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Xbox 360 shortages causing lagging sales?

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DVDBack23 @ Mar 16, 2008 20:23 | 31 comments

After the latest figures from the NPD Group showed that the Xbox 360 was once again lagging substantially behind its competitors in US sales, Microsoft has cited a "shortage in console availability" as the main reason for the lagging sales.

The 360 sold 254,600 units for the month while the Nintendo Wii sold 351,800 units and the Sony PlayStation 3 sold 280,900 units. The console equally trailed its competitors for January.

"Our retailers are telling us that Xbox 360 is selling as fast as they can restock, but due to this high demand, Xbox 360 is experiencing temporary shortages," Microsoft said in an e-mail. "We are working as quickly as we can to replenish inventory."

The email also threw around other stats saying that the 360 was leading in competitors in other areas of the market. According to NPD those stats are true, with "$159 million USD being spent on Xbox 360 games in January, compared to $131 million on Wii games and $80 million for PS3 games."

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Sony PlayStation 3 60GB

Sony PlayStation 3 40GB

Nintendo Wii

Microsoft Xbox 360 Elite

Microsoft Xbox 360 Premium

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Comment by: tripplite (Mar 17, 2008 00:10)

Quote:
Microsoft has cited a "shortage in console availability"

nah just a way to keep face.... really they did sell enough xboxs....they sold a whole lot of xbox360's and made some coin....the next gen? ho they'll be dirty little pigs

Comment by: Sazy (Mar 17, 2008 00:12)

I think this report is spot on.

For the entire month of February I went to both GameStops in my town everyday and they NEVER had 360's. New or Used.

I got fed up and went to eBay.

I think supply is affecting sales majorly.

Comment by: babykeeg (Mar 17, 2008 00:14)

Originally posted by ZippyDSM:
maybe they mean working 360s...........
hehehehehehee

now thats funny

Comment by: DDR4life (Mar 17, 2008 00:24)

NextGen76
"How can there be a shortage three years after a console launch?"

The fact that a system has been out on the market for three years does not mean that it cannot experience a shortage. I have a nephew who works in retail, and he has kept me informed that for the past 4.5 months they have consistently sold out Xbox 360s and Wiis, yet the back storeroom has plenty of PS3s and they are having a hard time moving them.

Is it really that difficult to believe that Microsoft may actually be telling the truth?

Comment by: emugamer (Mar 17, 2008 00:31)

Originally posted by DDR4life:
Is it really that difficult to believe that Microsoft may actually be telling the truth?

Yes...he he

Comment by: ZippyDSM (Mar 17, 2008 00:35)

Originally posted by DDR4life:
NextGen76
"How can there be a shortage three years after a console launch?"

The fact that a system has been out on the market for three years does not mean that it cannot experience a shortage. I have a nephew who works in retail, and he has kept me informed that for the past 4.5 months they have consistently sold out Xbox 360s and Wiis, yet the back storeroom has plenty of PS3s and they are having a hard time moving them.

Is it really that difficult to believe that Microsoft may actually be telling the truth?

MS is sloppy and their manufacturing ties meek and wavering I would not be surprised if its true.

they ahve a huge fail rate and have a decent demand they ca only keep repairing the broken consoles so long till they break so much they can be repaired and people might start thinking a new SKU is better than being in the repair shop one every 3 months....

Comment by: xblade132 (Mar 17, 2008 00:42)

This could be true, in some areas. Couple of months back I used to see 360's all the freakin' time but now, I don't see as much but I still do see some.

Comment by: vinny13 (Mar 17, 2008 00:45)

Lol all of the consoles they ship these days go to those who have broken ones beyond repair :P

And then there's the guys like my friends who buy new consoles instead of waiting for the mail lol

Oh and there's plenty of 360s in my area...

Comment by: DDR4life (Mar 17, 2008 00:48)

Lol. My, my, my. Such hating on Microsoft. I would almost suspect you guys of being biased against them. :-D

Comment by: ZippyDSM (Mar 17, 2008 00:52)

Originally posted by DDR4life:
Lol. My, my, my. Such hating on Microsoft. I would almost suspect you guys of being biased against them. :-D

Looking at the 360 hardware its moronic limits and build quality its not hate its fact,it should be sub 200 already.

Comment by: hade (Mar 17, 2008 01:03)

Quote:

"Our retailers are telling us that Xbox 360 is selling as fast as they can restock, but due to this high demand, Xbox 360 is experiencing temporary shortages," Microsoft said in an e-mail. "We are working as quickly as we can to replenish inventory."

lets think about this for a minute, being an ECO grad and using a little commonsense certainly helps. there really hasn't been any blockbuster titles released in the past month or so, so we really cannot contribute that factor to the so called "increase" or "high" demand.

there are reports piling in about a 360 pricecut, so any rational informed individual would be waiting on purchasing a 360. think about it logically for a min, if person A has waited this long to transition to the 360, certainly there is no viable explanation as to why they would now go out and purchase one. not to mention the reports about a larger HDD model coming to town.

i do not know of any promos going on that would encourage 360 purchases. when i picked mine up from GameCrazy, they were running a trade in deal but i am unaware of anything similar to what i received.

i honestly do think the lagging sales could be due to shortages, however i believe those shortages are on the manufacturer's end. there is no viable or informative explanation supporting microsoft's claim about increasing or high demand.

after three years of being released you expect me to believe that for the first time following no price cut, no blockbuster release, that the 360 is facing such HIGH demand that they are suffering from a shortage? haha hardly. not to mention that the demand level would have to be significantly higher than the demand levels seen in the previous 3 YEARS as certainly if demand was this high last year, microsoft would have accounted for this the following year.

its a PR spin, they are expected to release another SKU, which cuts or divides their production output and thus we have a shortage.

