The wait continues for the Xbox Series X and S models, as Microsoft has announced shortages for the gaming consoles, which are in hot demand.
It’ll be at least a couple more months until supply catches up to demand. In Microsoft’s third-quarter earnings call, its CFO revealed that “significant demand for the Xbox Series X and S will continue to be constrained by supply.”
Being that the third financial quarter of the year runs to the end of June, stock shortages will likely continue into July.
This coincides with the global chip shortage, and AMD, the company that manufactures the chips inside Xbox consoles, has also expected supply problems during the first half of 2021. It also supplies Sony with chips for its PS5 gaming consoles, which are also in similarly short supply.
Around the same time, AMD, who makes the chips inside the consoles, said that it expected supply issues during the first half of this year. AMD also makes the chips for the PS5, which would explain the similar shortage of Sony’s consoles.
Back in January this year, Mike Spencer, Microsoft’s former head of investor relations, said that the Xbox Series X/S consoles would be in short supply until at least June.
These new Xbox consoles launched at the end of 2020 and have been in massive demand since. As a result, Microsoft’s gaming division’s third-quarter revenue soared to US$3.5 billion at a growth of 50 per cent year-on-year. Content and services went up by 34 per cent, and growth for the Xbox hardware utterly exploded at 232 per cent.
