Microsoft Plans Deliberate Xbox 360 Shortage

An anonymous reader writes "To ensure an immediate "sellout" of the Xbox 360 on launch day (therefore getting lots of media buzz about their new console), Microsoft will simply restrict the supply down to a trickle. My favorite part of the article: "In addition to limiting the per-store stock of consoles and having the retailers prepare to prominently note the unit's "sold out" status, Microsoft has allegedly asked Norwegian retailers to sign an agreement that they'll sell out of the consoles on the launch date." Looks like it's not a rumour.

Comments

I wonder if they have tried this before.

[twitter]

What a pathetic way to announce your low sales expectation. "Master Gates, no one is going to buy this piece of shit unless we make it hard to find and review." "Make it so Stevie! Only the faithful leet shall have them, and write another review for the Wintel press today." The hype machine does not get any worse than that.

Now, how many other M$ things have they done this with?

Big Surprise...

[rAiNsT0rm]

Honestly, who didn't see this coming? And not only that it is truly a shortage due to poor planning, however they are doing their damndest to spin it their way.

Last week Microsoft made their most telling announcement in their stock talks, stating that they will have much lower eranings and sales in their game console area. They claim it is part of a "rolling-thunder" campaign, but it is utter B.S. I submitted the story to /. but it was rejected as always.

So as it stands, we have fals shortage, stupidly expensive pricing, cheaper crippled consoles (which will hurt developers utilizing the HDD no matter what MS says), spotty backwards compatibility, numerous graphical issues/artifacts (as reported by Wal-Mart Kiosks), no optimized launch titles (not even first-party titles), no Japanese interest, and countless other nebulous facts/figures... not looking good.

Have all the fake shortages you want, when there is no demand after the initial fanboy's flock, shortages will be the least of the concerns.