Comment by: fgamer (Mar 17, 2008 02:24)

I just laugh when people on their small little hick towns have 80 Xbox 360's still in stock and think that's representative of the rest of the market. Just because your little town got a bunch of 360's dont mean that's how it is around the US. But, I do think that Microsoft is lieing to make the PS3 surge and 360 sales decline seem irrelevant. Microsoft needs to stop poosy-footin around and drop the Elite price to $349, PRO $299 and Core $249. It's gonna take aggression, something Sony clearly understands now. Microsoft stop lieing, drop your console prices, and offer more before the 360 becomes past-tense!

Comment by: PantherM (Mar 17, 2008 02:27)

I believe the shortage is from replacment systems being sent out that were RROD'd. But that is just pure speculation on my part.

Comment by: xblade132 (Mar 17, 2008 02:42)

"Our retailers are telling us that Xbox 360 is selling as fast as they can restock, but due to this high demand, Xbox 360 is experiencing temporary shortages," Microsoft said in an e-mail. "We are working as quickly as we can to replenish inventory."

As far as the email goes, as everyone is saying, it sounds like a lie on Microsoft's behalf. Like everyone else also, I don't understand how they could be of such high demand now for the first time in 3 years.

Comment by: z3rofate (Mar 17, 2008 03:42)

a good month after and before christmas all you could get was the arcade. what a waste. the Wii is always out of stock, whats the deal with that.

Doctor- Are you sure you both are infected with AIDS

Cartman- Were not just sure, where HIV-Positive.

Gotta love it

Comment by: Hunt720 (Mar 17, 2008 04:04)

Quote:
I believe the shortage is from replacment systems being sent out that were RROD'd. But that is just pure speculation on my part.

I think this statement is SPOT ON! And it makes the claim that the shortage is "temporary" a bit humorous... It's like saying the RROD situation is "temporary" after you have traded in your 3rd system to customer support.

It makes sense that there is a shortage and ALSO a low sales rate due to the fact that when you replace a fried Xbox with a new console(which isn't always the case... i.e. REFURB) you don't get a sale on the replacement system... thus lower sales than both the Wii and PS3.

... speaking of the Wii:

That system is NEVER in stock. I worked at a Gamestop (no... I'm not proud.. and YES Gamestop is the Devil) and we never had Wii.. they were gone moments after they came in and were checked into inventory. We recieved 20+ calls a day for the damn things. Now the Wii has outsold the 360 and MS claims that this is due to a "shortage" which can be directly attributed to the fact that more and more NEW systems go out to customers who need a replacement everyday. It's not like the 360 produced less systems than Nintendo all of a sudden.

So in conclusion I don't believe Microsoft lied in their statement... however they still danced around the fact that DEMAND for the 360 is not the cause for said "shortage".

Comment by: ripxrush (Mar 17, 2008 06:17)

I agree with the 1st post! any electronics store i go into (& i frequent them daily almost) there are at least 3 arcade, 2-3 pro & 5-6 Elite, so yes i see more elites (which is frustrating case my wife got me 1 for xmas & we looked 4ever 4 1) so i guess i agree with post 1&2 i am seeing both but no all out shortage! Oh i go to frys electronics, Gamestop, even walmart!

Comment by: TSRSteve (Mar 17, 2008 15:19)

Every time I go to Target, Walmart, Best Buy, or any other place that sells these consoles I always check for a Wii. And every time they have plenty of PS3's and 360's in stock. But never any Wii's.

Comment by: emugamer (Mar 17, 2008 15:55)

I've seen no shortage of the Elite in my area. Best Buy was fully loaded last week, as was Target. Hmm...

Comment by: SDF_GR (Mar 18, 2008 01:22)

They just trying to win the impressions.
Whats the reason that they cant keep up?
What stalls them? ..... we will never gonna get an answer for that.
BS,BS,BS
They just wanted to turn the lights on them.

Comment by: Hunt720 (Mar 18, 2008 04:17)

Originally posted by SDF_GR:
They just trying to win the impressions.
Whats the reason that they cant keep up?
What stalls them? ..... we will never gonna get an answer for that.
BS,BS,BS
They just wanted to turn the lights on them.

... which lights??

The proverbial "spot lights"?

.. or the 3 red lights? ;-P haha

Comment by: z3rofate (Mar 18, 2008 15:27)

lol gotta love those 3 lights. ive gotten the one light, freaked out and just turned it off and back on quick and that was the last time i saw that. aparently my HDD doesnt like my 360

Comment by: vinny13 (Mar 19, 2008 02:25)

Originally posted by z3rofate:
lol gotta love those 3 lights. ive gotten the one light, freaked out and just turned it off and back on quick and that was the last time i saw that. aparently my HDD doesnt like my 360

Well at $2.50 per GB (on a 20GB) you better hope they get along lol

Comment by: z3rofate (Mar 19, 2008 13:54)

hahah, yea i guess that could be an issue. I think modding mine was the last straw, now my HDD really hates me.

Comment by: wetsparks (Mar 23, 2008 04:12)

I don't know if anyone posted this, but the 360 has gotten outsold this year by all the gaming systems (including the PS2) and the only shortages are from the Wii and Nintendo is splitting its productions two ways and Sony is splitting theirs three ways. So this means that Microsoft is hoping everyone is idiots and won't believe their lies or they are ling about the fail rate and all their productions goes to replace broken systems.

http://vgchartz.com/hwcomps.php?cons1=&r...39453&end=39523
http://vgchartz.com/hwcomps.php?cons1=PS...39481&end=39523
http://vgchartz.com/hwcomps.php?cons1=Wi...39481&end=39523