In a strategy contrary to that applied by Sony, Microsoft suspended the production of Xbox One, focusing all its efforts on the new Series S/X.
But not even with this strategy was the North American giant able to respond to the current demand for video consoles…
Xbox One production discontinued at the end of 2020
It has now become known that at the end of 2020, Microsoft discontinued the production of the Xbox One game console, to focus entirely on the next-generation Xbox Series S/X models. In a strategy contrary to its rival Sony that will maintain the production of the PS4, Microsoft chose to “cut” all the resources destined for the previous model, confirmed the director of marketing for Xbox, Cindy Walker.
But it seems that the strategy was not the best, since it did not know how to respond to the strong demand for game consoles in the market, much less effective in combating the global crisis of component shortages.
But it seems the worst is over, and Phill Spencer, Microsoft’s executive vice president of gaming, has even said publicly that next-gen consoles have outperformed previous models at the same points in their life cycles. In other words, it appears that the Model X and Model S were most successful commercially at crucial points in their life cycle.
Xbox Series S: the most affordable price makes it the most popular console
Both Microsoft and Sony suffered the effects of the global component crisis, when it comes to the production of their consoles. But it looks like the Xbox Series S is now out of stock, as this model’s lower price has made it more popular than its more advanced Xbox Series X “sister.”
And the reason Microsoft discontinued Xbox One production could be directly related to the success of the Series S. The brand needed more space and capacity to respond to demand for the next-gen console. All to respond to the demand that the 4K console market is registering.
Phill Spencer has also clarified that it was not only the component crisis that caused the breakdown of console stocks, the determining factor for this to happen was the strong demand for next-generation consoles, caused by the successive confinements. The official assured that the offer was as great as ever, but that the demand surpassed all the perspectives and forecasts more than optimistic.