Xbox Series X could be hard to buy for a while

It goes without saying Finding an Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, or PlayStation 5 is a tough task, if not impossible, now.

Pre-orders for all consoles sold out quickly, and since each released last week, it has finally been an exercise in patience and luck for those looking for one. We probably shouldn’t expect Out of stock at least for Xbox Series X / S term loan.

That’s according to Xbox CFO Tim Stuart, who told a recent Jefferies interactive entertainment virtual conference that the shortages for both consoles could continue until next year. In fact, we may not see supply meet demand until we are on the other side of winter here in North America.

“I think we’ll continue to see supply shortages as we move into the post-holiday quarter, so Microsoft’s third quarter, the first calendar quarter,” Stuart said (as transcribed by Seeking Alpha ). “And then when we get into the fourth quarter, our entire supply chain continues at full throttle in the months leading up to the summer. And that’s where I start – I hope to see a bit of the demand – the supply profile, meeting the demand profile. You will be out of a vacation window. We will have a supply for the next 4, 5, 6 months. And that’s where I really hope to see the demand profile start to be satisfied, which will be really great.

At least, then, it looks like supply issues will continue for the rest of 2020, which is precisely what we expected. New consoles are usually hard to come by in their first holiday season, but of course this time around we also have the COVID-19 pandemic which complicates the issue of manufacturing and shipping.

In addition to those trying to get a console almost a week after launch, there are some still waiting for their Xbox Series X / S pre-orders from Amazon, with the retailer recently indicating that it has oversold pre-orders and will try to ‘have the console. everyone out for the end of the year. In short, that doesn’t look very good for the Xbox Series X / S stock at the moment, and we probably shouldn’t expect that to change until we’re well clear of the holiday shopping season.