Xbox 360 and Gamestop - Frustation

Maj.Striker

Swabbie
Banned
Ok, so last night I get an automated phone call from Gamestop. Apparently, they "over estimated" their intended supply of xbox 360s and now it is very likely they won't be able to fill my pre order until AFTER Christmas!!! WHAT THE HECK?!!! Why even bother with a preorder....why even bother? I was more than a little aggravated (as I'm sure you can tell). I had made my peace with the fact that I might not get a 360 on launch day...but to wait till after Christmas? That's crazy. I'm ready to call them up and give them a little tiny bit of my mind. Anyway, I was just curious if anyone else received this call.
 
I can understand your frustration, but it's been common knowledge for a while that Microsoft has deliberately lowered the supply of units to be available on launch day. That way, they can claim that they quickly "sold out," to make the Xbox 360 look more popular than it actually is. It's a total hype marketing gimmick.

The retailers are not at fault here. Microsoft told them early on to begin taking pre-orders so they could gauge interest in the console.

Your best bet is to try to get an Xbox 360 on launch day off the shelf (wait in line at Wal-Mart or something where they did not take pre-orders), then cancel your pre-order. Just curious, though: what shipment were on you on? Second or third?

I have mine pre-ordered at EB Games but I'm on second shipment. I'm worried I'll have my copy of Perfect Dark Zero Limited Edition but no console to play it on. :(
 
Darklightr said:
Your best bet is to try to get an Xbox 360 on launch day off the shelf (wait in line at Wal-Mart or something where they did not take pre-orders), then cancel your pre-order.

I did exactly that for the Playstation 2. I had the time of my life that night! Me and a friend were second and third in line for the system and we camped out all night in front of Walmart, just BSing with people. I actually ran into people I had graduated with in high school two years before. We were kept awake with bottles of Jolt, Walmart actually ordered us pizza(!) and around 2 o'clock at night, we broke out a TV and VCR, unplugged their outside vending machines and watched a couple movies (I remember watching Rounders but there were others).

The camera crews showed up at around 5 am and we were interviewed in front of the doors as well as walking out with our wonderful new gaming systems.
 
Darklightr said:
I can understand your frustration, but it's been common knowledge for a while that Microsoft has deliberately lowered the supply of units to be available on launch day. That way, they can claim that they quickly "sold out," to make the Xbox 360 look more popular than it actually is. It's a total hype marketing gimmick.
Wow, you're so clever!

(...or maybe not)
 
Darklightr said:
I can understand your frustration, but it's been common knowledge for a while that Microsoft has deliberately lowered the supply of units to be available on launch day. That way, they can claim that they quickly "sold out," to make the Xbox 360 look more popular than it actually is. It's a total hype marketing gimmick.

The retailers are not at fault here. Microsoft told them early on to begin taking pre-orders so they could gauge interest in the console.

Your best bet is to try to get an Xbox 360 on launch day off the shelf (wait in line at Wal-Mart or something where they did not take pre-orders), then cancel your pre-order. Just curious, though: what shipment were on you on? Second or third?

I have mine pre-ordered at EB Games but I'm on second shipment. I'm worried I'll have my copy of Perfect Dark Zero Limited Edition but no console to play it on. :(

Yeah I wasn't planning on buying the 360, but now that I see it is selling out, I just HAVE to buy one.:rolleyes:
 
I can understand your frustration, but it's been common knowledge for a while that Microsoft has deliberately lowered the supply of units to be available on launch day. That way, they can claim that they quickly "sold out," to make the Xbox 360 look more popular than it actually is. It's a total hype marketing gimmick.

The problem is that common knowledge meets common sense, and as usual our stupid little internet picks the one that sounds the most like an episode of the X-Files and eats the other one.

The elaborate conspiracy, however well described at Slashdot, doesn't make a lick of sense. If the story were "we only made enough to fill the pre-orders", it'd make sense... sort of. "We made significantly less than the number people already bought!" doesn't fit with your crazy secret plan at all. They were so worried that they wouldn't be able to make the unusually specific claim they'd sold out... that they artifcially cut down their profits by not making the units they already sold available?
 
Yeah, the intentional shortage conspiracy is stupid and ridiculous. Manufacturing capacity is strictly defined and run full out for months prior to Christmas. The tooling, materials and personnel requirements need to be set so that they can produce consistently all year-round, so absolutely no conspiracy needs to be invented to explain any shortage. Last year they couldn't even keep up with the XBox 1 demand, and many places were out for weeks around the holidays. The whole point of launching now was to sell as many as possible before the PS3 launch, so they're obviously making as many as they practically can.
 
