Gamestop has stopped pre-orders for the Xbox One not because they are in high demand, but that they have reached their maximum quota. They are still taking orders on their online site.
Polygon decided to do their own investigation and called stores all around the country to pre-order the next-gen console. The results were pretty interesting.
A store manager in California stated, “We were only given an allocation of 16 Xbox Ones but we have 60 PlayStation 4’s and we’re still taking orders.” While another store in Texas said, “There’s no point trying any GameStop’s. We’ve stopped that SKU until we get notice.”
Turns out the number of pre-orders assigned are by the companies themselves; Microsoft provides the merchandise, therefore sets the number of consoles that should be available to each retailer.
In Ohio a store manager mentioned, “All stores have been told to stop until we get some more units from Microsoft.”
Rumor has it that Microsoft is trying to make it seem like their console is more favored by limiting their inventory per store. There have also been unconfirmed reports of the Xbox One having manufacturing problems. Maybe the company is being careful by not overproducing what they won’t be able to sell.
Either way, it is a fact that the PS4 is doing much better with pre-orders since E3, but will the recent change of events from the Xbox One’s strict policies be enough to turn them around? Sony’s executives have already predicted a positive outlook on their PS4, even saying there may be a shortage of the console.
All in all if you want any of the next-gen consoles, the best thing to do would be to pre-order them now because it is not guaranteed if there will be any left in time for the holidays.
What do you users think about Microsoft setting such a low quota for their Xbox One pre-orders?