PS4 Launch Inventory to be Far Greater than Xbox One

Looks like you may want to get that Xbox One pre-order in after all…. In spite of comments from Sony executives that the company may not be able to fulfill all PlayStation 4 pre-orders or meet demand on the PS4 release date, it now appears that the Xbox One runs a greater risk of inventory shortage upon launch. Neither Sony nor Microsoft has officially commented on the quantities they have available to fulfill pre-orders, but recent comments from GameStop imply that the Xbox One temporarily selling out at Amazon last week may be indicative of what consumers can expect to see when the PS4 and Xbox One release in November.

Retailers are reportedly receiving almost 10 times more PS4 units for pre-order than they are for Xbox One pre-orders, a result of Sony increasing production of its forthcoming next-gen console. Sony saw incredible volumes of PS4 pre-orders in the days following its E3 press conference, to the point that the only way to guarantee a PS4 on its launch date is now to pre-order one of the four available PS4 bundles on Amazon.

At the time, both Sony’s Andrew House and SCEA’s Jack Tretton indicated that the E3 pre-order craze could result in greater demand for the PS4 than Sony had supply. Far more dire, it seems, is the situation with the Xbox One, a console on which Microsoft has remained relatively mum (although last week’s reversal of the Xbox One DRM and used-game policies has warranted much more attention).

In an internal memo to GameStop employees leaked to GameTrailers, employees were instructed to “NOT exceed the grand total amount that you can reserve up to on Xbox One” out of concern that Microsoft would negative adjust future allocations. The message was quite different from that for PS4 launch units, with stores provided an “unlimited” number of pre-order slots. Indeed, the GameTrailers article cited one store having 138 pre-orders available for the PS4, while only 18 were available for Xbox One.

The Xbox One currently has the top spot on Amazon’s pre-order list, with various PlayStation 4 SKUs holding multiple spots in the top ten. This is partially due to the aforementioned rush during E3, but also to PS4 bundles being available whereas Microsoft has only made available the console itself (the Xbox One Day One edition). With news of Xbox One quantities being so limited at launch, there’s now an increased urgency to pre-order the Xbox One if you’re hoping to get at release-day unit. The easiest way to do so is to place your Xbox One pre-order at Amazon.