Console Wars - the revenge

[DrSpike]

I'm glad that you agree I am right. It shows good judgement.

[Wiglaf]

judgment*

[DrSpike]

You show especially poor judgement in attempting to correct my spelling.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/judgement

[Asher]

http://www.news.com/Microsoft-seeing-Xbox-shortages-in-U.S./2100-1043_3-6230495.html

Microsoft seeing Xbox shortages in U.S.

Microsoft is seeing shortages of its Xbox 360 video game console in the United States, as the company failed to anticipate strong post-holiday demand, an executive said on Wednesday.

"We are really running short of product here in the United States," Jeff Bell, head of global marketing for Microsoft's games business, said in an interview. "You could say we misjudged demand."

The comments come a day before market research firm NPD is expected to release video game sales data for January. Bell said Microsoft was hoping to "manage expectations."

"We're literally out of stock in many stores. We think this will have an impact on our sales," Bell said. "It may cause the overall industry number to be down a little bit.

"Retailers have been really upset, they are on allocation. It is a lag I think we're seeing in January and that may continue into February, then as spring ramps up, we'll be able to meet that demand."

Microsoft sold nearly 1.3 million Xbox 360 consoles in the United States in December, when the entire video games industry gets a boost from holiday shopping.

[Nikolai]

It must be a planned shortage to counter Nintendo's.

[asleepathewheel]

a little pre-npd spin control?

[DrSpike]

They are just copying Nintendo again.

[ZargonX]

Sounds like spin control to me.

[Asher]

Sounds like the shortage is genuine, specifically on the Elite and Pro models.

Best Buy's online store has been sold out on most occasions since November on the Xbox 360:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8301492&st=xbox+360&type=product&id=1172881999620

Circuit City is sold out as well:

http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Xbox-360-Elite-High-Definition-Gaming-and-Entertainment-System-882224390118/sem/rpsm/oid/177538/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do

And amazon.com:

http://www.amazon.com/360-Elite-System-Console-120GB/dp/B000OYMSL6/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1203033040&sr=1-2

Basically I can't find the Elite in stock anywhere.

[asleepathewheel]

yeah, I agree on the shortage. apparently been pretty rough since pre x-mas to find them. what a debacle.

[Asher]

January NPD

Title Actual units
Nintendo Wii 274,000
Nintendo DS 251,000
Xbox 360 230,000
PlayStation Portable 230,000
PLAYSTATION 3 269,000

Rank Title Actual units
1 Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Xbox 360) 330,900
2 Wii Play (Wii) 298,100
3 Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (Wii) 239,600
4 Rock Band (Xbox 360) 183,800
5 Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (Xbox 360) 182,700
6 Super Mario Galaxy (Wii) 172,000
7 Burnout Paradise (Xbox 360) 144,100
8 Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (PS3) 140,000
9 Mario Party (DS) 138,500
10 Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (DS) 133,000

Judging by the lack of PS3 game sales, I think Bluray had a banner month and bumped the PS3 up with it. 360 shortages didn't help. A very weird month.

[asleepathewheel]

hmm, pretty misleading results considering the wii, ds, and 360 all terribly supply constrained.

how about those pathetic ps3 software sales, eh?


edit: asher dans'd and my post is too similar to his now.

[Asher]

Bluray player sales skyrocketed in early January after Warner's announcement to ditch HD DVD. It looks like almost all of PS3's sales were people buying Bluray players, not a game console.

[Asher]

MS PR:

"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. We are working as quickly as we can to replenish inventory," the company said in a statement.

Microsoft also outlined some of the Xbox 360 highlights for its business in the January period:

* In January, $297 million was spent on the Xbox 360 platform (hardware, software and accessories combined), compared to $244 million on Wii and $219 million on PS3. (U.S. NPD, January)
* $159 million was spent on Xbox 360 games alone in January compared to $131 million on Wii and $80 million for PS3. (U.S. NPD, January)
* Total customer spending on Xbox 360 life-to-date now reaches nearly $8.6 billion; this is more than double PS3 and Wii combined. (U.S. NPD, January)
* Six of the top 10 best selling games in January are on Xbox 360's platform. (U.S. NPD, January)
* After five months on the market, Halo 3 continues to make the top 10 best selling games list according to NPD with 127,000 additional units sold in January. (U.S. NPD, January)
* Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare on Xbox 360 was the number one selling game across all platforms for the third month in a row. In January, the fourth edition of Activision's acclaimed war game sold more than 331,000 copies on Xbox 360 and outsold the PS3 version by more than 2:1. (U.S. NPD, January)
* Music fans love to jam on Rock Band and Guitar Hero III on Xbox 360! The Xbox 360 version of Rock Band sold more than 172,000 units in January and ranked fifth on the top 10 best selling games according to NPD. Rock Band on PS3 failed make it into the top 25 list for January. (U.S. NPD, January)
* Third party publishers made 61 percent of their retail revenue, this generation, on Xbox 360 compared to 20 percent on Wii and 18 percent on PS3. (U.S. NPD, January)
* Xbox 360 has 83 titles with a Metacritic review score of 80 or higher compared to just 42 for PS3 and 14 for Wii.

[asleepathewheel]

call of duty is a machine, isn't it?

where is:

* Six of the top 10 best selling games in January are on Xbox 360's platform. (U.S. NPD, January)

coming from?

I count 4:
cod4
rockband
guitar hero 3
burnout paradise

unless he is counting cod4 and gh3, since they're listed twice? I'm confused...