The Xbox Series X|S, and also the PlayStation 5, have almost been near impossible to snatch since their release in November 2020. Between the growth of gaming and the pandemic, stores and production are not able to keep up with the mass demands for the next-gen consoles. Phil Spencer, Xbox head, recently bought up this in the 728th episode of the “Major Nelson” Podcast on December 31. This podcast is hosted by Larry Hryb who is prominent figure in the Xbox community. Phil Spencer also recently made the news with his comments about console tribalism and its negative effect on the gaming industry. In this latest podcast, he is pushing to find a way to get Xbox secured on shelves for players to enjoy.
Phil Spencer and Larry Hryb both mention backlash they have experience with users asking them about when they can buy a console and why has Xbox failed with producing and shipping out the consoles. Spencer states that he, and the team at Xbox, are finding ways to get consoles pushed out faster. Spencer mentioned working with Lisa Su at AMD to find a solution that meets the demand. Lisa Su is the president and CEO of AMD. AMD is responsible for producing the GPU and CPU for these next-gen Xbox consoles.
It just comes down to physics and engineering. We’re not holding them back, we are building them as fast as we can. We have all of the assembly lines going. I was on the phone with Lisa Su last week at AMD, ‘How do we get more?’
Spencer goes on to talk about how gaming has grown through the pandemic and it’s creating a demand that both Xbox and PlayStation might not have been prepared for. However, Spencer was not able to provide a firm timeframe for consoles being steadily put on the shelves in 2021.