James Delahunty
29 Nov 2005 0:18
It is speculated that 300,000 Xbox 360's will be available in Europe for the December 2nd launch. Chris Lewis, Microsoft's regional vice president (EMEA, Home and Entertainment Division), said the estimates "were not far removed from reality." He said it is likely the console will sell out on its launch date, like the November 22nd U.S. launch that saw all devices sold within two hours of stores opening.
In Ireland, retailers have been taking pre-orders for the new Xbox console for months. A spokesman for Microsoft Xbox in Ireland said that demand for the console there is huge and it is unlikely that there are any retailers left still taking pre-orders. He also doubts that anyone in Ireland who hasn't pre-ordered an Xbox 360, will have any luck in getting one until at least January.
"What consumers who haven't pre-ordered should do is maybe check out the smaller retailers like Peats and Toymaster, who may not have been running pre-order campaigns and could have a few on the day," he said. Steve Ballmer recently stated that the firm was "feeling pretty good" about the demand for the Xbox 360 in Ireland, where Sony has about 50% share of the games console market, followed by Microsoft's 28% share.
Some European gamers who have pre-ordered their consoles may be worried about the number of complaints particularly on gaming forums about bugs and glitches that North American owners are suffering. Nevertheless, it is most likely that it will sell out quickly in Europe as it is the first of the next generation of gaming consoles released.
Source:
The Register