Only 300,000 360s for Europe

23 Comments by Jennie Lees Nov 28th 2005 3:00PM
Filed under: Culture, Microsoft Xbox 360

Microsoft may be planning to ship 3 million 360s by February, but they're not off to a cracking start in Europe. Speaking to a German financial newspaper, Chris Lewis of Microsoft has confirmed that analysts' estimates that a mere 300,000 360s would be available for the European launch were close to the mark.

Previous speculation has put the number at around 100,000 for the UK, which doesn't bode well for the rest of the continent. Given that the UK is still experiencing a PSP shortage, it's not looking good for those who haven't preordered their 360s.

[via Xbox 360 Fanboy]

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(Page 1) Reader Comments

Nico: Dec 18th 2005; 9:38PM

The real question is, how many actually wants a xbox 360?

Adam: Dec 18th 2005; 9:38PM

@1. 100,000+

But yeah, i bet Japan gets like 300k or something.

mike: Dec 18th 2005; 9:38PM

...even if they want the x360 ,a majority of the european can't afford to spend half of their salary in a console ( an engineer is paid 12,000 E ) , the console is really expensive, away too expensive.

XD: Dec 18th 2005; 9:38PM

Nico, you can bet there will be more than 300,000 people in Europe that do!

Cyberclaws: Dec 18th 2005; 9:38PM

Nico is a Sony Jabroni!

Toast: Dec 18th 2005; 9:38PM

The more and more I'm hearing about this launch the more and more I'm thinking that MS made a serious mistake making it a global launch. For starters they aren't distributing it 'fairly'. People in Japan don't really want an XBox360, so why make sure they get their 360's along with America. I think this is just going to leave a lot of people that are actively looking for the console feeling bitter and slighted

Sceptre: Dec 18th 2005; 9:38PM

Do they have current-gen PCs in Europe?
Because if so, you could actually just buy Call of Duty 2 for the PC and it's actually a better game. (And you can play on 32-player servers, use a mouse, download the mods, not pay for Live).

William: Dec 18th 2005; 9:38PM

Um, don't you mean Quake IV?
Or NFS?
Or ElderScrolls?

mike: Dec 18th 2005; 9:38PM

"Do they have current-gen PCs in Europe?"
What do you think ? Europe is not the 3rd world, and even in the "3rd world" you can buy the most powerful PCs and really cheaper .

Frexy: Dec 18th 2005; 9:38PM

actually... haven't seen any Xbox Commercials around here.. when does it launch?
And most ppl I know don't even care about Xbox360.. Dunno why, they just don't seem interested.
They all know the PS3 is on it's way and some also know the Revolution is coming... I think they just want to wait a bit and see what's next. And with the 'bad' news about Xbox360 coming from the US, it isn't making things any better you know...

Snake: Dec 18th 2005; 9:38PM

Yeah, now that the Xbox doesn't have any hardware superiority over Sony's system, it's pretty much toast in Europe.

Pixelantes Anonymous: Dec 18th 2005; 9:38PM

Spectre, you really don't need to post the same thing on every XBox 360 article.

soco: Dec 18th 2005; 9:38PM

dunno how many people want it, but when i went to the local event Microsoft is having here, which consists of DJs and local bands, and an entire contest between the bands, there were about 50 people waiting outside in line. they held an event the previous evening where people could also place pre-orders, so long as they had invitations to get in.

i say this is interesting, because in my 5 years here, i've stood in a line only 1 other time for something to get something early, and the other time was for movie tickets. judging from the message boards i've read here, the chances seem slimmer to get one than in the US.

all i know is that i've got my 360 reserved and my launch event ticket and invitation for Austria :) just hope MS hands out some memory cards or face plates or something cool.

zanzi: Dec 18th 2005; 9:38PM

mike:
even if they want the x360 ,a majority of the european can't afford to spend half of their salary in a console

Yes, we also live in caves and hunt our food with sticks and stones. =)
GDP (millions of US dollars):
European Unions: ~13,000,000
United States: ~12,000,000
(http://www.worldbank.org/)

mike: Dec 18th 2005; 9:38PM

zanzi, I know what I'm talking about , I worked in france for a few years the pay is really low, if you compare it to the US, 1,200 Euro/month for an angineer it's a joke compared to $4,000-$5,000 , wich is the actual monthly pay of an engineer in the US, and you're comparing GDP's between a Country (USA( and a whole continent (Europe), and they're almost the same ;).

rico: Dec 18th 2005; 9:38PM

and you know whats funny hmv are only getting 2000 for thehole of the uk

wora69: Dec 18th 2005; 9:38PM

lol mike (15)

you forgot to deduct hospital bills and all that other cr*p you gotta fork out for yourself when you work over there!

I know what I'm talking about, I live in the capital of europe, trust me we can afford a 360 without working 3 jobs.

evnflow: Dec 18th 2005; 9:38PM

i would say the capital of europe is not paris its belgium as thats where the head of the eu is

zanzi: Dec 18th 2005; 9:38PM

Mike: I to know what I'm talking about, I live in Europe.
Why I compered USA to Europe? Well, in you're first post you stated "a majority of the european" and yes, they're (GPD's) almost the same (that was kind of my point).
One question though: Why did you work in France (as an (e)ngineer?) when you could make more in the USA? (Because you liked the country?)

xbox360-forums.com: Dec 18th 2005; 9:38PM

I don't really have anything to add apart from Mike's comments about Europeans being too poor to afford the xbox 360 is totally incorrect. I'm a student and can easily afford the income. As someone else pointed out, the GDP is higher in the EU than the US

ian kilby: Dec 18th 2005; 9:38PM

I ordered 3 xbox 360's on the 18th August for my kids and I live in the UK.

Mr Gates and Co, have you ever had to tell your kids that they are not getting their Xmas presents due to an American company that can't get there shit together !!

I am really angry with Microsoft, my son has been looking forward to this for 6 months only to be kicked in the teeth.

I hope the 360 flunks badly cause Bill can shove it up his ass.

Ken: Dec 18th 2005; 9:38PM

Not to rock Mike's boat or anything, but he can't have worked for a very good engineering firm.

12,000E per annum equals 8,225 UK pounds or $14,000. That's below the UK's minimum wage. That's below the US's minimum wage. Look up starting salaries for new engineering graduates, something doesn't add up in your math. Google is your friend.

The average salary for a chartered engineer in the UK is 53,000 pounds or $91,000. A new engineering graduate or intern can expect to start around 25,000 pounds, or there abouts, depending on the country.

http://www.b-school-net.de/Starting_EURSalary_2001.htm

I live in the US and lived in the UK, and have worked with Engineers from both countries.

Tomahawk: Dec 18th 2005; 9:38PM

@20

Can i just ask why 3 consle's?? Do your children live seperatly...??

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