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PS4/Xbox One Sunday Retail Stock Check: December 15-25

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KoopaTheCasual

Junior Member
Yet posts in this thread have said Walmarts got a bigger stock of PS4s today than at LAUNCH (60 today vs 48 launch). Launch day sold 1 million+ PS4s in 24 hours, so I wouldn't underestimate Sony's ability to pump consoles into NA, regardless of them launching in other areas (most areas are now bumped to tier2 status and getting consoles after the end of Jan)

Yes, this weekend (and probably next weekend) Sony will have much bigger shipments of PS4s compared to XB1s, but there was also the first two weeks of the month, where MS completely flooded NA. I feel like Sony is catching up to MS, since those weeks were definitely used to prepare shipments for the ME and Asia. It'll be interesting to see if Sony can outpace MS for the rest of the month, since for Asia alone (I believe Mort supplied the estimate) they should be getting 500k consoles. No idea how big the other markets for the ME are, but they're pushing huge numbers to other regions this month.

As people have been saying it really is just each company's focus. MS is trying to defend NA at all cost, since they've already warned people in the UK to prepare themselves for shortages. Sony, on the other hand, is steadily building WW dominance. I really can't wait to see how close these numbers are for December.
 

jester_

Member
This is true, but they also just launched into a lot of new territories. They're in 40+ in December. That alone doesn't tell us anything; Sony could have been (and probably were) stockpiling units to support those launches. But given how many more territories they are in, unless they have much higher production than MS or are starving most other countries of stock, December NPD will be very close. It's not out of the bounds of of possibility that MS sells more in December in NA, given how focused they are on it.

I think Sony is very focused it on it as well, and are diverting as much stock as they can afford to (and telling other countries to wait till January). Losing December is gonna be a PR blow that they are not going to want to take.
 

James Sawyer Ford

Gold Member
This is true, but they also just launched into a lot of new territories. They're in 40+ in December. That alone doesn't tell us anything; Sony could have been (and probably were) stockpiling units to support those launches. But given how many more territories they are in, unless they have much higher production than MS or are starving most other countries of stock, December NPD will be very close. It's not out of the bounds of of possibility that MS sells more in December in NA, given how focused they are on it.

True, it's certainly possible (hell, even probable) that MS will outsell Sony in December since they appear to have more supply and are focusing just on a few territories.

But I could also see Sony making it quite close or even getting a slight lead like they did in last month's NPD.

We have reports from Pachter and others saying PS4 has about 25+% better capacity (1.25m per month vs 1 million per month for MS), and have been producing units sooner.

Either way, in NA it will be close unless Sony somehow has a huge shortage.

I think Sony is very focused it on it as well, and are diverting as much stock as they can afford to (and telling other countries to wait till January). Losing December is gonna be a PR blow that they are not going to want to take.

In the grand scheme of things losing a December NPD wouldn't be a huge blow unless Microsoft beat them massively, and even then PS4s are not on store shelves and Xbox Ones are.

They can also throw out a press release for global sell through which should dwarf whatever Microsoft releases.
 

hitmon

Member
Xbones were in stock at my local BB. PS4s are out of stock until next week according to an employee I spoke with.
 
My local Wal-Mart hasn't seen an Xbone shipment in a bit, but they are sold out of both systems. 12 ps4s came in this morning and sold out. My Sam's Club got 30 ps4s and 8 Xbones, and they have no ps4s left but 4 Xbones.
 
I think Sony is very focused it on it as well, and are diverting as much stock as they can afford to (and telling other countries to wait till January). Losing December is gonna be a PR blow that they are not going to want to take.

Telling what countries? Sony have launched in over 40 countries so far, they are distributing it as far and wide as possible
 

Zachi

Banned
I think PS4 will win Dec NPD with an even bigger margin than Nov. it's not hard just to speak to your local retailers to verify which story is true for XBone, slowing demand vs oversupply
 

gtj1092

Member
Do people think if you win NPD you have the most sales world wide. I'm sure either company would rather sell more total then win NPD. Like with Black Friday there was a lot of hoopla about Xone winning that by maybe 100K units who knows there were no actual numbers. But Sony was busy selling 700K units in Europe that same day so who really won Black Friday? I think Ps4 and Xone will be about even in the US after December. After that who knows but Ps4 will be leading world wide.
 

Tsundere

Banned
My friend that works at Best Buy says her store is keeping stock for 12/22 and 12/29 they didn't put any on sale today (PS4 obviously).
 
I think Sony is very focused it on it as well, and are diverting as much stock as they can afford to (and telling other countries to wait till January). Losing December is gonna be a PR blow that they are not going to want to take.

