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GameStop expects to fulfill 360 preorders in February

Company e-mail says approximately 70 percent of orders taken for Xbox 360s have now been fulfilled.

Gamers who thought they were getting the jump on the Xbox 360 shortage by preordering the system from retailers may have unknowingly stung themselves. Some of those who put down money up front for the next-gen console are still without their systems, as Microsoft continues to struggle to keep enough 360s in the channel to satisfy customers.

According to a well-placed source, GameStop headquarters recently sent out an internal e-mail to all its stores stating that the retailer has fulfilled an estimated 70 percent of all in-store preorders for the Xbox 360. The memo went on to say that the chain has filled all of its "first shipment" preorders, and that all remaining orders should be completed in February.

The figure does not include orders taken through GameStop's online store or those placed via EB Games, which GameStop acquired last year.

The source also told GameSpot that GameStop locations have seen a number of non-preordered $299 Xbox 360 Core Systems appear on shelves for immediate purchase. Apparently, many gamers who preordered systems are holding out for the $399 Xbox 360 Premium Systems, which come with a wireless controller and hard drive.

66 Comments

  • theoriginalquol

    Posted Feb 13, 2006 8:39 pm GMT

    Ok, so it's now the middle of February and GameStop still hasn't fullfilled it's preorders. In fact, i was told on the phone today that I will not get mine for 5 to 6 weeks. Sadly, I'm only in the early 30's on the list. They are only getting 4 to 6 a week.

    Super lame. I think someone should call Peter Moore on his statement that all preorders have now been filled, because they aren't even close.

  • chris1891

    Posted Jan 20, 2006 4:58 am GMT

    I must be damned lucky - I went into HMV in Manchester (UK) yesterday (19th Jan) and bought a Premium pack straight off the shelf for £280 - apparently it was a cancelled order!

    My advice would be to keep in contact with retailers!

  • chris1891

    Posted Jan 20, 2006 4:57 am GMT

    I must be damned lucky - I went into HMV in Manchester (UK) yesterday (19th Jan) and bought a Premium pack straight off the shelf for £280 - apparently it was a cancelled order!

    My advice would be to keep in contact with retailers!

  • bdiccus

    Posted Jan 20, 2006 3:52 am GMT

    PS3 is only expected to ship 1000000 when it launches. They'll be a shortage then too. I'm preordering a whole bunch of them and sell them on Ebay.

  • jerico6

    Posted Jan 19, 2006 6:46 pm GMT

    I WANT AN XBOX 360!!!!

  • mud14

    Posted Jan 19, 2006 5:52 pm GMT

    YES I called game STOP and Im number 20 in line Hello new Xbox 360!!!!
    lol

  • dunloggin

    Posted Jan 19, 2006 4:01 pm GMT

    hah i got one too waited in line for 2mins at bestbuy and got one TWO MINUTES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • franco89

    Posted Jan 19, 2006 12:49 pm GMT

    No shortage in Spain. You can walk into Carrefour or El Corte Ingles and get your Xbox 360 right away, as long as you don't mind paying 100 Euros for a 20GB Hard Drive that doesn't even exist. The Core is suddenly available in large amounts, so where the hell is the premium system? Not one, anywhere.

    Seems to me that this whole premium system shortage is nothing more than Microsoft's attempt to coerce its buyers to pay for the peripherals which, considering the lack of games, is the only place they'll be making any money.

  • secily

    Posted Jan 18, 2006 2:27 pm GMT

    its a shame that gamestop is suffering financial problems and its a shame that the xbox 360 is a waste and a bust.

  • DrKill09

    Posted Jan 18, 2006 11:33 am GMT

    "The damage is already done though. Nobody will EVER fully trust the preorder system again. The very thing people put money down to avoid is the only thing many have gotten so far." Funny, I preordered, and I got mine on launch day. They didn't preorder early enough. I preordered mine in May 05 or something.

