In an interview with UK industry publication MCV, Head of Xbox UK Neil Thompson, has admitted that whilst there will be strong supplies of the Xbox 360 distributed throughout the country, they might not be able to meet the expected high demand for the console.

Speaking to MCV, Thompson said “We feel as a company we’ve done the groundwork to get to a point where we can do the global release; we feel we’re going to deliver and have a great Xmas…I think demand is going to be phenomenal so we see that as a really difficult thing…Will we execute well so retail will have good volume? Yes. But I don’t think we’re going to meet demand as people are going to come into this platform in a big way.”

The article does include a few quotes from British retailers who are sceptical of the Xbox 360 launch this Winter, especially after the extensive problems with the stock levels of the current generation Xbox, which has led them to make the decision not to receive pre-orders for the console. One anonymous source even said that whilst they were running a pre-order scheme, “After the current debacle everyone is very nervous of Microsoft and Gem’s ability to deliver.”

Whether or not Microsoft can deliver on the audacious plans to launch the Xbox 360 worldwide this Winter is of course up for debate, and questions are sure to continue in the coming months as whether the stocks will meet even a fraction of the demand expected.

We’ll have more on the build-up to the Xbox 360 launch shortly...