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Almost three months after the launch of the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S, Microsoft is still struggling to keep up with demand for its new consoles, and the shortage of stock is expected to continue until at least April 2021.
But, during a recent appearance on Xbox Live Programming Director Larry Hyrb’s (aka Major Nelson) video podcast (via VGC), Xbox boss Phil Spencer assured fans that the company is “working as hard as we can” to make more Xbox Series X stock available, and the executive revealed that he even reached out to AMD to ask if the processor maker could increase production to help with demand.
“I have some people [asking], ‘Why didn’t you build more? Why didn’t you start earlier? Why didn’t you send them earlier? All those things, ”Spencer told Hyrb. “It’s really just about physics and engineering. We’re not holding them back – we’re building them as fast as we can. We have all the assembly lines up and running. I was on the phone last week with Lisa Su at AMD [asking], ‘How do we get more?’ So it’s something we constantly work on. “
AMD manufactures the GPU and CPU for Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S, with the console’s custom-designed processor comprised of an 8-core AMD Zen 2 CPU and RDNA class 2 GPU. If AMD ramps up production of these chips, Microsoft could make more consoles (in theory).
But it’s not just Xbox consoles that use AMD chips. The PS5 also uses an AMD Radeon RDNA 2 GPU and an 8-core AMD Zen 2-based CPU, and has also been plagued by stock shortages since its launch.
“It’s not just us – the games have really come true in 2020,” Spencer told Hyrb. “Obviously, PlayStation 5 is in very short supply. When you look at graphics cards from AMD and Nvidia … there is a lot of interest in games right now and console sales are just a sign of that, game sales are a sign of that and the hardware is scarce.
“But we are working as hard as we can. The teams are incredibly dedicated and I appreciate people’s patience as we work to build more. “
How long could the shortage last?
While Microsoft seems determined to build more consoles, it is inevitably tied to the components needed to build them.
We are currently seeing a shortage of AMD and Nvidia graphics cards, which could reportedly continue until February 2021.
According to French publication Cowcotland, both AMD and Nvidia have been hit by GDDR6 supply limitations and are likely to continue to face shortages until early next year. This GDDR6 RAM is used on both the PS5 and Xbox Series X consoles, and may be affecting the production of the new consoles.
It’s also possible that component shipments could be further disrupted by global efforts to distribute the Covid-19 vaccine.
But it’s not just a shortage of components that could be hurting the console stock shortage – we’ve also seen resellers buying consoles as soon as they go into stock before selling them at exorbitant prices online.
Microsoft has already stated that it is unlikely to handle the Xbox stock issues until at least April this year. Speaking at the Jefferies Interactive Entertainment Virtual Conference in mid-November 2020, Xbox CFO Tim Stuart stated that the supply shortage will continue “as we move into the post-holiday quarter, so Microsoft’s third quarter, the first calendar quarter. ” That suggests we won’t see a jump in console stock until well into 2021, April at the earliest, but quite possibly even later in the year.
“We will have supply increasing for the next four, five, six months,” Stuart added. “And that’s when I really hope to see the demand profile start to be met.”
