Recently, a rumor that Xbox products will be completely removed from the shelves of large American retailers Target and Walmart has spread rapidly on the Internet, triggering widespread attention and concern among the player community.However, after multiple verifications and official statements, this news is indeed a misinformation, and the cooperative relationship between Microsoft and major retailers remains solid.
The furor began over the weekend with a Reddit post in which a user claimed that their local Target store was clearing out Xbox displays.Subsequently, the post was reprinted many times on the Internet, and Costco had indeed recently reduced its Xbox product display. The combination of multiple factors caused the rumors to quickly ferment, and for a time, players believed it to be true.
In the face of intensifying rumors, multiple sources of evidence began to emerge, collectively refuting this claim.Game media person Destin Legarie checked with his local Walmart over the phone, and the response he received was that "we have not received any notification about clearance or delisting."In addition, a Target employee also denied to the media the large-scale removal plan.
Microsoft also provided an official statement to the foreign media Windows Central on this matter, clearly stating: "Retailers such as Target and Walmart remain important partners for Xbox consoles, accessories, and games." This statement directly shattered speculation that Xbox would withdraw from the physical retail market.
Although the rumors have been clarified, some stores are indeed out of stock of Xbox Series X.The investigation found that this is more likely to be related to Microsoft's current supply chain strategy.According to reports, Microsoft seems to be leaning towards a "make-to-order" model and controlling inventory very carefully to avoid oversupply.At the same time, part of the chip production capacity is prioritized to support Xbox cloud gaming services, which may also be one of the reasons for the fluctuation in the supply of physical consoles.
Analysts believe that the fact that this rumor has gained so much attention is closely related to a series of business decisions made by Microsoft in the past year.This year, Microsoft twice announced a comprehensive increase in the price of Xbox consoles, and significantly increased the price of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate by 50%.These moves, combined with the company's recent large-scale layoffs and high-profile investments in the field of AI, have seriously damaged its brand image, making the argument that "Microsoft will exit the hardware business" rampant.
Although Microsoft has repeatedly denied that it will abandon the console business and announced a next-generation console cooperation plan with AMD, Microsoft still needs to make more efforts in communication and actions to regain the trust of players.
