the virtues of democracy.

    Oh, and did we mention Dr. William Dentist says it's good for your teeth?

  • I've been told by my managers at the local game store to continue taking preorders for the 360 although we're already well into reserving units from the second wave. The first wave is targetted to come at the release date, an unspecified number of units as far as I know. The second wave is supposed to come immediately following Christmas, again this is all second hand from my manager who talked to the Xbox rep a couple days ago.

    What this does say to me is that there is going to be a shortage before the h

  • The third step revealed! (Score:3, Funny)

    by LordJezo ( 596587 ) on Wednesday June 08, 2005 @06:13AM (#12756105)
    I think this lets us in on the third step..

    Step 1) Buy an xbox as soon as you can

    Step 2) Sell it on eBay near Christmas for $100s over list price to some Midwestern mother who doesn't know any better and just has to have it for her spoiled kid.

    Step 3) PROFIT!
  • Maybe Microsoft should consider switching to Intel, if they are worried about being able to deliver enough units.
  • Everyone is calling "hype!", but a worldwide simultaneous release is nothing to sneeze at. Recall the PS2 shortages upon its launch in Japan only - THOSE shortages weren't hype, they were realized. Microsoft is making a very ambitious move in doing the simultaneous worldwide release, and there unquestionably ARE going to be challenges in filling demand without any sort of staggering of the release.

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