Submitted by: Submitted by ptw6656
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Category: Business and Industry
Date Submitted: 11/14/2011 05:29 PM
CASE: GS-49
DATE 04/14/06
David Hoyt prepared this case under the supervision of Professors Charles Holloway and Hau Lee as the basis for
class discussion rather than to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of an administrative situation.
Copyright © 2006 by the Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University. All rights reserved. To order
copies or request permission to reproduce materials, e-mail the Case Writing Office at: cwo@gsb.stanford.edu or
write: Case Writing Office, Stanford Graduate School of Business, 518 Memorial Way, Stanford University,
Stanford, CA 94305-5015. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, used in a
spreadsheet, or transmitted in any form or by any means –– electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or
otherwise –– without the permission of the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
EVOLUTION OF THE XBOX SUPPLY CHAIN
With the first generation of Xbox, our ambition was to change the way people think about video
games. Starting today with Xbox 360, our ambition is to transform the way people play games
and have fun.
—Robbie Bach, President of the Microsoft Entertainment and Devices Division1
In November 2005, Microsoft prepared to launch its next-generation video game console, the
Xbox 360. A global release was scheduled, beginning on November 22 in North America,
followed shortly by Europe (December 2), and Japan (December 10). It had been four years
since Microsoft had introduced the original Xbox. The first Xbox had hit the U.S. market a year
behind Sony’s PlayStation2, but this time Microsoft expected to beat Sony’s next-generation
system to market by many months.
The Xbox 360 would provide a substantial increase in performance for gamers. Its processors
were so powerful that graphics would appear virtually lifelike, and would run on high definition
televisions. When used with Microsoft’s Xbox Live Web service, the Xbox 360 would enable
gamers to...