UK Stock update (X360)

[London Geezer]

Linky with pictures

Seems we won't get out mortal hands on an X360 for quite some time here in good old Brittany. Not surprising really...

Oh well at least i'm holding off on that HDTV i was supposed to get for a while, i'll probably enjoy a huge price cut straight after Christmas... Just in time.

 

[Thegameman]

If true no wonder they sold out,come on 6 units 9 unit 4 units in some stores the store with the most got was 28.

 

[Titanio]

50k total for the UK. Shambolic.

Here in Ireland, a fair number of stores didn't even get deliveries in time for launch!

Do we have any launch day numbers for the US? I've got a bad feeling MS was only able to manufacture a similar number that conventionally would go to one region, and has split that number amongst the 3 regions. That's how we do a worldwide launch, then?

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Sounds about right. 300,000 for the EU spread between, what, 12 countries or so? 25,000 units per territory. I still haven't had chance to see if GAME have a demo kiosk yet, now that the systems actually launched. Presumably MS would rather those n thousand demo XB360's actually go to satisfy customers instead of generate interest they can't fill, same as PSP pods weren't common for ages.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

50k total for the UK. Shambolic.

I wouldn't call it shambolic. That's how many you get if you spread your entire first stocks across the world instead of keeping them in one territory. If PS3 launches with 2 million in Japan, there'll be lots. If they launch 2 million across the world, there won't be. It's a difference between a few units for everyone, or lots of units for a select few. Though it must be said it sounds like we're getting half the expected amount of consoles if not less, but I can't remember who gave the estimate of 700,000-1,000,000 units for the EU.

 

[Titanio]

I wouldn't call it shambolic. That's how many you get if you spread your entire first stocks across the world instead of keeping them in one territory.

Well that's kind of my point. If you're going to launch worldwide, one would expect more thant simply spreading what would normally be a single region's allocation across 3 regions.

It's nice for those in Europe who managed to get one, since they're effectively getting it "early" relative to previous launches, but I just would have thought a worldwide launch demands more. It may be a case they bit off more than they can chew, for now at least.

 

[BlueTsunami]

In retrospect, the worldwide launch doesn't seem like a good idea. Now MS has to supply all 3 major regions with a steady supply of consoles. Seems as though there won't be alot of 360s under Christmas trees this Holiday.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Well that's kind of my point. If you're going to launch worldwide, one would expect more thant simply spreading what would normally be a single region's allocation across 3 regions.

Again, it's all very well saying that but what are the options? This is complicated to make stuff and no hardware is rapidly produced in the first few months AFAIK. If MS are making these as fast as they can, then they've made as many as they can in the months before launch. If you'd rather they waited longer, they could have launched 3 months later, missed Christmas, and had say 2x as many consoles out there. Which would still leave shortages, and would also mean those that have XB360's now wouldn't have them.

As long as MS are shipping them as fast as they're making them, what more can they do? Whatever they do people will be missing out. Not doing a worldwide launch means keeping a local supply until production speeds have ramped up. That's typically 9-12 months for the EU. So either one territory sits watching the others get the goods months boefor them, and moan, or they goods are spread out and stocks are low, and everyone moans. Or MS wait months to stockpile millions, and everyone gets impatient and they lose their lead. Or, MS should have designed a simpler piece of hardware that they could produce 3x as fast and rush the market, but then we'd be getting a technically inferior next-gen.

What would you do if you were in charge?

 

[Titanio]

Again, it's all very well saying that but what are the options? This is complicated to make stuff and no hardware is rapidly produced in the first few months AFAIK. If MS are making these as fast as they can, then they've made as many as they can in the months before launch. If you'd rather they waited longer, they could have launched 3 months later, missed Christmas, and had say 2x as many consoles out there. Which would still leave shortages, and would also mean those that have XB360's now wouldn't have them.

As long as MS are shipping them as fast as they're making them, what more can they do? Whatever they do people will be missing out. Not doing a worldwide launch means keeping a local supply until production speeds have ramped up. That's typically 9-12 months for the EU. So either one territory sits watching the others get the goods months boefor them, and moan, or they goods are spread out and stocks are low, and everyone moans. Or MS wait months to stockpile millions, and everyone gets impatient and they lose their lead. Or, MS should have designed a simpler piece of hardware that they could produce 3x as fast and rush the market, but then we'd be getting a technically inferior next-gen.

What would you do if you were in charge?

There is such a thing as spreading yourself too thinly. Focussing on one or two territories (or perhaps just one in this case), moight have been more beneficial. "Missing Christmas" is hardly a big deal when you just can't provide the supply necessary to capitalise on it. Launches are an opportunity to really build buzz, but that may fizzle out pretty quickly if few can actually play. It's not really about there being shortages - that's inevitable with any system - it's more about having a small absolute userbase to start off with. They won't get a chance to launch again.

All I'm saying is that when MS announced a worldwide launch I figured at least 500k in each region (US & Europe) on day one. If you're asking what should have been done differently, then that's it - they should just have had more. That they CAN'T doesn't mean anything, since they've put themselves in that position. I know you're asking what I'd do given this situation, but this situation did not have to be a given.

 

[Joe DeFuria]

You didn't answer the question. (I think Shifty laid out the situation and possible different paths to take).

What would you do given the situation we assume microsoft is in? (That is, have about 1 million consoles at or around Dec 1 in total, with the ability to ship close to 3 million by the end of February?)

