Xbox - finished

L5

http://news.spong.com/detail/news.asp?prid=8507


No more xboxes being made. Once the ones in stores sell out thats it.


They must be clearing the way for Xbox 2



"According to senior sources within publishing, retailers are being instructed not to list Xbox hardware in their next catalogue publications. “They are telling us that they have reached their targets and want to clear the way for the next machine,” we were told, with our source speaking under terms of anonymity. “It’s reached the point where the amount of money they lose per unit, combined with the fact that they might well eat into their own [Xbox 360] market share, means that continuing the run is just not feasible.”

Of course the big question remains of exactly how many Xbox hardware units are still available. “There are only two million units left and no more will be produced,” continued our source. “There are 400,000 allocated for the whole of the European territory. After that there will be no more. It was confirmed to me that Microsoft has no plans to manufacture the original Xbox once the new console hits the market.”

However, Microsoft has indicated to key retailers that it plans to having around a million Xbox 360 hardware units available in time for Christmas of 2005, as reported by MCV last week and recently confirmed to SPOnG.

Microsoft’s official line on the matter is that the Xbox supply situation will improve, offering a six week wait-and-see window to retailers. Some cynics may argue that six weeks brings the welcome distraction of a 360-powered E3 show in Los Angeles. The Windows giant also claimed that manufacture of the original Xbox unit continues, although this end-of-cycle production run is likely to comprise the two million figure offered by our source today.

We will bring you updates on this story if anything changes. "

Otacon

Why are they doing this so early tho?

Is it because they still expect to have a few Xbox's left over when the new one comes out and they want to cut their losses?

L5

xbox2 launching december, i guess they need the factory space for xbox 2's. Similiar to the shortage of ps2 around christmas while sony made psps.

Zombrex

Otacon wrote:

Why are they doing this so early tho?

Is it because they still expect to have a few Xbox's left over when the new one comes out and they want to cut their losses?

I read somewhere, think it was Edge, that Microsoft's manufacturing plants do not have the resources needed to get the X-Box 2 out before christmas and continue to make new X-Boxs.

Plus every X-Box they make loses them money, the whole point is market share, and I guess they feel they won't make any significant dents in the current PS2 market share between now and the X-Box 2, so there is no point continuing to make them (it is probaby not going to be called the X-Box 2 btw, because seemingly that makes it look a generation behind the PS3).

What Microsoft really want is to get a head start in the next-gen (PS3, Nintendo Revolution) console battle. The X-Box has really just been a very expensive "foot in the door" excersice for them. It is with the next-gen consoles that Microsoft hope to really make a good attempt at taking serious market share away from Sony, and position the X-Box as the centeral all round entertainment system in homes

In the long run MS is far more interested in positioning the X-Box 2 (or 3) as a multi-purpose entertainment system, the centre of the living room. That is where the real huge money is to be made. All these stages we see are really just steps to positoning MS as the king of the living room. Very very expensive steps, but steps none the less. And with Microsoft they are in it for the long haul, it is always about market share, they don't care too much about day to day profit. There are only two products at Microsoft that actually make money, MS Windows and MS Office. These two products (together making about 10 billion a year) fund everything else Microsoft do, including the X-Box division.

ShiverinEskimo

Wicknight wrote:

it is probaby not going to be called the X-Box 2 btw, because seemingly that makes it look a generation behind the PS3.

Interesting point I hadn't considered before. The pshycological marketing.
Perhaps "Microsoft Xbox 2005" or "Xbox XP SP2"??

Goodshape

'XBox360' has been mentioned in a few places.

Combining 3rd generation and a revolution. Or something.

Kristok

seeing as they make a loss its makes sense, they dont want to have to sell the stock off cheaper as happens with all consoles when the new version comes out. Id be less bothered if the new xbox could play the old games.

hal9000

nah nah nah ye got it all wrong they will call the new xbox the
"xbox more powerful than superman, spiderman and the incredible hulk combined"

po0k

So XBatman then?

Zapp Brannigan

K i have this info from a reliable source.
Xbox2 is going to be called Xenon
and a release game is Halo (2.5 or 3) hes not too sure on that.

ill see if i can squeeze more info from him.

jesus_thats_gre

In all fairness, nearly every console that has been released has been sold at a loss with the intention of making this loss up with software sales...


Also, Sony seemingly stopped production of the original PS2 to free up production capacity for the slimline PS2 long before its launch. This is pretty normal I would imagine and would assume it is something that car manufacturers do alot..

As someone said, the Xbox was pretty much a learning experience for MS. They knew they had no chance of making a serious dent in Sony's domination considering the time advantage the PS2 had over the Xbox.. If you remember the launch on the PS2, PsOne games and consoles were outselling the PS2 for many months after launch. Microsoft understandably dont want this to happen again.

jesus_thats_gre

Seemingly they are lauching Halo 3 the day the PS3 is launching. Good idea me thinks.

steviec

How long has the X-Box been around for? About 3 years? That's got to be the shortest lifespan of a major console ever.

monument

Slurms wrote:

K i have this info from a reliable source.
Xbox2 is going to be called Xenon
and a release game is Halo (2.5 or 3) hes not too sure on that.

ill see if i can squeeze more info from him.

Is his/her name EuroGamer.net, GamesIndustry.biz, SPOnG.com, Edge, or etc etc etc?

L5

Slurms wrote:

K i have this info from a reliable source.
Xbox2 is going to be called Xenon

ill see if i can squeeze more info from him.

I can hardly wait :rolleyes:

Zapp Brannigan

monument wrote:

Is his/her name EuroGamer.net, GamesIndustry.biz, SPOnG.com, Edge, or etc etc etc?

no but he's a good mate of mine who got offered a job on the Official Xenon Magazine, so he's fairly in the know.

Ciaran500

They gave him loads of info because he got offered a job?

Zapp Brannigan

of course, they're hardly gonna say ok we'll give you a job reviewing games for ournew console, but you'll have to wait until release before we tell you anything about this console and the plans we have for it.

iregk

Xenon is not going to be the name of the next xbox thats the project name. Similar to Windows, Longhorn (jokes aside) is the project name of the next Windows OS but that will be called Windows 2005, The Pentium 4 is known in Intel as project 2086. Xenon is also the name of the SDK (software development kit) that companies use to make the games with.

I also heard that it was not going to be called xbox2 due to the generation issue so 360 or 365 is looking like the name. personally im in favour of Xbox 365... the console for every day use.

Zapp Brannigan

you wanna bet about it?

Creamy Goodness

steviec wrote:

How long has the X-Box been around for? About 3 years? That's got to be the shortest lifespan of a major console ever.

i think the dreamcast was shorter, not too sure though.

Vyse

Cremo wrote:

i think the dreamcast was shorter, not too sure though.

You're right, it was. I think however their respective endings aren't quite comparable.

iregk

Not really but thanks for the offer. I dont bet, ever!