Which makes perfect sense to me...but why is gamestop having problems filling preorders until after Christmas!? I can understand if its sold off the shelves but preorders are backed by money...surely they should be adequately taken care of...after all that is the lure or promise of the preorder.

I've already called and checked around locally, Best Buy is supposedly getting 48 xbox 360s and will sell them on a first come first serve basis. Compusa is getting 10 basic 360s and 10 premiums 360s on a first come first serve basis...they expect people to be camping out all night outside the store. Walmart is getting theirs on a first come first serve basis...they expect people to be forming lines on Monday morning. Kmart is supposedly getting theirs on a first come first serve basis as well. First of all...I don't have the time be able to spend an entire day waiting in line...I have to work. Secondly, this is Iowa...its too bleeping cold to be camping out at night! From what I've heard, Kmart is my best bet. How come Compusa isn't getting more xboxes? 10 of each seems ridiculously small to me.
 
You know, you could just wait for the one you pre-ordered to arrive. Getting it after Christmas instead of around the launch date is a pain... but ultimately makes no difference whatsoever. Just gives you a few more weeks to play other stuff instead.
 
Yeah, it's not like it would kill me. It just really really irks me that they promised me by pre ordering that I would have a copy and now only 4 days from the launch they call me up and say, "whoops...we were wrong. Your out of luck, pal." Seems like they should be held professionally accountable for that sort of thing. If they've known for months that there could be supply problems then they should have given advanced notice months ago...they should be more responsible than this.
 
I've had Gamestop sell an item I had preordered before. It was a pain but they made it up to me with some free stuff.
 
Maj.Striker said:
Yeah, it's not like it would kill me. It just really really irks me that they promised me by pre ordering that I would have a copy and now only 4 days from the launch they call me up and say, "whoops...we were wrong. Your out of luck, pal." Seems like they should be held professionally accountable for that sort of thing. If they've known for months that there could be supply problems then they should have given advanced notice months ago...they should be more responsible than this.

Well, by all of these stores' definition, a preorder of this type is a promise to hold one when they get one. GameStop specifically never promises a date. Of course, overzealous cashiers might occasionally imply otherwise in order to get you to reserve something, but you'll find absolutely no documentation or anything to back up any sort of claim that they promised a system on launch day. Although they typically have a projection for how many units of something they will receive, the 360 numbers were lower than they were lead to believe. The company only got is final allocation data about two weeks ago. When did you reserve it? I do believe GameStop actually switched over to a second shipment sku in June as a second layer of precaution. And you seem to be on the third. I reserved mine in June and although it was implied I'd be in for launch, it wasn't guaranteed. And when I got my call this week, they said it was very likely mine would arrive between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Yours appears to have been even later than that, so it seems you're on the "third" wave. None of this was surprising to me at all. GameStop's first shipment of reserved original XBoxes sold out about nine months prior to the system's launch.

So not only will none make it to the shelves, but preorders will be filled in the order that they were placed for the next couple months. I actually think that's intentionally conservative. If I had a hundred reservations I couldn't fill, and I knew I was getting 50 systems, I'd tell everyone they'd likely have to wait until after Christmas and hope that half of them got pissed, came in and cancelled. Then everyone who still has it reserved could get it in time. Your best bet is trying to find one at a store that doesn't take reservations. Don't cancel the order though, because you might not be able to find one another way before your reserved one finally arrives.

Maj.Striker said:
How come Compusa isn't getting more xboxes? 10 of each seems ridiculously small to me.

Obviously there are just physically not enough made yet. That's also why you're not getting one from GameStop next week. Best Buy is the official launch partner, so they're the only one getting half way decent quantities.

Quarto said:
You know, you could just wait for the one you pre-ordered to arrive. Getting it after Christmas instead of around the launch date is a pain... but ultimately makes no difference whatsoever. Just gives you a few more weeks to play other stuff instead.

Eh, that's a lame statement. It might make no difference to you whatsoever, but for those of us who paid for these things months ago and have spent thousands of dollars customizing our home theater setups in anticipation of this week, it certainly makes a difference. I've got a hundred XBox 1 games I've not finished and never will. No matter what happens, I won't play those next week, but I will be playing my 360 over the Thanksgiving four-day weekend.
 
