Microsoft Stores Will Stock Games and Consoles

Earlier this month, Kotaku reported Microsoft was kicking around the idea of opening its own retail chain. Now, it appears the technology giant is going through with its scheme, and its shops will definitely stock Xbox 360 games and consoles.

However, it appears the stores will remain PC-centric, at least from what a Microsoft spokesperson relayed to MCV.

Although Microsoft is keeping mum on the exact number of outlets opening their doors, the corporation claims its goal is “a small number of high profile experience stores in a few major cities around the world.”

Managing the stores is newly elected retail V.P. David Porter, a former employee of both Wal-Mart and Dreamworks Animation.

(If the latter job is any indication, he’ll probably make one really good store beloved by kids and adults alike, and then latch onto that success and try so hard to replicate it that he’ll run the whole thing into the ground like a skydiving ostrich strapped to a sandbag.)

Still, for the company that released its next-gen machine roughly a year ahead of its rivals and pioneered the concept of the online console marketplace, Microsoft is behind on the trend of brand-specific boutiques.

Apple had its own dedicated stores as early as 2001. It’s since grown the franchise to a globe-spanning string of more than 200 stores, each worth an average of $15 million.

Meanwhile, Nintendo has owned storefront property in both the U.S. and Japan. Even Sony has the Sony Center in Berlin.

With PC users still feeling burned by Vista, let’s hope Microsoft can make a better store than a Window(s).

(P.S. I know I’m not funny. I’d appreciate it if you’d stop chucking bricks through my window with an attached note reminding me of that fact.)