With gift-giving holidays just around the corner, families all over the country are looking to get the new Playstation 5 and XBOX Series X as the perfect gift... if they can find one.
The Playstation 5 and XBOX Series X sold out almost immediately upon launch last week, but that may be on purpose.
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Customers reported having a difficult time finding them in stock as websites kept crashing, and the supply of the consoles couldn’t keep up with the large demand.
Although analysts have predicted that the Playstation 5 will outsell the XBOX Series X over time, the current console wars winner is whoever put more stock on shelves right now.
There are also different theories for why the consoles sold so quickly.
Most think that Sony and Microsoft purposefully limited how many units were produced.
IDC’s research director of gaming says profit margins on the new PS5 and XBOX Series X are probably “thin or even outright in the red.”
Sony and Microsoft likely considered production levels that wouldn’t put huge stress on the manufacturers and the supply chain and that could help them limit any revenue losses.
Another possibility is that COVID-19 played a role in limited supplies.
It’s hard to say who’s currently winning the console war but marketing researchers at CivicScience found twelve percent of Americans over 13-years old plan to buy the PS5, while 10% said they would buy a new XBOX.
Either way, the video game industry has boomed during the coronavirus pandemic.