Microsoft "Padding" Their Statistics?

[DrRipley]

Not trying to bash MS here, just sharing what I came across and hoping to shed some light on it. Also, this is a relatively old article from December 4, but I just find it a little confusing so I wanted to discuss it here.

Anyway, from what I understand in the article, the author seems to state that Xbox was not sold out even if they claim to be so at the time the article was posted. However, the counter arguments brought up only stated one or two unsold units, which I think should be considered close enough, and even one of the units was just a return anyway. Is the author just bashing on Xbox for the sake of their own publicity, or am I missing something?

Microsoft claims Xbox One sold out worldwide; Retailers beg to differ

Recently, Sony (maker of the PlayStation 4 video game console) announced that more than 2.1 million PS4 units have sold worldwide.

In response, Microsoft's Xbox VP Yusuf Mehdi told website Ars Technica that their Xbox One is "sold out at retailers around the world."

A quick over-the-phone check at a six randomly-selected retailers found that isn't quite the case.

"We have a Day One edition in stock," said Megan, who works at the Arden Way Toys-R-Us location in Sacramento. "Actually, I just looked in our back room and we have two."

A quick phone call to GameStop yeilded a similar result.

"We have one in stock," said employee Joseph Justice of the Truxel Road location. "It was just returned."

 

[SpaceTiger]

It sounds like the author is nitpicky about "sold out" and could be bashing Xbox One, but still the employee reactions got a chuckle out of me. Especially "We have one in stock," said employee Joseph Justice of the Truxel Road location. "It was just returned."

If there was a Spinal Tap/Fear of a Black Hat-like mockumentary done on the 8th generation gaming consoles, that should be a quote and Joe Justice should be a character credited as himself.

 

[Ghost_of_Crash]

The comments actually got a laugh out of me. It's like were those even needed? Totally.

 

[SpaceTiger]

I know. The author should've asked the tallest guy on the local college campus about the stats and get his input on it.

 

[Derri]

I wonder why they didn't just say "we've sold blah units"

I think Microsoft are trying to hide the fact the PS4 has possibly done better.

 

[Stuck_X_Button]

I figured PS4 did better when it broke that PS4 sold 1 million in two countries and X1 sold 1 million worldwide initially. Selling 1 million in 24 hours is great regardless, but to achieve that in a limited launch looks far more impressive.

 

[Gamer_Fries]

Most companies do some sort of padding when it comes to new and important products seeing as it can sometimes lead to an increase in sales so I really could not care less. Honestly do not see the point in talking about Microsoft, Sony or Nintendo doing something like this because it does not really affect anything important.