So I went to the big electronics retailer in my city today once again and they had once again X1s in stock, this really surprised me so I finally decided to ask the clerk if the X1 was really selling that badly, cause they always had them in stock. What he told me was the opposite actually, he said that he'd sold way more X1s than PS4 simply due to them being in stock and that the store has been getting several X1 shipments already (mind you, we're talking about a 100k people city in east germany here) and not one additional PS4 shipment. While this is naturally anecdotal evidence only it does show us some things nonetheless.

1. My theory that people don't simply buy a 100€ more expensive system just because the one they wanted isn't in stock, seems to have turned out wrong, derp

2. Not as if this wasn't clear already anyway but there are no yield problems with the X1 (sorry Ethomaz)

And lastly the thing I want to talk about here, it has become abundantly clear that MS and Sony are having two largely different strategies regarding this launch. Sony is trying to release in as many countries they can as fast as they can, at the cost of not being able to put many, if any at all, consoles on shelves for the average joe to just go and buy. Think about it, Sony plans to have the PS4 out in about 40 countries by the end of the year and they only plan to sell 900k more consoles by then, that can't mean many consoles on shelves.

Microsoft on the other hand is concentrating on their strongest regions/the biggest markets, trying to get in a foot in the door in these markets by providing enough stock for the christmas sales this year, trying to outsell the competition or at least compete better with it over their simply by being available in larger quantities.

So now my question is, aside from your own console preference or which console you think has more demand, or the better games or whatever, tell me which strategy do you feel is in theory the better of the two?

Well let's not for get that the X1 launched in more countries at first....

But Sony is also focusing on big countries, just the UK and US it seems. Everywhere else the stock is being spread thin, but their brand name is strong enough their for them to remain in control until they can actually get enough in stock

I think that Sony is doing the right thing here

Seems clear Sony is the one with either a production problem or poor plan to achieve peak sales in the countries they launched in.

@Landguy
So you are saying that the record numbers in the key countries USA and UK aka the only countries where Sony NEEDS the lead is poor planning?

It doesn't really matter if they don't sell enough consoles early in countries, where they will dominate anyway.

I don't know if I agree with Microsoft's approach. They had to scale the Xbox One launch considerably to focus on the big markets. Plus Sony is already doing better in the USA and UK, so by also spreading to more countries, I think it will work out better in the end.

I think Sony does the right thing. In the age of online gaming what platform your friends own is a major factor when choosing a system to buy.

1. Create (too) much hype on big shows.

2. Delay games after that.

3. After the hype, people will purchase the system, no matter what the lanch line-up looks.

That's how you do it.

Either Sony understimated PS4 demand or they have a production/distribution issue.

PS4 shortage in US and other key markets are a little troubling

They've made more than M$ and they can't really make any more. Having a decent shortage is good at this point in the life cycle, everyone would be concerned if the console wasn't selling out.

Apple do this every year

I like the worldwide launch tactic better. While it was beneficial for Sony to target NA and the UK to recapture that market, since they know they'll have the majority of EU and Japan, that's just circumstance from the previous generation.

If every gen could start with a clean slate, I'd prefer a worldwide launch for consoles. I mean, it doesn't make sense that PS4s are made in Japan but even Japanese people can't get them until god knows when.