Xbox One X 'Fastest Selling Pre-Orders Ever' Doesn't Mean Much: Analyst

The Xbox One X may not have amassed as many pre-orders as Microsoft’s marketing machine wants you to believe, according to analyst Michael Pachter. He explains this by saying that Microsoft is marketing the new console to a team of 30-35 million Xbox Live Gold members, and that is why it’s heavily pre-ordered.

The analyst, who is known for his strong opinions and know-how of the video games industry, has claimed that the term “fastest selling Xbox pre-order ever” doesn’t mean much. However, Pachter adds, that the Xbox One X was at rank 66 on the Amazon pre-order popularity rankings. He compares this against the NES Classic, a limited edition console Nintendo had launched last year. Pachter says the NES Classic sold 2.3 million units in its lifetime and that it had only reached rank 23 on the pre-order popularity list.

He uses these two examples to claim that Xbox One X may not have received many pre-orders as Microsoft would like everyone to believe. Pachter says a bulk of NES Classic units were sold in 2016, which means that this year the console may have sold around 1 million units. Pachter then goes on to claim that if the Xbox One X is ranked at 66, it’s not even close to 1 million pre-orders. He even claims that Amazon’s allocation of Xbox One X is around 5,000 to 10,000 units.

He also points to historical examples from Microsoft’s camp to drive home his point. Pachter says the original Xbox didn’t have great pre-orders and neither did the Xbox One, because “honestly who was pre-ordering consoles back in 2005?” He adds that Microsoft is much better organised now and that is why this console has more pre-orders. But in absolute numbers, there isn’t much to see here, he claims.

The larger point here is that even though the Xbox One X has received a lot of pre-orders, it’s mostly the enthusiast crowd going for it at the moment. People who are on the fence about this console at the moment should probably not be swayed by marketing spiel. Pachter advises people to look at the games available on the platform as well, before making a decision on whether to buy the Xbox One X.