Initial demand for Xbox 360 likely to outstrip supply
Oct 9, 2005 @ 9:50 pm
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In a recent interview, J Allard revealed that Microsoft expects worldwide demand for the Xbox 360 console to outstrip supply this holiday season.
J Allard, Corporate Vice President of Microsoft, at X05
Allard stood by Microsoft’s decision to launch the console simultaneously in North America, Europe and Japan, but acknowledged that this would almost undoubtedly result in console shortages in the 3 launch territories this holiday season, stating that,
“We designed a worldwide product with worldwide partners and worldwide ambition and the world deserves to see it all at the same time and we’re not going to have enough. That’s the fact.”
He went on to say that Microsoft would rather suffer shortages in key territories such as Europe than delay the console’s release in these territories.
Neil Thompson, head of Xbox in the UK, echoed Allard’s sentiments but remained cautiously optimistic regarding the console’s European launch, stating to UK trade paper MCV that,
“Demand is exceptionally high, so we’re not going to meet all of that on day one. But this is part of the decision to have Europe at the forefront of the launch window [...] All retailers I’ve spoken to have been very positive about the message I’ve given them.”
In an interview reported by GameSpot, Allard declined to reveal specific numbers on how many Xbox 360 consoles Microsoft was expecting to sell in the year after its launch, saying only that Microsoft was aiming for a very high rate of manufacture in order to meet worldwide demand for the console.
By Nicole Stiles, Xb360info.com staff
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Editor’s comment:
Microsoft is really being ambitious, trying to release the Xbox 360 console in rapid succession in the US, Europe and Japan, all before Christmas 2005. (Link: Official Xbox 360 release dates)
Considering the Xbox 360 a global product, Microsoft aims to satisfy demand and deliver to the world what was promised in a hitherto unprecedented media campaign that included even MTV.
Gamers in Europe and Japan would not be happy if they had to wait another 3 months or more for games to appear in their territories, as was typically (and often still is) the case with original Xbox and Playstation 2 games.
In fact, European gamers in particular were traditionally used to getting their video games later than the rest of the world, because the conversion of the US and Japanese games that are made for the NTSC video norm (60 Hz) to the European PAL video norm (50 Hz) required significant changes to the code and game design.
This conversion often takes months, and a large part of the time for conversion is caused by the localization into a sizeable number of European languages.
With current video games containing large amounts of dialog and speech, recorded by professional voice actors, localization is becoming an ever-growing burden for game developers. The amount of data required for localization often requires that games for each different country are physically shipped on separate discs because there isn’t enough space on one DVD to contain all the audio data in all the different languages (see our interview with Xbox 360 developers Codemasters on this topic).
On the other hand, Microsoft really can’t afford not to release the Xbox 360 globally at the same time. In the all-important Japanese market, Sony’s Playstation 3 is expected to ship in Spring 2006. By this time, Microsoft HAS to have released their console in this territory in order to gain ground in Japan, not only with Japanese gamers in general but with Japanese game developers in particular.
Microsoft is working hard to charm Japanese publishers into developing for the Xbox 360 by providing advanced tools such as the XNA platform, and with success, it would seem. The Japanese media has reported that Sony’s PS3 is losing ground in Japan, where support for the Playstation 3 among developers appears to be dwindling.
By Markus Weichselbaum, Xb360info.com editor
Nov 17, 2005 @ 2:02 pm
Fredrick Dinwiddie Said,
I am very concerned at what seems to be nothing more than a marketing ploy. I pre purchased the 360 at the beginning of August and I am sure that Mic [...] more
Nov 22, 2005 @ 11:58 pm
Front360 Said,
Well, looks like it wasn’t just a marketing ploy after all. It appears like it will be almost impossible to get a hold of an Xbox 360 before next year [...] more
Nov 25, 2005 @ 2:26 pm
360man Said,
What Microsoft is doing is inhumane. Who didn’t know that the 360 was going to sell like crazy? They knew what they were doing. I have been on ebay fo [...] more
Nov 26, 2005 @ 4:44 pm
Jennifer Burgess Said,
If you have any way to order the xbox 360 or any idea of where I can get one before Christmas–I would like to have one–I subscribed to the available [...] more
Dec 19, 2005 @ 7:36 am
Alexander7777 Said,
I wasn’t exacctly getting my hopes up, but I expect my Xbox 360 at least by late January, the Xbox 360 in stock alert just shows $1200 and $700 bundle [...] more