New Shipments of Xbox 360s En Route
Gamers eager to get their hands on the Xbox 360 should rest assured that new shipments of the console will be arriving at retailers by the end of the week. Microsoft has said it remains on track to ship up to 3 million 360s in the first 90 days of launch.
The company also spoke to the rumors that it was holding back inventory in order to keep demand high and create media attention for the console. "Believe me when I say we aren't holding units, and we're not creating hype for hype's sake. There's no good economic justification for that," Microsoft marketing manager John Porcaro wrote in his Web log early this week.
According to Microsoft, the company plans to employ a "weekly replenishment strategy."
Instead of flooding the market with an initial supply and then allowing inventory to go dry for weeks, as has been done with other console launches, Microsoft plans to ensure Xbox 360s are making it to store shelves on a weekly basis.
Estimates of sales have ranged from 300,000 to 400,000 so far in the United States, and that number could easily double over the weekend as another 300,000 units will hit store shelves Friday across Europe. The console will launch in Japan next weekend.
Members of the Xbox team were also working to dispel rumors of an Xbox 360 recall that had been circulating around gaming Web sites and blogs during the past week. Some gamers have been experiencing crash issues and other problems, but Microsoft says it is not a widespread issue.
"Several forum threads I've seen are talking about folks going into retailers, only to be told that there will be no more units coming because of a Microsoft recall. Not true," Porcaro wrote.
Instead, he said the technical support team has already been trained to address most issues over the phone. And in many cases, they expect a turnaround of five to seven days on replacement units.
"We planned for world-class customer satisfaction, and have plenty of consoles, parts, and trained employees to handle the volume," he added.
Microsoft launched the Xbox 360 console in the United States on November 22. In many locations, the console sold out within hours.