Next-generation consoles like the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S may have launched back in November 2020, but many are still having a hard time finding one available for purchase as console makers struggle to produce enough systems to keep store shelves full.
Around that launch, Xbox exec Tim Stuart theorized that supply might rise and start to approach the demand for the next generation of Xbox hardware by the time Q4 rolled around, but it looks like that prediction won’t come to pass.
Microsoft leadership has now confirmed that the shortage driving that scarcity doesn’t seem to be resolved quite yet. Speaking during a quarterly investor call, Microsoft CFO Amy Hood shared the company’s expectations for the fourth quarter of Microsoft’s financial year, set to end just a few months from now.
While revenue is still expected to grow “in the mid to high single digits”, Hood notes that supply won’t catch up with demand before the end of that quarter on June 30, 2021. Specifically, Hood says that “Significant demand for the Xbox Series X and S will continue to be constrained by supply” through the end of that quarter at least.
Xbox hasn’t shared numbers for how many consoles it has moved despite supply issues, but did note rather vaguely that hardware revenue is up 232 percent from the waning console sales of Q3 2020. Meanwhile, competing console maker PlayStation announced in its financial reporting today that it’s sold 7.8 million consoles despite its own ongoing supply woes.