GribbleGrunger said:
Nuvendil said:
They're padding their count. That's all there is to it. And what I believe they are doing is rather questionable ethically (though not legally). Basically, you can't force a manufacturer to take x number of units really. And you can't force them to buy x unit in order to buy y unit. But what MS CAN (and likely does) do is say something along the lines of "Well, of course those who accept the most get priority in shipments of consoles and games" *winkwink* which is bascially "Take this shipment or we'll put you on the short list when the next wave of pretty much anything we make comes out." I mean, why else would these companies waste such ridiculous ammounts of warehouse space? ESPECIALLY where the MCC bundle is concerned. If you have a ton of one bundle laying around, why on earth would you accept a huge shipment of ANOTHER bundle?
But basically, MS is trying to delay the revelation of ACTUAL sales numbers as long as possible by artificially raising recent estimates using channel-stuffing tactics. They did this last year too with the Titanfall bundle which wasn't even completely sold through when fall of 2014 rolled around.
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MS have always done that though. Do we know for certain that the bulk of the overshipments are actually at retail? What if MS are storing them before shipping them? Couldn't this be why they can get away with making statements like 'we're approaching *insert number* shipped'? Just as you've pointed out though, whatever they're doing, the 'shit will hit the fan' at some point and shareholders could well revolt (assuming shareholders are also fooled by this metho of course). I really do think MS are possibly preparing for a possible sale but are trying to encourage growth through investment in order to give the XB brand the best possible value.
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I guarantee you they aren't "fake" shipping. In order to that, they would have to put companies down for shipments they didn't ask for, which will get them in enormous trouble. I mean, it's possible but since MS knows they are under scrutiny from outside due to their size, I doubt anyone in the company would risk that.
