Moore: 360 shortages for European launch
by Alan Rose 
{ Dec 1st 2005 at 10:30AM }
Xbox VP Peter Moore has told the Official UK Xbox Magazine that there will likely be a shortage of Xbox 360s for tomorrow's European launch due to the overwhelming demand for the new console. With an estimated availability of only 300,000 initial units for our transatlantic friends, this is hardly surprising. What would be surprising is if Moore backed up Microsoft's commitment to encourage fair retailing by fending off the more unruly consumers with some of that kung fu he's always demonstrating.
Moore has already debunked the shortage conspiracies and confirmed that Microsoft's goal is to "roll inventory in every week from the factories" via planes and boats. What about all that teleportation research Microsoft was conducting a few years back, Pete?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
JRM @ Dec 18th 2005 10:03PM
overall, this has got to be one of the worst launches ever for any console. Shortages in the US, glitch stories all over the press, few and mediocre games, extreme shortages in Europe, and zero interest in Japan: both by the japanese consumers and microsoft itself.
phill @ Dec 18th 2005 10:03PM
Cant believe its come to this, I live in a fairly remote part of britian and even my stores are all sold out.
huh @ Dec 18th 2005 10:03PM
Moore has not debunked conspiracy theories about shortages. If the company were manufacturing shortages for marketing purposes, the VERY FIRST THING it must do is convince people that said shortage is driven purely by demand.
The VERY LAST THING that the company could do is admit to manufacturing a shortage.
Marketers always speak with motive.
Jeremy Wright @ Dec 18th 2005 10:03PM
phill: Yeah, I live in an area with 5000 people within 100 miles here in Canada, and there were 20 people lined up at the Wal-Mart 24 hours before launch here...
Thankfully, weekly shipments means we get 2 systems every 2 weeks ;-)
sandro @ Dec 18th 2005 10:03PM
M$ makes me laugh with "high demand" thing, how could've not been when you release a system with such small quantity! We only could call high demand if USA-EU-ASIA has millions at launch and it sold out, much like PS2 that sold 2 millions in 2 DAYS!!! I'm not a fan boy (I have all systems PS2-XBOX-GG-DS-PSP) but I can swallow this BS high demand!!!
Martin @ Dec 18th 2005 10:03PM
2 systems every 2 weeks?! Holy shit ... surplus alert!
Kye @ Dec 18th 2005 10:03PM
#1 why don't you make a day out of it and catch a train to a larger city?
I'll be sure to keep an eye out for any ques here in the Midlands. But I doubt we'll run out as I've not heard ANY buzz of people dying to get one.
Meanwhile I'll be saving my golden coins and waiting for the Revo launch :-D
Hopefully Ninty will get it right.
What do people predict of the PS3 launch? mass hysteria and riots or quiets-ville?
Nico @ Dec 18th 2005 10:03PM
Yes seriously!
WTF does he think will happen with 300.000 consoles for sale in europe right before christmas?
There are almost 300.000 people in Norway alone who would want to buy a xbox 360. Dont bullshit about the reason, its obvious that demand would be higher than that.
I can imagine that producing such large quantities is expensive but thats what you get when you do a global launch.
The real danger here is if Microsoft overproduce now there will be an abundance of 360s after christmas. The most reasonable and most likely outcome is that Microsoft will keep their steady low production and hope that they will be able to milk the demand over a long period of time.
watership @ Dec 18th 2005 10:03PM
It's high demand. Analysts keep telling us that microsoft could have sold over 1 million consoles by now if they released 1 million. So obviously, Microsoft is faking it, because they don't want to sell 1 million consoles. That makes complete sense.
Anyone have figures on how much the original xbox sold in the first month?
Alkaiser @ Dec 18th 2005 10:03PM
Is it just me or does it look like Peter Moore's trying to use his kung-fu skills in that picture? I see it all the time on Joystiq and the first thing that pops in my head is always "Waaaaaaahhhh!"
From now on, I think Joystiq should being the articles with, "Kung-Fu master Peter Moore took a break from fighting ninjas to give us this press release."
Todd @ Dec 18th 2005 10:03PM
Regardless of whether the shortages are a plot or not, it would look really bad for MS to have them setting on the shelves. The PSP got a lot of flack for making all of these grand claims of shortages only to never sell out in the US. It made Sony look like a fool and made the PSP look like there wasn't enough interest in it, no matter how many were sold. Needless to say an initial shortage will always be in a companys best interest. It doesn't deter people from buying one later and it gives the product the status of being the hot holiday item.