Is Kinect for Xbox 360 Sold Out? Don’t Buy That
By Jared Newman | Monday, October 18, 2010 at 9:47 am
Sold out products make a company look good, so it’s no surprise that Microsoft is boasting about Kinect for Xbox 360’s supposedly limited availability.
In a press release announcing Kinect’s launch titles, Microsoft says pre-orders for the motion-sensing camera are “rapidly selling out.” Larry Hryb, director of programming for Xbox Live, wrote on his blog that “if you have not placed your order yet you may want to take care of that.”
I wouldn’t bother heeding his advice, at least if you live in the United States. Come November 4, I have a feeling you’ll be able to walk into a games retailer, see Kinect for yourself and make an informed decision on whether to buy. No need to rush.
Reports of Kinect pre-orders selling out have surfaced several times this month. For the most part, these stories have come from the United Kingdom, where retailers GAME, Amazon UK and Play.com said they were all out of supply. Microsoft told gaming trade publication MCV that it’s working hard to meet holiday demand. Does this mean Kinect won’t be in steady supply at U.K. retailers? Maybe.
In the United States, the sell-out story seems to be overblown. An Xbox enthusiast site reported two weeks ago that Gamestop was no longer taking pre-orders, and that Newegg was sold out of Kinect as well, but this is not the case anymore. Gamestop still lists a November 4 ship date for Kinect pre-orders, and I don’t see any mention of delays at Best Buy, Walmart, Amazon or Newegg.
What’s going on? I think legitimate sell-out concerns in the United Kingdom are being conflated with minor issues in the United States. In any case, Microsoft is now preparing a massive marketing campaign for Kinect, starting with today’s launch title announcement. Failure to meet demand would be a blunder on Microsoft’s part.
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October 18th, 2010 at 5:34 pm
Artificial demand for sure. I don't know a single person who pre-ordered anything for next month… other than Call of Duty: Black Ops
October 19th, 2010 at 6:06 am
Microsoft made a statement somewhere that they are actually trying to make sure everyone that wants a Kinect can get one.
October 19th, 2010 at 7:04 am
This is all part of the M$ hype-machine. Oooooh…its almost sold out? It must be good and I should get my copy soon or else I won't be able to play with it for months!
First of all…no one knows if it will be good. There have been mixed previews for the system that state anything from it being completely unplayable to M$ developer Rare stating that there is no lag whatsoever.
But I guess the most important thing to remember is: "Do not trust what the publisher says about sales of a device before the device is officially on sale". Seriously…have a wait-and-see attitude about Kinect and don't buy the M$ hype this time. Remember…they thought Kin was going to sell well also…
October 19th, 2010 at 7:04 am
So just to get this straight, MS is going to continue to spend the rest of their claimed $500,000,000 advertising budget to promote the release of Kinect that will be "sold out" soon? That is, to advertise a product that consumers won't actually be able to buy until MS doles out more shipments?
Sounds to me like they don't have to spend another cent if that's the case.
October 19th, 2010 at 3:35 pm
Just more marketing hypernonsense from Microsoft. Kinect is probably sold out at 1 Game store in 1 town of the world, the rest is just made up.
October 26th, 2010 at 11:00 am
You're right amazon's not sold out, they stopped selling them because they're tired of making money…
November 4th, 2010 at 1:02 pm
I love potatoes!
December 2nd, 2010 at 10:14 pm
Shows how much you know Jared, I've been looking for kinect since a couple days after launch and they are sold out everywhere including online. All the stores that sell them within 40 miles from where I live are lucky if they get 3 a week. Not every business lies about their products, MS knew how great this product was before consumers and had faith that once people tried it they would love it to and so far their right. I want Kinect so bad but no luck finding it unless I want to pay $400 for another console to go with it which I don'l need another 360 so paying an extra $250 this time of year wouldn't be wise.
December 5th, 2010 at 10:55 pm
Yeah, sold out everywhere.
But it's not very hard to buy it online, just use the website
http://wiialerts.com
you can register for instock text alerts.
Wiialerts.com site makes it real easy to buy it, you don't have to keep searching endlessly online and in stores
December 8th, 2010 at 4:52 pm
Yea. This is freaking crap. How does something sell out online??? I dont understand why this wasn't fixed before the christmas season. I cannot find it anywhere.. I have looked in every place! and online. But everything is sold out. It just makes me mad and even if I can get a hold of one, I may not even get it cause of how stressed I am trying to buy it before Christmas!!! This is ridiculous. I am starting to hate microsoft. Good thing I am a Playstation Girl. (the XBOX is for the Fiance)
December 20th, 2010 at 11:29 am
Can't even find bundles or Kinect and Xbox 360's separately… fail!
December 22nd, 2010 at 8:57 am
Can't find them? Really? Where have you been looking? I'm finding them everywhere… Gamestop just emailed me something about having bundles and Amazon shows Kinect & both the 250GB & 4GB consoles…
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December 29th, 2011 at 1:18 am
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