XBOX can't meet 90 day sales projection...short supply real?

[segagamer4life]

"Before the Xbox 360 launched in November 2005, Microsoft announced 90-day and 6-month sales goals for the game system and noted that it intended to take advantage of its head start on the sales floor to secure dominance over rival next-generation systems from Sony and Nintendo. With the 2005 holiday sales season behind us, however, it's clear that sales goals for the Xbox 360 were too ambitious. Plagued by insufficient parts supply and manufacturing capacity problems and an
arguably unwise plan to launch Xbox 360 in three major geographical markets within a span of weeks, Microsoft was unable to meet demand. Now, the company is focusing on how many consoles it can sell by mid-2006 because it will miss its 90-day goal.

"Nothing's perfect," Peter Moore, Microsoft's corporate vice president for Xbox marketing and publishing, said during last week's International Consumer Electronics Show (CES). "You've got a complex piece of hardware that includes 1,700 different parts. Every now and
again, the line will slow down because something's happened and there will be a component that didn't make it that morning. That's just the nature of the beast, particularly when you're ramping up factories from
ground zero all the way up to full capacity." To fix the capacity problem, Moore said that Microsoft was adding a third manufacturer, Celestica, which will make Xbox 360 consoles.

Meanwhile, demand for Xbox 360 continues to dramatically outpace supply. This short-supply situation has created a ripple effect for many companies in the video game market. For example, third-party developers experienced lower-than-expected holiday 2005 sales because the supply of Xbox 360 consoles (and thus potential customers) was
smaller than expected, and many consumers waited to purchase any video game products until after they purchased an Xbox 360. Microsoft promises to release more Xbox 360 game titles over the next several
weeks; only 18 games were available for the game system's launch last November.

Looming ahead, of course, is the release of Sony's PlayStation 3 (PS3), which is expected to outsell the Xbox 360, as PlayStation 2 did the original Xbox. Sony is still mum about a release schedule, but most analysts expect a Spring 2006 launch for the PS3 in Japan followed by a
2006 holiday season release in North America. Sony's system is technologically a match for the Xbox 360, and with the window closing on Microsoft's increasingly futile exclusive selling period, I think we can expect the PlayStation 3 to quickly outsell Xbox 360. Being first
only matters, apparently, when you have enough product to sell."

from windowsitpro.com

interesting info its going to be quite interesting this year to see who will come out on top in the "Next Gen wars"

[AKay]

I still think its pretty safe to say it will be Sony again with the PS3.
MS needs to convert the japanese market over, and at least get a decent market share.
I love my xbox 360 and all the potential it has, I even think the Revolution will be an awesome system but Sony is well Sony and people feel they cant go wrong with Sony.

[njiska]

Sony is well Sony and people feel they cant go wrong with Sony.


Hahaha, that's and old standard but one that is going to change. Given all the shit Sony has pulled this year some cutomers (at least outside of JP). While i don't doubt that the PS3 will sell well on name alone, i think it will be more interesting to see if it can meet expectations and compete with the Xbox's Live service.

[AKay]

Well the thing is alot of the buying public forget things quick or dont pay attention to the news to know about Sony putting software with security vulnerabilites on your PC just for buying thier cd or them trying to marry games to the console.
Im well aware of these tactics but im still buying a PS3 lol.
AKay

[vincewy]

OK, I know most don't care, but this system launch really blows (I'm using more polished words), besides major retail chains, some secondary retail chains have not received a SINGLE unit since launch, forget Japan/Europe, in US alone, MS is losing a lot of opportunities to get 360 established. Has MS shipped out 3 million units before Xmas in US, the system will be in good shape, instead, what did sotres, get, after launch, a little bit to Best Buy/Walmart/GS/Target right before Xmas.

Which leads me to think if Sony will have the same problem too, not able to supply units on a constant basis, last I heard PS3 may be pushed back to holiday 06 in Japan if they're lucky, 07 in US. I won't even be surprised if PS3 is pushed back to 07 in all territories, unless Sony is willing to pay more for companies to mass produce those chips quickly.

[joshnickerson]

Who cares about Sony and Microsoft? We all know that Atari's gonna come back with the Jaguar 666 and totally dominate the market. :P

[poe]

OK, I know most don't care, but this system launch really blows (I'm using more polished words), besides major retail chains, some secondary retail chains have not received a SINGLE unit since launch, forget Japan/Europe, in US alone, MS is losing a lot of opportunities to get 360 established. Has MS shipped out 3 million units before Xmas in US, the system will be in good shape, instead, what did sotres, get, after launch, a little bit to Best Buy/Walmart/GS/Target right before Xmas.

Which leads me to think if Sony will have the same problem too, not able to supply units on a constant basis, last I heard PS3 may be pushed back to holiday 06 in Japan if they're lucky, 07 in US. I won't even be surprised if PS3 is pushed back to 07 in all territories, unless Sony is willing to pay more for companies to mass produce those chips quickly.

I don't think it's a complete failure. Last number I heard was 3.9 units of software sold on average with the console; granted, this is a console that really seems more targeted toward hardcore gamers, who would probably pick up more titles just to justify the purchase, but those software numbers are higher than any other launch I've heard of. And software and accessories are where all the margin is for both MS and retailers. Granted, the hardware shortage puts a cap on how much software and accessories stores can move, but what they can move is profitable from their end.

[Ed Oscuro]

Sony is well Sony and people feel they cant go wrong with Sony.
Hahaha, that's and old standard but one that is going to change. Given all the shit Sony has pulled this year some cutomers (at least outside of JP). While i don't doubt that the PS3 will sell well on name alone, i think it will be more interesting to see if it can meet expectations and compete with the Xbox's Live service.
Yes, the rootkit issue still rankles.

However, we've seen that the 360's design is compromised by the lack of DVD. I also have my misgivings about other aspects (i.e. the disc drive scratching games), but these aren't likely to be widely known.

I think Microsoft will maintain a presence, certainly, but the real battle looks to be that between Nintendo, with the new experience of the Rev, and Sony's PS3, which will do everything the Xbox 360 can, but better (is there anybody who doesn't think this is true), with the exception of 360 exclusives.

I'm not saying discount the 360 by any means, but comments such as 'there never will be a 360 with an integrated HD-DVD' do little to inspire confidence in me (though they must in people who would feel betrayed if it became clear that Microsoft foisted a version of the console off on them missing its drive).

Finally, I know that developers hate high capacity gaming, but I hope all the same that the 360 won't hold back the PS3 with its disc format (the graphics shouldn't be nearly as big a factor). Even without it, though, it's hard to imagine many PS3 launch titles will use a whole Blu-Ray disc; even the smaller varieties are an order of magnitude bigger than what we've seen in the past.

[Ed Oscuro]

...will they have enough time to wait until XBOX 3?
Nope.

[poe]

I heard MS was sending out a kit of sorts to address the disc-scratching problem, but I wasn't aware that there's apparently a second rev of the system already LOL

Probably less to do with an actual revision of hardware and more to do with someone desperate for talking points to milk $500 out of a 360 without Christmas demand. The gaming community would have heard something about a revision before someone who actually believes a few thousand classified readers is a better sales route than the millions on eBay.