US 360 shortage acknowledged by Microsoft
After weeks of reports that Xbox 360s were nowhere to be found in the United States -- we've been discussing it on the Fancast for about a month now -- Microsoft has finally owned up to it. Speaking to Reuters, Microsoft's head of global marketing and comedian extraordinaire Jeff Bell cleared the air saying, "you could say we misjudged demand." Bell noted that many retailers have no stock at all, and in fact are dismayed by the state of affairs. Bell even says that 360 sales are likely to see a dip for January and possibly February, but he expects that Microsoft will be able to meet demand as spring approaches. We won't have to wait too long to find out just how much the shortage affected Microsoft's sales either, as NPD numbers are expected to drop later today. You can bet we'll be here to report them when they do.
For the moment, at least, it seems that any rumors of a new 360 model (or a new SKU entirely) have been put to rest.
[Via Joystiq]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Tony @ Feb 14th 2008 11:05AM
I was wondering about this. I've been to several stores looking for games lately in Chicago and keep noticing they're all out of 360s... kind of surprising.
ccc @ Feb 14th 2008 11:20AM
I would take this news as more good than bad.
Mark @ Feb 14th 2008 11:20AM
Maybe that's the thing now. Since Wiis are in short supply MS is getting on board by cutting shipments so that 360s are in short supply too. Maybe in the future, companies won't ever ship hardware. They'll just say they shipped and everyone will run around looking for one. If not shipping hardware becomes a trend in the future, then the Phantom was way ahead of it's time.
DemonGSides @ Feb 14th 2008 12:05PM
Phantom: Two steps ahead of the game.
Van Faulk @ Feb 14th 2008 11:31AM
I havea freind who bought a halo 3 360 to play culdcept....because that was the only one in the store.
Yuccadude @ Feb 14th 2008 2:34PM
Unless you count the arcade 360 as a 360, my local stores are completely out of 360s. I was pretty lucky to get an Elite back in early December(snagged the last one the Best Buy had) after my old 360 rrod-ed.
darkzero63 @ Feb 14th 2008 4:40PM
Seems like Microsoft is playing up its 360 shortage just like Nintendo is doing...
ZeroCorpse @ Feb 14th 2008 6:37PM
I was going to say that. It looks like they learned to have a "shortage" like Nintendo's ridiculous 1.5 year "shortage", to see how it helps sales.
frost @ Feb 29th 2008 2:19PM
hellz bellz, mi 'ermano, watz wid all 'dat religious mumbo jumbo? loosen' up, kracker!
other frost @ Mar 7th 2008 10:53AM
Microsoft just wants us to but their products, dude. it's all just an evil conspiracy! if word gets out that supply of the 360s is low, anyone and everyone is going to start freaking out and they are going to want one! that's why Xbox is evil! that's why you shouldn't give into their will!