1 Million 360s a Month By Year's End

GameDailyBiz reports that Microsoft plans to have one million 360's produced a month by the end of the year. From the article: "As has been previously reported Xbox 360 production and availability has already been significantly increased in recent weeks. In the period through Microsoft's fiscal year ending in June, the company expects to pump out 2 to 3 times the number of units it did previously. With Sony's PlayStation 3 launching this November across the globe, Microsoft still has a window of opportunity during which it can extend its lead in the next-gen race considerably."

Re:Commodity parts == Fast time to market

[gabebear]

The 360 seems to have just about as many custom parts as the PS3. The 360's CPU and GPU are custom designed just for the 360 and the 10MB EDRAM is hardly a commodity part. The 360 even uses some funky proprietary wireless signal instead of bluetooth(like the PS3).

If you discount the Blu-Ray drive then the PS3 will probably use less custom parts than the 360.

Great! I wonder if anyone will buy them...

[Schezar]

There is no more shortage, and there hasn't been for some time. I see Xbox360s for sale at standard retail price, both the "value" edition and the full one, all over. Anyone who wants one can just go pick one up.

I wonder how many people who don't already have an Xbox360 are actually going to buy one in the near future. Microsoft likes to spin this as though they're producing more units to cover the huge demand and reduce shortages, but said shortages are now nothing more than an illusion. I honestly believe that most everyone who wants one already has one or can't really afford one.

It's funny how, despite all this, I still think that Sony is in a worse position than Microsoft in this round of the console "wars."

Re:1 million per month?

[rehtonAesoohC]

Why would anyone care? In the consumer driven market, oversupply would mean the cost of an individual unit would decrease. Combine an overage of product with the competition of the PS3, and prices would fall even more. Consumers would be the ones who would make out like bandits here, so why is anyone complaining?

Re:November?

[Ewan]

That's true to an extent, but Sony do have a number of partners who's business plans rely on the Playstation 3 being on sale at the end of this year.

If Sony slip the release back, then the likes of EA, Ubisoft, Konami, etc, will make their displeasure quite clear, and might even stop or scaleback the PS3 developments they're doing - after all, the publishers would much prefer 1 system to have 100% marketshare, it would save them a fortune in development costs, and whether it's Sony of Microsoft doesn't really bother them.

Also, Sony are relying on the PS3 to drive Blu-ray in their battle against HD-DVD, if they were to announce that it wouldn't be out until next year, then you'd have some pissed off movie studios who have committed to Blu-ray movies when there's no mass-market players for it.

Ewan

*Yawn*

[oGMo]

The PS2 sold just shy of a million on opening weekend [wikipedia.org]. Just in Japan. And 10,000,000 in 13 months.

I think we already see how the dominance in this generation is going to play out (unless Sony prices themselves out of the market); Nintendo's not claiming it (by design) and Microsoft can't reach it (by ineptitude)

However, they're still important... having 3 competing consoles last generation was the best thing for customers everywhere; just remember the pre-E3 price wars. Competition keeps companies on their toes.