Maybe, maybe not. The intention behind their early North American release and dumping so much stock here day one could have been to force Microsoft to turtle up - making them retract fully into North America and focus their efforts almost entirely on protecting their base - in which case they might be satisfied with their success in that endeavor and shift their efforts to worldwide sales.

I know a lot of people want to see PS4 achieve complete worldwide domination, but for marketing strategists at Sony just having Microsoft effectively cede every other region for the sake of eking out a small majority in North America might be "good enough". The North American market is large, but it's also a very mature market with limited growth potential for the next decade, it doesn't have to be the cornerstone in a global marketing strategy the way it was last generation, or Japan was two generations ago.

Honestly, it's hard to say until we have a more firm idea on exactly what the difference in demand is. If Sony's got a truly outrageous advantage in terms of Japan then they probably want to go for the throat and decisively take North America, too. If the split is more even, they'd probably be happy with falling slightly behind in NA if it meant leaving Microsoft completely incapable of meaningful expansion into other markets.
 

jester_

Member
In the grand scheme of things losing a December NPD wouldn't be a huge blow unless Microsoft beat them massively, and even then PS4s are not on store shelves and Xbox Ones are.

They can also throw out a press release for global sell through which should dwarf whatever Microsoft releases.

That may be true, but MS is going to be trumpeting from the top of every hill if they ever end up at the top of an NPD, and then they won't have to bend math in order to put out a positive PR spin. Hirai/Tretton have publicly said that USA is a huge, important battleground and I really don't think they want to drop that lead already after the first month. I feel like winning NA numbers in December is important to them and they are gonna flood the market with as many consoles as they possibly can in order to win.
 

jester_

Member
Telling what countries? Sony have launched in over 40 countries so far, they are distributing it as far and wide as possible
People from those countries here on GAF who have tried to get/preorder a console in their area were told they are not getting further shipments until the end of January in most places. I didn't mean to say Sony is pushing back their launches, just that they are not prioritizing restocks in most other launched countries.
 
Any store that ive walked into in Central Ohio has had Xbox ones in stock every single time since launch. Ive seen one ps4 in that time.
 

Racer1977

Member
This is true, but they also just launched into a lot of new territories. They're in 40+ in December. That alone doesn't tell us anything; Sony could have been (and probably were) stockpiling units to support those launches. But given how many more territories they are in, unless they have much higher production than MS or are starving most other countries of stock, December NPD will be very close. It's not out of the bounds of of possibility that MS sells more in December in NA, given how focused they are on it.

Oh, I'm sure December NPD will be close, I just find it fascinating how a combination of the US games media and gamers, have somehow elevated the NPD's to be more important than WW sales, at least in terms of news worthiness.

I don't understand MS's strategy being so focused on NA, at least 50% (and growing) of the games market is outside this region, if Sony are level pegging with MS in NA, and garner most of the EU/Asian market, it will be next to impossible for MS to get exclusive (3rd party) game deals. And what about all those TV services they are targeting, who will partner exclusivelly with XBO if they only have a fraction of the EU/Asian market?
 

jester_

Member
Oh, I'm sure December NPD will be close, I just find it fascinating how a combination of the US games media and gamers, have somehow elevated the NPD's to be more important than WW sales, at least in terms of news worthiness.
US games media and gamers? Microsoft and every other company making press statements about their NPD numbers has nothing to do with it? These companies do everything they can to whip up a news frenzy and create discussion/debate over any numbers they can, so of course the definitive results for sales per month in NA are going to be elevated
 
what a prick

$_57.JPG

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Sony-PlaySt...1175717319?pt=Video_Games&hash=item2586d245c7
 

heyitsphil

Neo Member
I got my Xbox One at my local Microsoft store, they had several in stock, not sure exactly how many, although all the best buys and electronics store are out of stock on X1's in my immediate area. I'm in Denver, Colorado
 

Milennia

Member
Wut? For 12/29, too?.... Why?

That's technically after the holiday rush. Why would they hold back stock for after Christmas?

Couldn't say, just repeating what i was told.

Ill ask him when i talk to him tommorow.
Chances are he wont even know why either lol.

Probably a second shipment around that time , so holding 2 shipments for 2 separate dates?
 

coldfoot

Banned
All this tells me is that Microsoft's retail strategy is a lot smarter than Sony's. As a result of smart planning and concentrating on tier one countries like North America, they actually have the supply to meet the demand and are therefore in a very enviable position. I wouldn't be surprised to see them sweep December's NPDs. Sony is learning a tough lesson about what good is having a more powerful, cheaper system if you don't have enough of them to sell and they're really starting off this generation on a bad foot.
10/10
Nice
 

ClearData

Member
Maybe, maybe not. The intention behind their early North American release and dumping so much stock here day one could have been to force Microsoft to turtle up - making them retract fully into North America and focus their efforts almost entirely on protecting their base - in which case they might be satisfied with their success in that endeavor and shift their efforts to worldwide sales.

