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Xbox Shortages Continue, Console Meeting Goals
Eurogamer reports that Microsoft is finally beginning to get some more 360 consoles into the retail channel. From the article: "Xbox does not announce details of shipments, but I can tell you that we're on track to meet our 90 day forecast of 2.75 to 3.0 million units ..." Despite that level of success, Microsoft is still disappointed with production levels and sales.
I really liked the last paragraph of that article: '"Asked whether he thought there was any truth to rumours that the shortages are deliberate, Sony's Phil Harrison told gi.biz, "I don't believe that for a second. I think that it's clear that they're making every unit that they can - whether that is enough for demand or they can't make enough is a question you'll have to put to Microsoft. It's definitely not done on purpose, I can assure you of that."' It's great how we take people's words instead of hard facts. In my opinion, Microsoft clearly planned for a shortage and could have easily avoided or at the very least mitigated the shortage by releasing the console a few weeks later but still in time for the Christmas release. It's so obviously clear that they were trying to use the scarcity factor to make the 360 seem more desirable to dimwitted customers; it makes me wonder why people even bother to ask the question.