NEWS - Monday, June 6, 2005
MS Anticipates Shortages At Launch
Speaking exclusively to MCV, UK Xbox boss Neil Thompson has revealed that there could be shortages at the launch of the Xbox 360. He does, however, insist that this will be down to Consumer demand rather than poor supply. Thompson said: "We feel as a company we’ve done the groundwork to get to a point where we can do the global release; we feel we’re going to deliver and have a great Xmas." Thompson admitted that a simultaneous launch in US, Japan and Europe would be challenging. "I think demand is going to be phenomenal so we see that as a really difficult thing," he went on to add. "Will we execute well so retail will have good volume? Yes. But I don’t think we’re going to meet demand as people are going to come into this platform in a big way." It appears that current shortages of the Xbox console has made retailers wary of running pre-order campaigns for the Xbox 360, for fear of disappointing customers should demand not be met. "We will definitely not be having a pre-order campaign," said Virtual Games’ Paul Kenwright. "We can’t promote a system if we don’t know what we’re getting." Lets hope Microsoft do manage to meet demand come the launch of the Xbox 360 this Winter or there may be plenty of unhappy children (and adults) this Xmas.Source: http://www.pro-g.co.uk
