When the last generation of game consoles launched, you would have been hard pressed to get your hands on limited launch-day stocks without an early pre-order. This time around, Microsoft hopes to combat that problem by managing hardware stock and shipments so that retailers have systems available for walk-ins on November 22.
"You want people to be able to walk in the store and buy one on day one, so you're trying to manage the inventory that isn't pre-sold," Microsoft Game Studios Vice President Phil Spencer said in
a recent Game Informer interview. "It's not a yield problem, it's us trying to manage the hardware side. I want parents who don't think about pre-ordering electronics to be able to walk in and have a chance to find a box. There might be a line, but I don't want it to be that if you didn't pre-order in September, you can't get one. That doesn't feel like a great consumer experience."
