Game consoles to be hard to find this holiday season

The holiday season is here and the PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Series X tops the list of holiday gifts. But buyers this season should embrace for some scarcity issues. Experts have opined that the demand for these consoles are expected to be sky high but the supply would be scarcer than it was previously estimated. Many are already aware that these are the devices that were hard to find earlier as well and the holiday season is only going to make the situation worse.

The makers of the consoles are expected to sell about 3.34 million fewer units this year which has dropped the total expected sales from 44.3 million to 40.9 million. Lewis Ward, the IDC Research director while talking to a leading daily said that there would be a reduce in shipments in 2021 and one of the major reason for the reduction in sales is the ongoing chip shortage. It has been nearly a year since the consoles have been launched, but consumers continue to face a hard time getting their hands on their favourite device. Moreover, the shortage is also not expected to end any time soon.

As per experts, considering the global chip shortage and supply chain crisis the best way to get what people desire for is to shop as early as possible. However, the solution might work with the products like sneakers, bicycles, pots and other things, but the console shortage issue has been persistent all year round. The consoles were launched in November 2020 and ever since then the devices have been incredibly tough to find.

Very time people visit the website to find the console, it would show ‘out of stock’. This was much before Sony and Nintendo had said that they are cutting the number of consoles to be shipped. Sony had earlier expected to ship 16 million units by March 2022 but the number was cut by one million.

Photo Credits: The Financial Express