Xbox strategist says "demand for our console exceeds supply"

But it's not only due to more people wanting it right now, it's also a result of shortages of key components.
Text: Jonas Mäki
Published 2026-06-09

In recent years, we've mostly reported on declining Xbox sales, a situation that certainly wasn't helped by Microsoft's - under the leadership of Phil Spencer - decision to release all Xbox titles on all platforms.

However, since Asha Sharma took over as head of Xbox, confidence in the green team has strengthened significantly, and it seems this is starting to show in sales figures. The Game Business has an in-depth interview with the Xbox team's chief strategy officer, Matthew Ball, who reveals that they now face a completely different problem: the component shortage means they suddenly don't have enough consoles to go around for everyone who wants an Xbox Series S/X:

"A lot of people are complaining about lack of supply of Xboxes... I can tell you definitively, demand for our console exceeds supply. We are putting them in as many stores as possible, we are producing them as quickly as possible. There is a severe limitation to how quickly we can do that."

Incidentally, it's not just the Xbox Series S/X that's feeling the impact of component shortages. Even the upcoming and much-hyped Project Helix (the next Xbox) appears to have been affected, forcing Microsoft to reprioritise right now:

"We are working very hard to rethink everything that we can about Helix, which is a console we are committed to shipping, and we are very cognisant of the ways in which we need to change as a company to make sure it is affordable, to make sure that it's flexible.

"We are working hard to rethink what the console model can look like, not in an exclusionary way, but in an additive way."

We are expected to hear more about Helix in November when Xbox turns 25. The idea that component shortages will ease over the next year seems far-fetched, and if anything, most signs suggest they may actually worsen.

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