Don't Expect To Buy An Xbox Series X/S Any Time Soon

It goes without saying that finding an Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, or a PlayStation 5 is a difficult – if not impossible – task at the moment. Pre-orders for all consoles sold out quickly, and since each one launched last week, it's ultimately been an exercise in patience and luck for those who are looking for one. We probably shouldn't expect stock shortages for at least the Xbox Series X/S to end anytime soon, either.

That's according to Xbox CFO Tim Stuart, who indicated during a recent Jefferies Interactive Entertainment Virtual Conference that supply shortages for both consoles could stretch on into next year. In fact, we might not see supply meet demand until we're on the other side of winter here in North America.

"I think we'll continue to see supply shortages as we head into the post-holiday quarter, so Microsoft's Q3, calendar Q1," Stuart said (as transcribed by Seeking Alpha). "And then when we get to Q4, all of our supply chain continuing to go full speed heading into kind of the pre-summer months. And that's where I start to – I expect to see a little bit of the demand – the supply profile, meeting the demand profile. You'll be outside of a holiday window. We'll have supply cranking over the next, what, 4, 5, 6 months. And that's when I expect to see really that demand profile start to be met, which will be really, really great."

So, at the very least, it sounds like supply issues are going to continue throughout the rest of 2020, which is precisely what we expected. New consoles are generally hard to find during their first holiday season, but of course, this time around we also have the COVID-19 pandemic complicating the matter of manufacturing and shipping.

Aside from those trying to score a console nearly a week out from launch, there are some still waiting on their Xbox Series X/S pre-orders from Amazon, with the retailer recently indicating that it oversold pre-orders and that it will try to have everyone's console out by the end of the year. In short, it's not looking too great for Xbox Series X/S stock at the moment, and we probably shouldn't expect that to change until we're well clear of the holiday shopping season.