Xbox Head Apologises For Series X Shortage, Demand 'Just So High'

@stuie123

How do you stop scalpers though... Unless a law is passed saying it is illegal (like concert tickets) there isn't much that can be done.
What's to stop me from going on ebay right now asking for 1000 for my xbox series x

@stuie123 The scalpers truly suck, and truly make launch sales miserable, but in terms of total sales, I'm pretty sure that's still a minority, with most going to actual customers. The launch statistics of the number of different games played, the number of Game Pass subscribers buying, the number of new customers, etc, indicate actual system activations for real customers.

Far too many went to scalpers, definitely, but I don't think that's close to even half the sales....it really is just that in-demand. Which isn't surprising. I doubt as many XBoxes were produced as PS5's and Sony had only pledged 11M through Q1 2021....meaning, really, 3-5M at most were available for launch. Probably less XBoxes than that. Neither company offered numbers. But even if we go optimistically and say 5-7 million which isn't realistic....demand was surely going to be much higher.

The real problem is in Phil's own statement above. They've been building them for 2 months. About the time they started taking preorders. Preorders should be used to determine how many to build...you don't start buliding them and then take "preorders" for the allotment you've already made. That needs to change. They can't keep producing however many they can, ignoring actual demand in the equation, hoping to catch up eventually.

And they seriously should soft-launch these things instead of launching billion dollar ad campaigns to drive up endless demand for a product they're not going to be able to fulfill demand of for a year at best even without the marketing.

I have no doubt that all of the companies are pushing hard to get stuff out as it's money for them so trust me they care. I really hope that Microsoft as a software company works on some strategy to battle bots for any future pre-orders. The scalper situation is crazy and frustrating. Not their fault fully but being one of the largest software companies in the world this should be a something they work on. I was fortunate enough to get one but then again i could have just turned around and sold it if i wanted to...it's mine to do with as i please. Just kill the bots and the situation will be fair.

Let’s face it, if he said “there’s plenty of stock available” then people would be saying “it can’t be that good if it hasn’t even sold out” 🙄

I'll probably have to wait until after christmas to be able to walk into a shop and buy an S😭 No way I'm ordering online. Might get damaged and I want to experience new console smell.

I understand that people who can't get a console are frustrated. I would be too.

That being said, I don't really get all the rage at Microsoft(and Sony) for this. They are clearly making them as fast as they can. They want to sell as many as possible.

Also, I don't think, in this case, scalpers are increasing the overall demand by a substantial margin. They suck and it forces some people to pay an absurd premium with no value add but ultimately the scalpers products are being bought by gamers. If people weren't buying them, the scalpers would have no market.

@JON22 I am pretty sure buying online is the best way to experience the new console smell. You can get them faster that way than waiting for them to through distribution and sit on a store shelf someplace.

I don't hold the limited stock against them. It's not like they are deliberately reducing supply to increase demand, ala Disney's vault system.

What bothered me was less that I have to wait 6 weeks for delivery than that Microsoft showed the estimated delivery time as only a week until they sent the receipt.

Also, the Xbox store didn't start selling the Series X until 10 minutes after the Microsoft store (which I assumed were linked). Since I tried the Xbox store, that's probably why I wasn't able to secure a console from the first batch. By the time Xbox was selling them, the Microsoft had probably already committed its entire supply.

@stuie123 I've never smelt it lol. All my consoles have been pre owned either through cash converters or CEX, normally at the end of a generation. I actually saved money this time.

@Krzzystuff There are some things that software automation can't solve, despite the world endlessly trying. People just jump the hurdle and find the next way around it. Especially when there's money on the line. The scalper thing needs a human solution, not an automated one. A different method of launch, something that involves human interaction and a modicum of planning on both sides. You cant out-automate automated buying without making live impossible for real buyers anyway. The solution is to reduce automation, not increase it.

That said, we also have to separate the real "scalpers" from the "flippers." Scalpers are the people that automate buys and buy as many as possible to sell as a business like the guy with an entire pallet of NES Minis in his living room.

The "flippers" are people that buy one or two despite having no interest in owning the product, just because they know they can make a quick profit on it on ebay. They also suck, ethically, in every way, but there's nothing legitimately able of preventing that as it means restricting of vetting uses of individual purchases....you could buy one and list it for $2k on Ebay...but there's no legal mechanism to prevent you from doing that shor of things that start invading privacy and/or dictating the ability to engage in business which opens up other whole cans of worms best left closed....

@stuie123 Not true. They don't make money on each hardware unit sold. They lose a considerable amount of money for each unit sold - they're subsidizing the cost, it costs more to make and distribute them than they charge us. They intend to make that money back in game and accessory sales when we buy consoles. Every unit that goes to a scalper and sits there is a unit that lost money until it gets flipped and converted into software/sub sales. It's MUCH better for microsoft that you and I get one and start buying Game Pass and a copy of Valhalla than sitting on ebay at $3k even for a week....we're generating revenue. The ebayer is generating losses, even if those losses eventually convert to revenue when some rich guy buys the thing at a huge scalp, it doesn't help MS's earnings call and strategy meetings this week, or this month, nor their all important engagement statistics. They want to keep it away from scalpers as much as we do. (Nintendo....they're another story.....

According to some stock trackers, Microsoft hasn't had any stock since launch day. So, from what I have seen, it's been hard to get because nothing else has been released since launch day.

Sony, on the other hand, seems to have had limited sales directly from it's own website almost every day since release (even if it's only a few consoles).

@evan23 I think the main reason people are complaining about scalpers is because they have these auto-purchase bots that flood the websites before people can get a hold of them.

Also, Due to COVID, most retailers are going "online only" to prevent crowds of people. So...it's not like you can just get to a store first thing in the morning to "wait and see" because you will just be turned to their websites that get locked up by scalpers.

Basically, we are the mercy of COVID and the scalpers who take advantage of it.

I talked a GameStop employee on launch day, and I was basically told that they are rumored to get limited in-person stock for Black Friday.

@GamingFan4Lyf I think scalpers are worth complaining about, they suck. I just don't think they have any material impact on the overall demand.

I think both Microsoft and Sony and certain games developers need a big round of applause for managing to undertake and do what they have done in this truly difficult year.
Two new generation consoles released world wide and also some games.

@Tasuki And let sony have all the cake? Waiting would mean launching a lot later than Sony, giving them a head start.

@Tasuki That would result in nobody having the consoles for ~6 months.

How would that be better than some people getting them now and others getting them as they become available?

Pushing the launch to post-holiday would probably not be the best move for either console maker.

Still haven't gotten my console, Still in transit😢😢

@Tasuki everyone doesnt want the competition to get a headstart....its been proven generation after generation, if you release a year behind your never going to catch up unless you have a really great piece of hardware that does something the competitor doesnt... example ps5 comes out and the series x didnt, your friends are more likely to get a ps5 which in turn makes it more likely youll get a ps5 to play the games your friends are playing....only console i can think of that this didnt work out fo was the dreamcast, and thats cause the ps2 came out little later with much better abilities like playing dvds.

I called my local Costco and they said that they aren't expecting any until April...

@Tasuki It would matter a lot to people who only buy one next gen console at launch Most people do not buy multiple consoles and buy the console their friends are buying.

So if just the PS5 launched, everyone who isn't "just an XBOX gamer" would get it. And most of them would ignore an XBOX launching 6 months later.