Retailers are preparing for a PS3 launch that could be far, far worse than the Xbox 360 shortages that plagued retailers during Holiday 2005, according to a report on GamesFirst. They source an internal Gamestop e-mail (the new parent company of both the Gamestop and EBGames chains) stating that stores that received “between 50 and 100 Xbox 360s at launch [expect] to get no more than 20 PS3s.” Gamestop still has not launched an official pre-order plan, and apparently entertainment store Hastings will not be taking pre-orders at all.

These numbers do seem to be at odds with Sony’s predicted launch numbers. Sony’s current plan involves having 2 million PS3’s available at launch in three territories, and an additional 2 million by the end of the year, with another 2 million shipping post Holiday 2006. If Sony holds to its numbers, that would be 4 million during Holiday 2006, in contrast with the 1.5 million Xbox 360’s shipped during the same period in 2005. The biggest variable here, however, is Japan. Sony should expect to sell an order of magnitude more consoles than Microsoft sold in Japan; Microsoft managed only 100,000 units in Japan in Holiday 2005. With Japan potentially taking upwards of 1.5 million units by itself, the US could be in a bad position. However, if traditional console distributions hold up, it will more than likely be the European territory getting the short end of the stick.

Another potential explanation may be Sony’s plan for the console; Sony’s corporate messaging has been that the PS3 is more than a mere console. Sony could be focusing on distributors like Best Buy, that can emphasize the “multimedia” nature of the machine.

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