Demand for Microsoft’s latest Xbox Series X console is high, but supply is unlikely to last until at least June. In an interview with The New York Times, Microsoft’s head of investor relations, Mike Spencer, has revealed that supply of its new Xbox consoles will be limited to at least June.
Microsoft has warned that the Xbox Series X will have a shortage until at least April or after, and it is now clear that the wait for stock will continue longer. The difficult supply situation does mean that Microsoft sold every Xbox unit it owned last quarter, earning $ 5 billion in gaming revenue for the first time in a quarter.
It has been incredibly difficult to buy an Xbox Series X, PS5 or even the latest AMD and Nvidia GPUs in the last few months. It looks like these deficits will continue for most of 2021. Lisa Su, CEO of AMD, warns that there will only be capacity in the second half of the year. “The industry does need to increase overall capacity levels,” Su said last week. “And so we see a bit of tightness during the first half of the year, but there’s extra capacity in the second half.” At the end of 2020, AMD saw restrictions on the computer market, especially the cheapest, and in the game.
Part of the problem for retailers and consumers is also scalpers. Thanks to eBay retailers, the real cost of a new GPU or game console was incredibly high by the end of 2020. This is an issue that is difficult for the entire industry to tackle, and it means waiting for a PS5 , Xbox Series X or a new GPU for most people will continue for most of 2021.