  • DarthRaiderJ

    Posted Jan 18, 2006 11:08 am GMT

    Just keep checking at other stores. Thats what I did and found seven premiums at the local Wal-Mart. Then I got my money back at gamestop.

  • totallyschizo

    Posted Jan 18, 2006 8:43 am GMT

    ill keep my story short but anyways i reserved it august 12,camped out at a store, and drove all over the place trying to get one

    last night i got a call telling me to come get mine, so after all that how come it says you can order them by january 20th and by febuary itll all be fine?

    well atleast i get one even if im never gonna use gamestop again,hooray!

  • djkyc

    Posted Jan 18, 2006 8:30 am GMT

    Microsoft still cant get their act right the second time around.....for shame

  • Seraphim_24

    Posted Jan 18, 2006 7:16 am GMT

    It's dissapointing that M$ hasn't been able to keep up with demand, I know the PS2 was hard to find but not this hard... I got mine, but I have a lot of friends who I could beat the snot out of in DOA 4 if they had Xbox 360 and got the game. Until then I guess I'll have to be happy with getting my can trashed online...

  • SavoyPrime

    Posted Jan 18, 2006 6:57 am GMT

    It's a damn shame that people who preordered their systems STILL don't have them yet.

  • jaefrmbk2k

    Posted Jan 18, 2006 6:38 am GMT

    i got my 360 but the XBOX Live downloads are terrible. They are slow and often time out. When they do it's never obvious whether or not the download has completed. A download with a tick next to it may or may not be there. If you click on it and answer yes to "do you want to download it again" then you may find that it was only 5% done and another long wait. And downloading ties up the whole machine – a machine, let’s not forget, with three dual-thread processors.

  • gfonville

    Posted Jan 18, 2006 6:23 am GMT

    "Autolycus - .....Gamestop cares about 1 thing... $$$ Trading in stolen items @ your local gamestop......" I couldnt have said it better myself. You hit that on the button. In the end, its a battle between PR departments and marketing for MS, Sony and Retailers. However consumer like all of us are the ones that get the short end of the stick.

  • Autolycus

    Posted Jan 18, 2006 5:44 am GMT

    i work @ gamestop so listen up.



    Microsoft said it was okay of us to take preorders and the company, as a whole, stopped in august because we didnt want to make demand to high. Then, after we were done and Microsoft looked @ how many were preordered they were okay with it. However, when it came closer to the launch date, they figured they wouldnt be able to produce that much so they put out this bogus press release saying that they told stores like gamestop and eb to stop early and because we didnt(which we did, august was early), they said they were going to penalize us.



    MS is doing the best they can. And for you self ignorant MS haters and sony lovers. its going to be worse for the $600 ps3, and because its made by sony it will break in 1.5 years and not be covered under warranty. Sony is all about the money, not about the customer. You can come up with WHATEVER reason you want, BUT MINE IS TRUE...yours isnt.



    Gamestop cares about 1 thing... $$$ Trading in stolen items @ your local gamestop, makes crime go up in your neighborhood. Remember that next time your car gets broken into

  • ocdog45

    Posted Jan 18, 2006 3:15 am GMT

    some how I just don't believe it

  • RyoHakubi

    Posted Jan 18, 2006 1:39 am GMT

    This crap better not happen with the ps3 launch. They havn't even confirmed a launch price yet and people are pre-ordering.

  • killa-k

    Posted Jan 17, 2006 9:19 pm GMT

    This is good news 4 all the 360 fans ur time has come. YAYE!!!!! Good job MS.

  • AzN_K3V1N

    Posted Jan 17, 2006 9:19 pm GMT

    its about time

  • LordOfMidnight

    Posted Jan 17, 2006 5:31 pm GMT

    Isn't that interesting... yet more proof that Micro$oft held back product on purpose to build more demand. Does greed hold no bounds?

  • thekey

    Posted Jan 17, 2006 5:01 pm GMT

    Mine needs no debuging No problems with mine I'm lovin it too. Once this whole shananganz is over they'll be puting up better numbers also Microsoft hasn't offically released there 360 numbers yet so the 600,000 /in the US figure can't fact (YET).

