Microsoft seeing Xbox shortages in U.S.

Global marketing official says company is out of stock in many stores, which could impact sales.

The story "Microsoft seeing Xbox shortages in U.S." published February 13, 2008 at 4:12 AM is no longer available on CNET News.

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[brandonh33]

Ya.. uhh shortages thats it....

The low sales they have been having have not been because of shortages. The 360 is in stock at almost every best buy around the world. Go ahead to nowinstock.com and you tell me about all these places that are out of stock. There are almost no stores having trouble keeping up with demand. They are just trying to hide the fact that the ps3 has outsold the 360 from two weeks before christmas to current. The ps3 is just the more popular console now. You can go ahead and check out all my facts at vgchartz.com. Another interesting fact I found there is that the ps3 is now 13 weeks ahead of the 360s sales from a year ago. So the ps3 is now more than 1 million consoles ahead of pace.

[Hernys]

Even if that was true

it doesn't matter. Most PS3 are sold for Blu Ray use, not as game consoles. Thus, they do not affect the game industry, manufacturers are not going to write games for a console buyers don't buy games for, especially if it's more difficult to make games for that platform.<br />And sony loses money on every PS3 sold (even with the upcoming cell upgrades) so more PS3 sold without accompanying games, is more loss for Sony. Yes, it significantly helps the BluRay battle (actually, it is the reason why it is succeeding) but for the game industry, it is a flop.

[swiggins]

okay, sure

you really thought this through so carefully, wow. . . . please, . your <br />a fanboy. Just stop it. So I guess you travel across the country <br />taking inventory on all the 360's, right? , , uh-huh. No matter what <br />they say, you'll find some angle that contradicts what they are <br />saying. Just go to a comic convention and argue this point with a <br />Klingon or something.

[Penguinisto]

Live by the Channel Stuff...

...suffer the consequences.<br /><br />MSFT stuffed the channel tight late in 2006 (meaning they got to count them as sales while retailers had to keep all those unsold xboxes in their own stocks).<br /><br />This meant that manufacturing demands dropped like a rock. Now that all the dusty warehoused xboxes have finally been moved, MSFT suddenly has to fire up the manufacturing again, and they mis-timed it horribly. <br /><br />Either that or they're lying out their behinds... :)<br /><br />/P

[Vegaman_Dan]

Or....

Demand grew, supply was short, and this sort of situation results.<br /><br />It's a pretty clear result. Supply and demand at their simplest.<br /><br />Regardless of why there is a demand now, there aren't enough machines available to meet that demand. Perhaps it's a growth in demand. Perhaps it's a drop in the supply. Manufacturing estimates have to be made months/years in advance. It's pretty hard to accurately guess that amount.<br /><br />Boy, you sure are bent on this 'Microsoft is a failure in everything it does' campaign, aren't you? :)

[www.hdgreetings.com]

No Price Cut?

I guess this means a price cut is out of the question? :)<br /><br />It does seem like consoles usually come down more by now...

[UK135]

I've been trying to buy one for two weeks.

This isn't news to me. I've been trying to buy one for two weeks, they aren't at Best Buy, Circuit City, Wal Mart, Game Stop, EB, or anywhere else that I have looked.

[Waam]

What are you doing on the internet then?

What are you using your internet for then? How big is your town <br />anyway? I live in a relatively small town, and we got a bunch here.

[NPGMBR]

Someone Should Be Fired

This is not new. It's happened with the Zune80 and the Valentines Edition Zune and now the 360. The third time in four months Microsoft has underestimated demand for its products. Someone must be worried about their job.

[Waam]

Nice spin, but not really the truth.

The article fails to tell us which bundle it is that is short on supply. <br />While Elite and Pro bundles are getting harder to find, the Arcade <br />starter system is still widely available.