ChrisReid said:
Well, by all of these stores' definition, a preorder of this type is a promise to hold one when they get one. GameStop specifically never promises a date. Of course, overzealous cashiers might occasionally imply otherwise in order to get you to reserve something, but you'll find absolutely no documentation or anything to back up any sort of claim that they promised a system on launch day. Although they typically have a projection for how many units of something they will receive, the 360 numbers were lower than they were lead to believe. The company only got is final allocation data about two weeks ago. When did you reserve it? I do believe GameStop actually switched over to a second shipment sku in June as a second layer of precaution. And you seem to be on the third. I reserved mine in June and although it was implied I'd be in for launch, it wasn't guaranteed. And when I got my call this week, they said it was very likely mine would arrive between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Yours appears to have been even later than that, so it seems you're on the "third" wave. None of this was surprising to me at all. GameStop's first shipment of reserved original XBoxes sold out about nine months prior to the system's launch.

So not only will none make it to the shelves, but preorders will be filled in the order that they were placed for the next couple months. I actually think that's intentionally conservative. If I had a hundred reservations I couldn't fill, and I knew I was getting 50 systems, I'd tell everyone they'd likely have to wait until after Christmas and hope that half of them got pissed, came in and cancelled. Then everyone who still has it reserved could get it in time. Your best bet is trying to find one at a store that doesn't take reservations. Don't cancel the order though, because you might not be able to find one another way before your reserved one finally arrives.



Obviously there are just physically not enough made yet. That's also why you're not getting one from GameStop next week. Best Buy is the official launch partner, so they're the only one getting half way decent quantities.



Eh, that's a lame statement. It might make no difference to you whatsoever, but for those of us who paid for these things months ago and have spent thousands of dollars customizing our home theater setups in anticipation of this week, it certainly makes a difference. I've got a hundred XBox 1 games I've not finished and never will. No matter what happens, I won't play those next week, but I will be playing my 360 over the Thanksgiving four-day weekend.

Well spoken as always, Chris...I've reconciled myself to my fate somewhat. I just wish there was a way I could get myself a copy but I may just have to wait. So be it.
 
Well, yelping aside, the real point of this thread should have been to discuss alternate ways to pick up a console this week if you want one, since most everyone I know who reserved one isn't getting theirs that way anymore.

I've narrowed it down to two methods. Twenty-four hour Walmarts and some Best Buys are doing midnight launches for walk up customers. There's a Best Buy near here that will be getting several hundred units for Monday night, but they're also only a few minutes from Microsoft headquarters, so that place is going to be swarming. On the other hand, I think I can find a secluded Walmart. Just have to hope they get a decent number. I have work Tuesday too, so I can't hit all the 6-8 am morning openings for Target, Comp USA, Toys R Us and so on. If I were to do something like that, I might think of going somewhere like Fred Meyer or Sears. And if no places had lines, I'd hit Costco. They're the only place in the world that has a bundle that actually gives you stuff for less than the combined MSRP of the component pieces, but I think everyone knows that and will try to rush them.
 
Actually, there's a bunch of facts mixed into one big fact that's somewhat false.

Fact - Microsoft has ordered retailers in Norway that they *MUST* sell out of consoles *ON RELEASE DAY*. Otherwise they will not ship them units. (Other related facts - each store will get 20 units - 14 "premium", and 6 "basic", and each console must go out with at least 2 games each)

Fact - Microsoft has put a bunch of retailers "on allocation". Which means that even if they have 100 units on preorder, they may only get 10. These retailers are almost all exclusively game stores and some electronics stores.

Fact - Microsoft has more than enough capacity to fulfill all pre-orders. In fact, they've ordered their production lines *SLOWED DOWN* to crank out less Xbox 360's than if they were running full tilt.

The first fact is irrelevant as North America's going to be the Xbox 360's largest market (Japan usually is, but given feeble Xbox sales over there, I doubt Microsoft would be dedicating very many units there). There are also rumors that sales aren't as high as Microsoft would like (number of pre-orders is less than anticipated, hence the possibility for forcing an artifically low supply). Ditto with the "on allocation". In fact, it's quite likely that if you really wanted one, line up at Wal-Mart and buy it there rather than GameStop/EB. Or anywhere else you see carrying consoles that you traditionally don't associate with gaming. But Wal-Mart would be the retailer with the stock since they have the power to tell Microsoft to "shove it" if they don't get their order. (Wal-Mart is king, and Microsoft *will* supply them first.)

Now, taking the fact that Microsoft has slowed their production lines down, plus that the Xbox 360 is a near-simultaneous release worldwide (Norway was December 2nd or so), could it really be it isn't selling that well?

I'd say your best chance at getting an Xbox 360 would be to go to Wal-Mart.