I know a lot of people want to see PS4 achieve complete worldwide domination, but for marketing strategists at Sony just having Microsoft effectively cede every other region for the sake of eking out a small majority in North America might be "good enough". The North American market is large, but it's also a very mature market with limited growth potential for the next decade, it doesn't have to be the cornerstone in a global marketing strategy the way it was last generation, or Japan was two generations ago.

Honestly, it's hard to say until we have a more firm idea on exactly what the difference in demand is. If Sony's got a truly outrageous advantage in terms of Japan then they probably want to go for the throat and decisively take North America, too. If the split is more even, they'd probably be happy with falling slightly behind in NA if it meant leaving Microsoft completely incapable of meaningful expansion into other markets.

This has been one giant chess match since February with Sony making the majority of good moves. It's going to be one heck of a battle but I have been beginning to feel that NPD is such an imperfect way to look at this now since it only has data from North America. I want to get a better sense of how Sony and Microsoft are doing in other markets but I don't know of any standardized report for that. The last information I've heard was from the UK launch. There is such a larger battle going on out there and it's invisible to most people inside North American looking solely at NPD.
 

coldfoot

Banned
Sony is like QWOP incarnate in corporate form. Had they another shot at this, they'd have more production lines open in August and September. The window has passed.
Making more PS4's isn't as simple as opening up more production lines. How do we know if the GDDR5 modules or the APU aren't being produced at maximum capacity at the moment anyway so any extra assembly plants would be idling and waiting for them?
 

fizzgigg

Banned
I work for a gamestop in Chicago we keep getting ps4s they sell out in a hour we had 15 GONE in one hour we had 18 xbones we only sold 3 we still have some this shipment was from thursday.
 

Kvik

Member
Haha! Good luck. I'm guessing it would still be cheaper than the going rate there?

PS4 costs AUD $549 (~$490 USD) here in Australia. Mine was an Amazon import, and I paid $417 USD (~$475 AUD).

Getting one from Ebay will still come with a premium for the immediate future, I'm afraid. And with Amazon selling their stock in minutes, well...
 

Cornbread78

Member
My local Wal-Mart had 50 this morning for 8am and even with 8" of snow on the ground and still more coming down, they were sold out in minutes with all the people waiting....
 
I got my Xbox One at my local Microsoft store, they had several in stock, not sure exactly how many, although all the best buys and electronics store are out of stock on X1's in my immediate area. I'm in Denver, Colorado
Come down to Colorado Springs. There are plenty.
 

jester_

Member
Come down to Colorado Springs. There are plenty.

Indeed. PS4s vanish immediately though, my dentist (here in the Springs) asked me what I thought of my PS4 and how to pick one up for his son - I shot him an email last week when Amazon stocked up again and he bought it within 2 minutes. I haven't met anyone besides myself who actually has an Xbone here.
 

RedAssedApe

Banned
being sold out within minutes in a B&M doesn't really mean that much if the xbone is still eventually selling out the shipments.

ps4 demand is obviously higher but in the short term...taking 1 hr to sell out versus selling out in 1-2 days ends up being the same if stock is similar and if shipments aren't coming in daily anyways.
 

Skeff

Member
Making more PS4's isn't as simple as opening up more production lines. How do we know if the GDDR5 modules or the APU aren't being produced at maximum capacity at the moment anyway so any extra assembly plants would be idling and waiting for them?

It takes 6-8 weeks to fabricate an APU (in general, I'm sure PS4 will fall somewhere in there) If we Assume Sony realized how short of stock they would be at the US release the first chips the could fabricate wouldn't be ready until 2014, then would need to be put into PS4's and fully assembled and then shipped(possibly another 2 months) The APU's that are going into the foundry on Launch Day probably won't be in Consumers hands until March/April.

My point is, your right, you can't manufacture them without an APU and you can't just pull custom APU's out of nowhere.

being sold out within minutes in a B&M doesn't really mean that much if the xbone is still eventually selling out the shipments.

ps4 demand is obviously higher but in the short term...taking 1 hr to sell out versus selling out in 1-2 days ends up being the same if stock is similar and if shipments aren't coming in daily anyways.

True it doesn't really matter but if their are shipments arriving 30th December to retailers, then that shipment may be 100% sold on NPD for one company and only 40-50% sold for another company for December's NPD of course, The real fun is going to start in February IMO.
 
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