For those not lucky enough to get a pre-order console or a launch day unit, Microsoft says it will take a long time for supply to reach demand. “I think we’ll continue to see supply shortages as we head into the post-holiday quarter, so Microsoft’s Q3, calendar Q1,” said Xbox chief financial officer Tim Stuart at the Jefferies Interactive Entertainment Virtual Conference (via Seeking Alpha). One of the interesting things about early demand is what it actually means for sales. Again, the same is happening with Sony and the PS5, with the console sold out for the time being. Does this mean both are off to amazing starts? Well, yes and maybe. Firstly, there is clearly a lot of interest in these devices and people are actively looking to purchase an Xbox Series console. Expect that interest to continue to increase heading into the Holiday Season.
Sales Wins
However, we won’t really know how this demand translates to sales because it is unclear how much inventory Microsoft had to start with… Sony too. It will be interesting during financial results in the future when Microsoft and Sony reveal more about sales of these products. At the moment it seems there is equal demand for the Xbox Series X and PS5, but that may not be the case depending on available units. For example, Microsoft made 1 million units that have sold out, while Sony made 100,000 units that sold out. Both consoles are sold out, but one would clearly be more successful than the other. That’s all conjecture and for the time being Microsoft’s gaming chief Phil Spencer says the company has been working to keep up with demand but still could not. “We’ve been building them for almost two months and trying to get as many into the stores as we can, but the demand is just so high,” he said.