Saying "you would have had more units" is not an answer.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

All I'm saying is that when MS announced a worldwide launch I figured at least 500k in each region (US & Europe) on day one. If you're asking what should have been done differently, then that's it - they should just have had more. That they CAN'T doesn't mean anything, since they've put themselves in that position. I know you're asking what I'd do given this situation, but this situation did not have to be a given.

What would you do different to avoid this situation? Given the hardware and manufacturing requirements, it seems as though this is as good as MS can do. Short of just launching one territory at a time what else is there? And laucnhing single territory isn't all roses and cut-glass either. It's been frowned on for years but us last-in Europeans (ignore the Aussies. They don't count ) and the response to a worldwide launch was fantastic praise. Plus while Xb360 is out there now, even in small quantites, it's genreating mindshare. There'll be people playing XB360 games on their friend's consoles if they haven't one of their own, and if the games are good, planning to buy one themselves. Without that physical presence there'd be no interest, perhaps with money that is being saved for XB360 going on PS2 and GC games instead, and the gamers hanging around forums more hearing how PS3 is better!

It's all well and good to complain, but if they've done wrong discuss where they've gone wrong, and more importantly how you would do it differently. Different hardware? Different launch strategy? How would you expect a single-territory release to impact worldwide mindshare versus a global launch?

 

[Joe DeFuria]

In retrospect, the worldwide launch doesn't seem like a good idea. Now MS has to supply all 3 major regions with a steady supply of consoles. Seems as though there won't be alot of 360s under Christmas trees this Holiday.

There will be at least as many X360s under the trees now, as there would be if MS had done a traditional launch.

 

[Dave Baumann]

Game in St Albans had no less than 30 units, which I thought was pretty high for a fairly small store.

 

[!eVo!-X Ant UK]

Linky with pictures

Seems we won't get out mortal hands on an X360 for quite some time here in good old Brittany. Not surprising really...

Oh well at least i'm holding off on that HDTV i was supposed to get for a while, i'll probably enjoy a huge price cut straight after Christmas... Just in time.

Hey dude, i poped into my local gamestation in the west midlands today and when one of the staff come out of the back i accidently caught a glimse of the stock room and all lined up on the floor was atleast 25+ 360's. Then when i made an equirey about how many they had i was told 10.. somthing is going on here....but what ????

 

[London Geezer]

Interesting... The numbers i gave are from Tesco stores, which are not "specialised" on videogames really, they specialise more on cheap crappy food that kills you... Maybe that makes a difference.

 

[blakjedi]

Game in St Albans had no less than 30 units, which I thought was pretty high for a fairly small store.

Did you pick one up or were you window shopping? If you didnt I'd be surprised considering how interested you seem in Xenos...

 

[Titanio]

You didn't answer the question. (I think Shifty laid out the situation and possible different paths to take).

What would you do given the situation we assume microsoft is in?

I'm saying the situation doesn't sufficiently provide for a worldwide launch. So I either wouldn't have launched worldwide, or pre-emptively would have managed things such that this wasn't the situation MS was in...

What would you do different to avoid this situation? Given the hardware and manufacturing requirements

..ding ding.

The whole point of this is/was to reach high penetration in all territories. Why couldn't they have done something of a DS on this? If this was really their strategy, manufacturability of the system should have been a priority. In such a situation, if hardware had gotten to devs earlier, too, I doubt you'd have noticed a difference in early software either.

Of course, I take off my "techie" cap when I say that

Without that physical presence there'd be no interest

Have to disagree with that. The momentum X360 can pick up because of an earlier launch will be lessened than it might otherwise have been by the small numbers that have it, and that "mindshare" isn't likely to expand significantly beyond those who would have been aware of the system anyway. Hype can certainly knock on into one territory from another, but as is, the launches are going to be more muted in every territory than they might have been.

 

[Joe DeFuria]

Did you pick one up or were you window shopping? If you didnt I'd be surprised considering how interested you seem in Xenos...

Well, it's not like Dave can run a suite of benchmarks on the thing...though I'm sure if you send him the cash, he'd be happy to pick one up and write somthing about it.

 

[blakjedi]

Well, it's not like Dave can run a suite of benchmarks on the thing...though I'm sure if you send him the cash, he'd be happy to pick one up and write somthing about it.

Who knows what Dave is capable of... Dont you know that he has an eyes only pass into the tech labs of both ATI and Nvidia????

 

[Joe DeFuria]

If this was really their strategy, manufacturability of the system should have been a priority....

Who said it isn't?

What you're saying is that manufacturability should have been given an even higher priority (over, presumably, console power or flexibility).

Keep in mind that launch shortages are short term. The power / flexibility of the system will be for the life of the console. Would the trade-off be worth it? Who knows.

It's simply way too premature to guess as to whether or not MS should have gone a different way. The "success" of the launch won't really be known until PS3 has has world-wide distribution.

One thing seems pretty certain to me: the perceived issue with console shortages is due to limited manufacturing...not distribution. (We haven't heard of stockpiled 360s sitting in China...they're going out as fast as they can be made). So just chaning from a world-wide to a territorial launch would not change the numbers.

It's certainly not clear to me whether or not it's better or worse to have more territories covered with fewer relative units...or fewer territories covered with more units. There's obviosly pros and cons to each. This is a first, and we just don't know how it's going to shake out.