Sony garnered goodwill with gamers at this year’s E3 expo by simply announcing it would not implement hardware-level DRM it its upcoming PlayStation 4 console. Though Microsoft has since dialed back its ambitious plans to have the Xbox One locked down tightly, Sony now has significant marketing momentum going into November, when both consoles will launch. Reports and anecdotal evidence from Amazon suggest that Sony also has a large pre-order lead on Microsoft, despite the PlayStation 4 launching this year in more than double the countries the Xbox One is planned to.

On top of the PR nightmare, rumors surrounding the Xbox One have for months centered on manufacturing and supply troubles. Though most of those rumors focused on possible APU yields for the console, China’s Economic Daily News today is reporting that different component delays have now cut supply forecasts for the Xbox One.

The report cites unnamed “market watchers” as saying camera module and optical disc drive yields aren’t hitting expectations. As a result, Microsoft’s Xbox One shipment forecasts for the remainder of 2013 have been slashed to 6.2 million, down from a predicted 7 million less than one month ago. Sony is currently predicted to ship 10 million PlayStation 4 consoles “at launch,” which likely refers to the entirety of holiday quarter 2013.

The camera modules are, presumably, for Microsoft’s Kinect device, which will be packaged into every Xbox One sold. The reduced shipments are expected to impact suppliers accordingly.

(via DigiTimes)