Xbox boss Phil Spencer thinks that it’ll be console supply, not demand, that will determine sales this year.
In an interview with ShackNews, Spencer said that if consoles are sold out completely – and the preorder situation indicates that will be the case – then launch lineups will have little impact on sales. He added that both Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5 preorders sold out within hours. Spencer is of the view that it’s the holiday 2021 lineup that will be more important in terms of competition and battle for sales.
I know there’ll be press that will want to write, ‘Xbox launch lineup versus PS5 launch lineup.’ But if they’re both sold out completely, I’m not sure the launch lineup had much impact on anything other than maybe some review score. It’s not going to dictate what, how many consoles we sell. The number one thing that’s going to dictate how many consoles we sell is not the competition and it’s not a Halo or a launch lineup. It’s going to be how many units we can build.
Microsoft is already celebrating “the largest launch in Xbox history.” In a tweet, Spencer revealed that Microsoft sold more consoles within 24 hours of launch, and in more countries, than ever before. In the same tweet, he also said that the company is working hard to restock, indicating that there’s already a shortage.
The PS5 has officially launched as well. How Sony’s next-gen console is performing remains to be seen. We’ll update our readers when we hear from Sony.
[Source: ShackNews]
