Supply problems have blocked the launch of the latest generation of video game consoles. Even now, almost two months later Xbox Series X. and Xbox Series S released, Microsoft is still struggling to meet demand and apparently contacted the chip maker AMD to speed up production at the end.
AMD produces GPUs and CPUs for both consoles, so if it is able to remove its chips faster, Microsoft could theoretically produce more consoles by extension. As seen by VGCMicrosoft is “working as hard as we can” to pump more systems and has even contacted AMD for help, according to Xbox chief Phil Spencer in a recent appearance on Major Nelson Radio podcast hosted by Xbox Live programming director Larry Hyrb
“I have some people [asking], ‘why didn’t you build more? Why didn’t you start earlier? Why didn’t you ship them earlier? I mean, all these things, “Spencer said. “It’s really just physics and engineering. We don’t hold them back: we build them as fast as we can. We have all the assembly lines. I was on the phone last week with [CEO and president] Lisa Su at AMD [asking]”How can we get more?” How do we get more? ‘ So it’s something we’re constantly working on. ”
In November, Xbox Chief Financial Officer Tim Stuart projected that Xbox supply problems could last until at least April. In 2020, Microsoft delivered about 3.3 million units of the top-ranked Xbox Series X, per statisticallyand sold approximately 21,000 Xbox Series X and S units in Japan at launch.
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Microsoft isn’t the only one struggling, though: Sony’s competitor faces similar shortcomings for its state-of-the-art console, the PlayStation 5, which also relies on AMD for its GPU and processor.
“But it’s not just us, I think the games have really entered 2020,” Spencer told Hyrb. “Obviously, the PlayStation 5 is very weak. When you look at the graphics cards from AMD and Nvidia … there’s just a lot of interest in games right now, and console sales are just a sign of that, game sales are a sign of that and the hardware is in small amount. “
However, chip makers such as AMD and Nvidia already have their hands full of their own supply problems. I HAVE D he endeavored to respond to the request for its Ryzen 5000 series processors last year. GDDR6 has a global lack of memory it’s said helped block production for the AMD Radeon RX 6000 and Nvidia RTX 3000 series GPUs, and things are not expected to improve until at least February. This could slow down the production of state-of-the-art consoles, as both the PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Series X and S use GDDR6 RAM.
So it’s not certain if AMD could even respond to Microsoft’s call to action. Of course, the coronavirus pandemic and the rush to distribute vaccines could also affect global supply lines. And then I am scalp gathering available stock to sell at a markup. A recent analysis eBay scalpers estimate sales of more than $ 82 million since September from the resale of state-of-the-art consoles and AMD and Nvidia chips.