  • mAniaCinBLACK

    Posted Jan 17, 2006 4:45 pm GMT

    I DONT LIKE THE 306'S THEY SUCK! SO WHO CARES ANYWAY IM BUYING A PS3.

  • obiwanvader

    Posted Jan 17, 2006 4:42 pm GMT

    What's the problem with these companies? They set a launch date and can't meet customer demand. As we all know this same thing happened with PS2. Video gaming is big business and you're talking next-gen consoles, of course demand is going to be high because gamers are always looking for the next big thing; so wouldn't it make sense for Microsoft, Sony, etc. to make sure they have the ability to meet high customer demand before releasing their product? I know a company can take a huge lose if they spend money to manufacture a product and fail to sell enough units to make up for production cost and still make a profit, but considering how well the xbox did and how highly next-gen consoles have been anticipated, what are the chances of something like that taking place?

  • slipshoddoa

    Posted Jan 17, 2006 4:25 pm GMT

    I see this as a failing of GameStop. I pre-ordered my 360 just two weeks before launch from BestBuy.com and got it launch day. I think GameStop just assumed they'd get more units then they were told and oversold. It sounds like their typical arrogance in assuming they deserved some special treatment or they didn't believe there would be a shortage. Either way, they messed up promising a product they didn't have-probably to make their quarterly numbers. The people I see complaining about not having their pre-orders fullfilled all seem to be talking about GameStop. Anybody from Amazon, Walmart, NewEgg, or any other reputable online retailer not get theirs when they were promised?

  • Bl4ckAdDer

    Posted Jan 17, 2006 4:19 pm GMT

    every game has bugs, there is no perfect game but you can keep wishing for one and will never get the perfect game. so stop complaining

  • bwhitey64

    Posted Jan 17, 2006 3:59 pm GMT

    Hopefully people know that with the PS 3 Launch date, the real release may be when Gamestop and other companies begin offering pre orders. If you are within the first 10-15 usually the first day, you will be guaranteed a system that launch day. As for the 360 pre order fiasco, I find it humerous as this basically takes a shot and will hopefully stop the annoying cashiers that push for reserves

  • thestickman

    Posted Jan 17, 2006 3:57 pm GMT

    I was supposed to get my pre-order two weeks ago and I called today to find out that they only got two units in this week. What gives?? Gamestop seems to think that because they have gotten 70% of the orders out that they're done, but in reality they're far from it. Instead of slacking off for the last leg of the race it seems to me that they need to jump on Microsoft's back and get it over with... Whatever, I'm starting to not even believe the thing exists any more, let alone care about it. Hopefully the PS3 smashes the 360 into the dirt and Microsoft learns their lesson for not being ready enough when they launched...

  • ELJUDEZ

    Posted Jan 17, 2006 3:56 pm GMT

    Im still waiting !!!!

  • lookbehindyou

    Posted Jan 17, 2006 3:35 pm GMT

    The 360 is still selling like hot cakes...it gets shipped it gets sold

  • jakeboudville

    Posted Jan 17, 2006 3:29 pm GMT

    I'll wait for the 360 to be at my area first before i buy

  • mrimkeit

    Posted Jan 17, 2006 3:26 pm GMT

    That is just sad as hell man. So lame Microsoft, so lame. I feel sorry for all the people who trusted Microsft to deliver as they promised. Such is life i guess.

    BTW, they would create a fake shortage to stir media publicity. More free advertising and time on the TV equals more public knowledge that 360 is here and that the public MUST all have one because everyone else it getting one.

  • SnowFarmer

    Posted Jan 17, 2006 3:20 pm GMT

    MS isn't going to make the 3 million mark in 90 days. There is high demand but it seems to only be from a vocal minority. There really isn't any buzz on the streets over the 360 now that the holiday hype has passed. Just witness the number of people you hear who say they will wait until there are games they want before the buy one. Right now the 360 games are pretty lackluster, and the few bugs aren't helping either.

