Microsoft's Battle to Meet 360 Demand

The next generation is here, but unless you're prescient, rich or lucky, you might not be taking part for a while.

Satisfying customer demand is going to be one of Microsoft's biggest challenges in the early days of the Xbox 360. The system hit stores in the US on Tuesday and it's been hard to find since, and things aren't looking much more promising for Europe.

But help is at hand. Peter Moore has given assurances that Microsoft is going to do all it can to meet demand this Christmas. Moore told GameSpot that Microsoft is not taking a launch and leave attitude and will instead be bringing new consoles to market as regularly as possible.

"Our goal is to replenish inventory in the channel every week," Moore told GameSpot. "So lots of Xbox 360s are flowing in every single week. It's not like we're shipping in and then going dry for two or three weeks."

And it's a good thing too. Microsoft has high hopes for the Xbox 360, even as it fights an unusually vocal swell of negativity from some observers.

Moore said that Microsoft is hoping to have 2.5-3 million Xbox 360s in living rooms worldwide by the end of February.

And he has even better expectations for the rest of the year, with the company predicting 10 million sales by the end of 2006 - as opposed to earlier estimates out of Microsoft of 10 million by summer 2007.

Not everyone is as optimistic. One prominent research analyst at US firm Wedbush Morgan Securities recently lowered his estimates for how many Xbox 360s Microsoft would get out before end of this year.

As it stands, Europe is, by Microsoft's admission, its most important region globally. The console is due to launch here on 2 December and all signs point to an immediate sell-out as retailers struggle to meet even the pre-orders they've taken over the past six months.

Alex Wollenschlaeger
Editor, Kikizo Games