Xbox 360 UK: Moore on Availability

Peter Moore, Worldwide Head of Marketing (a new title, we believe) for all things Xbox, has commented on expected availability on Xbox 360 hardware in the United Kingdom.

Speaking to his official magazine, Moore painted a picture of frustration for some gamers eager to get their hands on the software giant’s new all-singing, all-dancing uber-toy. “I’m not sure I can guarantee that everyone will get an Xbox 360 by Christmas. My hope, certainly, is that everyone who wants one will get one by Holiday time, but the demand is overwhelming. Our goal is to make as many consoles as we can. We’ve got two factories working 24 hours a day. We’ve got air freight running as well as boats, because you can get more units on boats. All we can do is make them as fast as we can and ship them as fast as we can.”

Taking one of his now-familiar pot-shots at Sony Computer Entertainment, Moore continued, “Our goal is to roll inventory in every week from the factories, which is different to some of our competitors who like to dump a lot of units in and then go completely dry for weeks. What we have done is encourage retail to keep a balance between pre-orders and first-come-first-served sales, both in North America and in Europe,” he explained.

As to how well managed the Xbox 360 roll-out will be in the UK remains to be seen, though stories emerging of cancelled midnight openings due to security concerns and a general feeling of unease remains the norm.

We’ll bring you full launch coverage of Xbox 360 as it happens in the UK.