Wow. I thought news of the Xbox 360actually outsellinga Japanese console in Japan was crazy enough, butnow there’s wordfrom Microsoft Japan (viewable in full after the jump) that the sudden upsurge in sales caused byTales of Vesperiahas actually drained the region of all its dust-covered Xbawkes.
Currently, the Xbox 360 is sold out, and retailers are unable to restock their supply. This is a result of our own sales targets being exceeded by the actual customer sales. We deeply apologize for this inconvenience to our customers, retailers and business partners.
Clearly this sales spike surprised Microsoft Japan just as much as it did everyone else, as they didn’t have any extra consoles ready to send out to retailers besides the small stack in the downstairs janitorial closet. While they’ve promised to crank up production the next shipment of Pro units won’t be ready until September, although small shipments of Elites and Arcade models will be sent out regularly to try and satiatethe crowdsof Japanese gamers that just have to get their hands on the latest RPG.
Hopefully Microsoft Japan has learned their lesson and will have a few more units ready for whenInfinite Undiscovery,Star Ocean: The Last Hope, andThe Last Remnantrelease, as I’m sure there will be a similar situation.
To all customers
We truly thank you for all your patronage in the past.
Here at Microsoft, we are moving forward quickly with console production, and plan to ship the standard Xbox 360 model out this September. Furthermore, we will sequentially be shipping out the Elite and the Arcade models. We ask that you please patiently wait until the console is shipped.
MicrosoftHome and Entertainment HQ
