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Stock of Xbox One is being held back to ensure units are available in store at launch, Microsoft Game Studios vice president Phil Spencer has told Game Informer.
“You want people to be able to walk in the store and buy one on day one, so you’re trying to manage the inventory that isn’t pre-sold,” Spencer says. “It’s not a yield problem, it’s us trying to manage the hardware side.
“I want parents who don’t think about pre-ordering electronics to be able to walk in and have a chance to find a box. There might be a line, but I don’t want it to be that if you didn’t pre-order in September, you can’t get one. That doesn’t feel like a great consumer experience.”
The situation should be much improved over the Xbox 360 launch, says Spencer.
“Availability should feel a lot better than it did for 360,” he says. “If people want to pick up more controllers and games, they’ll be there. We feel really good about our pre-order number, and we’re managing it through allocation rather than demand.
“[Pre-order] isn’t the business. It’s way more important to me what happens when people walk in the store. The business is selling consoles,” Spencer concluded.
Source: Game Informer
