For many gamers waiting for the Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5 releases, the euphoria was brief. Indeed, so far, it is still difficult to find stocks. Supply fails to meet demand.
And if you were planning to buy a console for Christmas, you will have to arm yourself with courage. Quoted by our colleagues from Challenges, Ina Gelbert, director of Xbox for France, admits that there are still not enough next-generation consoles, and that the situation will last for a while.
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On the Sony side, it would be a little better. A well-informed source would have explained, according to the French media, that we will only have a “frank” improvement from next year. However, stocks would be planned for Christmas.
Why is it still difficult to find available stocks?
But in fact, why is there a shortage of Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5? This would be mainly linked to the place of production: China. At least, that’s what is suggested by Laurent Michaud, an economist specializing in video games, quoted by Challenges. However, moving production from China to other countries is complicated.
“Industry manufacturing issues and raw material availability have actually not improved over time”also says the economist.
First, there was the start of the pandemic, which affected the entire planet. But then, while the rest of the world has learned to “live with the virus”, China continues to enforce a strict zero-COVID policy.
As we mentioned recently, at this very moment, for example, Foxconn’s largest iPhone factory is located in a confined industrial zone in the Middle Kingdom.
As far as the video game industry is concerned, it did not escape the impacts of the containment decreed in Shanghai in the first half of the year. There was also the shortage of chips.
“At this point, we have made no changes to our forecast of 18 million (note, the company originally planned to produce 25 million) PS5 hardware sales units in the fiscal year. 2022, but since we are seeing a recovery from the impact of the lockdown in Shanghai and a significant improvement in component supply, we are working to bring more supply into the holiday season.”Sony explained, in a document published in July.
The price of the PS5 has already increased, Microsoft is testing the waters
And as if the scarcity were not enough, inflation has also arrived. In August, Sony announced a price increase for its PlayStation 5 console. The price of the standard version rose from 499.9 euros to 549 euros.
For its part, Microsoft is beginning to test the waters. As The Verge noted in an article published in October, Xbox boss Phil Spencer recently recalled that Microsoft has not raised the prices of its consoles or those of its games and subscriptions.
However, he warned that the company will not be able to keep these rates indefinitely. “I think at some point we’re going to have to raise the prices of some things, but as we approach these holidays, we thought it was really important to maintain the prices we have”, he nevertheless assured.
