With the COVID pandemic and still reeling global supply chain, the situation has caused massive problems in the manufacture, production, and delivery of the sought after gaming consoles. The projected shortage is reportedly going to last until June 2021, at the soonest.
Manufacturing and Delivery Problems
In late 2020 and January of 2021, reports of scarcity of the Xbox Series X off retail had already been apparent, even direct online sources such as the Microsoft store, are unable to cope with the supply vs. demand. There is just simply not enough product to meet the current demand for the newest Xbox and Playstation consoles. Chip shortages contribute heavily to the problem of Xbox Series X scarcity. The Xbox Series X uses the AMD Zen 2-based CPU as well as the RDNA 2-based GPU in its hardware. AMD has already confirmed insufficient supplies of these chips until middle months of 2021.
Scalpers Everywhere
Retail shops like Best Buy and Gamestop have reported new shipments of the Playstation 5 and the Xbox Series X and S fly off the shelves almost immediately. As a result, there has been an uptick of scalpers buying these next gen consoles in bulk and then offering them up for sale for more than double the prices in some online platforms. It is recommended to avoid scalpers who charge as much as $,1000 (more than double the $399 to $499 retail price of standard Playstation 5 and Xbox Series X units, respectively). There are even reports of up to triple the standard retail price. The shortage of the game consoles are understandably frustrating, but the ridiculous pricing of scalpers should not be patronized. This simply creates more issues and encourages unethical practices in the midst of the console shortage.
Like A Game In Itself
In an interview with the New York Times, Mike Spencer, head of investor relations for Microsoft, states they have moved all of the existing Xbox units available during the last quarter of 2020. Currently, Microsoft has sold three million Xbox Series X and Series S units. On the other hand, Sony has declared a sales figure of at least 6 million Playstation 5 units. But these numbers are hardly a drop in the bucket compared to the ongoing demand. For the interim, hopeful Xbox Series X and Playstation 5 buyers will have to scour the interwebs for the possibility of retail price units of the console. Aside from the Microsoft and Sony Playstation Official stores, online stores that have stock coming in include Gamestop, Best Buy, Walmart, Target, Sam’s Club, and Newegg. Xfire will continue to cover news of this next gen console shortage as the situation develops.
