According to Microsoft CMO Chris Capossela, the company “totally underestimated” demand for the $150 dollar Xbox One Elite Controller. The executive discussed the situation during the most recent episode of Windows Weekly (via Geekwire). Microsoft wanted to produce more, but judged by the E3 feedback that $150 was too steep a price, and scaled back production accordingly.
"Here's the product we totally underestimated. If I could have built 10 times the number I built, I would have. We got that feedback at E3 that it was awesome, but maybe the price was a little too high, and so that influenced how many we produced.
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This turned out not to be the case, because there were more than enough consumers who thought the price justified the purchase. Capossela continued to explain how Microsoft realized that they had misjudged demand:
“On the Monday and Tuesday before Thanksgiving, myself and Kevin Turner our COO, and the guy who runs our stores, David Porter, we go around and visit 30 or 40 different stores," Capossela added. "Best Buy and GameStop and AT&T and Verizon and Microsoft Stores, just to see how things look, and the one thing we heard from everybody was, 'You needed to make way more of these controllers.”
The controller has been sold out at most major retailers, both online and in store, since it launched. If you buy the $500 Xbox One Elite model that launched last month, you can get the elite controller.