Edit:

Let's add some references.

Xbox 360: Retail Bully - http://www.gizmodo.com/gadgets/home-entertainment/xbox-360-retail-bully-134320.php (conditions for selling Xbox 360s in Norway).

Xbox 360 Tests Its Brakes - http://www.gizmodo.com/gadgets/home-entertainment/xbox-360-tests-its-brakes-134098.php (Microsoft to slow production of Xbox 360, and to not spike production during holidays to meet demand.)

Xbox 360 to be in short supply - http://www.gizmodo.com/gadgets/home-entertainment/xbox-360-in-short-supply-130969.php

Ironically, I pasted them in reverse-chronological order. Amazon stops taking pre-orders, then Microsoft won't spike production to even meet pre-order demand, followed by retailer strongarming? Yowch.

Me, personally, I haven't seen any xbox 360 game that looks good - mostly sports (ick) and FPS-type games. Nothing compelling, and the emulated list doesn't include my favorite Xbox games. Maybe mid-2006 when the mass of Xbox 360 games are supposed to come out.
 
Bandit LOAF said:
The elaborate conspiracy, however well described at Slashdot, doesn't make a lick of sense.

I've never read a single article on that site. In fact, I've read various reports from other sources instead.

doesn't fit with your crazy secret plan at all.

Hmm... "my crazy secret plan"? I don't remember coming up with it.

They were so worried that they wouldn't be able to make the unusually specific claim they'd sold out... that they artifcially cut down their profits by not making the units they already sold available?

Or instead, they could have flooded the market with units and received a far lower number of sales than they planned.

ChrisReid said:
Yeah, the intentional shortage conspiracy is stupid and ridiculous.

Really? Is it better for business to be "sold out" (which the media would quickly pick up on, and people that were on the fence would believe it was selling out because it must be awesome), or have the media reporting units still sitting on the shelves on launch day, giving everyone the impression that no one is buying them (can anyone say "Nokia N-Gage"?).

Microsoft is more than able to manufacture as many units as they want, I'm sure. I have no doubt that second shipment will arrive well before Christmas, and third shipment not long after.

If the "conspiracy" is true, Microsoft would like the console to appear sold out on launch, then they'll release enough units for people to buy in time for Christmas. It's a perfect strategy to get all those moms to purchase what must be the hottest item this year. Every sales clerk will be hyping the fact that it's been "sold out" since launch.

It may or may not be true, but I don't believe it's as far-fetched as you think.
 
I plan to get a Xbox 360, but with a little different timing...

Between 6 months to year. Why?

Cheaper prices, less hustle, and they'll work out any quirks from the first generation of machines.

Boy I love being a patient bastard.
 
Or instead, they could have flooded the market with units and received a far lower number of sales than they planned.

No, they wouldn't have... because they ALREADY SOLD THOSE UNITS.

What this thread is complaining about is people who bought their Y-Boxes aren't aren't going to get them because there aren't enough to meet the INITIAL DEMAND. We're not talking about Microsoft being conservative about how many more above the initial, definite order they want -- we're talking about Microsoft not being able to make as many as people already bought.

By your logic Microsoft would be the most succesful company in the universe if they just made one Y-Box.

I've never read a single article on that site. In fact, I've read various reports from other sources instead.

I'm making fun of your horrible culture, not claiming to have any actual knowledge of which of ten thousand unreliable sources you decided not to think about.
 
Bandit LOAF said:
I'm making fun of your horrible culture, not claiming to have any actual knowledge of which of ten thousand unreliable sources you decided not to think about.

I think we already had this conversation in another thread. Why does every discussion become personal to you? Is it really necessary to try to attack someone's personal tastes or what you perceive to be "their culture" in an effort to sound superior?

At any rate, your vague attempt at sounding "l33t" doesn't work, since I don't even know what you define as "my culture." Unlike others around here, I don't even spend much time on the Internet. I work 40 hours a week (neat, huh?), check my e-mail, and check the CIC daily in the vain hope of hearing some groundbreaking news of a new Wing Commander game.

How "my culture" comes into play in any way, shape, or form, I have no idea.
 
Darklightr said:
I think we already had this conversation in another thread.

Unwise youth - why will you not learn?!

Darklightr said:
Why does every discussion become personal to you? Is it really necessary to try to attack someone's personal tastes or what you perceive to be "their culture" in an effort to sound superior?

I don't think its so much "sound superior" as hes just smarter than you. Its kinda like using the word "pretentious" - the only people that say it (outside of this type of example) are pretentious unto themselves.
 
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