  • Optimusv2

    Posted Jan 17, 2006 3:10 pm GMT

    Why exactly would microsoft fake a shortage... they launched earlier to sell more NOT to sell less.

    Alot of people here have no idea bout the manufacturing process of things such as these. Sony is currently having the exact same problems why do you think they are taking so long??? Cell's aren't a walk in the park when it comes to chip yields I hope you guys know that.

    Considering all the known problems that should take place with these consoles microsoft is doing a pretty damn good job so far.

    $600,000 in the usa alone and demand is still high how many have they sold in the uk and rest of europe? Lets just ignore weak jap sales numbers till the right games come out over there. With the number of 360s in demand right now microsoft could very well meet that initial 3 million within 90 days.

    They'll surely sell another 600,000 or more with no problems whatsoever if they can meet the demand.

  • doomed51

    Posted Jan 17, 2006 3:04 pm GMT

    its basically all M$'s fault for not meeting the demands, they are a big company and still cannot cope with the demands (bad management?)

  • shreypatel18

    Posted Jan 17, 2006 2:55 pm GMT

    [This message was deleted at the request of a moderator or administrator]

  • EuqirneSelbor

    Posted Jan 17, 2006 2:51 pm GMT

    I don't understand why people are so hung up over the shortage. The same exact thing happened when the PS2 launched. This always happens when a new hyped game console comes out. The same exact thing will happen with the PS3.

  • mhder

    Posted Jan 17, 2006 2:50 pm GMT

    Well Microsoft is a Rich company so I'm not cutting them much slack. But you know, they'll take as long as they want, and they'll do it again in the future because you STUPID MS fans will complain but still buy their product. If it's really a problem - make them accountable - don't buy from them - teach them a lesson. But this new generation of gamers saturated with fanboism has ruined everything.

  • darcybaston

    Posted Jan 17, 2006 2:48 pm GMT

    I always secretly tell myself a realist's ship date when I learn of one. When I heard about the 360 launch in November, I told myself, "gotta wait until summer 2006". Can't get burned that way. So for the PS3, I'm guessing by November I'll start walking around looking.

  • gokunj2

    Posted Jan 17, 2006 2:45 pm GMT

    Finally, maybe now I can get an xbox 360

  • samekila

    Posted Jan 17, 2006 2:38 pm GMT

    great now someone else can see how great the 360 is never preorder go to wal mart hahah

  • QuickJ

    Posted Jan 17, 2006 2:34 pm GMT

    i really hope sony learns from all this and does a much cleaner job

  • bj91x

    Posted Jan 17, 2006 2:30 pm GMT

    When you see "Sony" or a "Microsoft" or a "Nintendo" mentioned anywhere in the news, you're just bound to see fanboys coming up with the most pathetic reasons to diss their "rival" company or come up with excuses to make their "fan" company look like angels. I'm still trying to figure out why gamers are seen as geeks.

  • TalesOfGazayan

    Posted Jan 17, 2006 2:24 pm GMT

    I think this gimmick shortage is almost over now. My friend has spotted XBox 360s in a Walmart store here in the Bay Area. The zombies that believed that the 360 is the hottest thing in the market have already got their hands on the system. As the supply increases to “Normal launch levels” more 360s will be collecting dust on store shelves as the general public does not believe this hype.

  • XlpranksterlX

    Posted Jan 17, 2006 2:22 pm GMT

    What? still another month to go? those people dont care anymore. They've already gotten theirs else where. But hey as long as their selling.

  • rok_diablo

    Posted Jan 17, 2006 2:21 pm GMT

    Thank the heavens I already have mine

  • MadGamer132

    Posted Jan 17, 2006 2:15 pm GMT

    i did not pre-order, but i hope i'll get one

  • o_sausage

    Posted Jan 17, 2006 2:09 pm GMT

    ha i alredy got mine have fun waiting

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