The Ruined Next Gen Console Launch

By: Bryce L. Jackson

Call it what it is: 2020 was not the year to release the PS5 and Series X|S.

We’re about 100 days removed from the launch of the XBOX Series X|S and the PS5. Sadly the initial launch window has been rough for Sony and Microsoft. Both companies have been marred by enterprising opportunists (read as scalper botting bastards) scooping up available stock and reselling them at 2x to 3x value. The personification of those “Give me $500, I can get you $5000” spam comments on popular Instagram posts. The act of scalping isn’t new, nor is the use of bots to scoop up hot items. Sneakerheads are very familiar with the practice. And we saw similar issues earlier in the year where they scooped up Nintendo Switch consoles at the beginning of the pandemic. Fans and families hoping to get any console before the Holidays, more specifically the PS5, were stuck in a loop of hoping they are faster than the bots.

Sadly, the next-gen console launch gets no reprieve from hoards of scalpers even this far removed from the Holiday rush. A global shortage of semiconductors has further hampered production, causing further shortages as the supply-demand chain remains obstructed by the pandemic. Semiconductors are in all things electronic and are not necessarily made exclusive to a certain type of tech. Phones, computers, car electronics, and a plethora of other devices all get their supply of semiconductors from a handful of companies who depend on a limited number of specialized factories that actually make said conductors. As I understand it, game consoles are “low priority” on the list of tech devices that require unhampered production. With these factories, or fabs as they call them, operating at maximum output, there isn’t room to simply ramp up production. Major car manufacturers have already cut their production numbers because of these shortages. Sony and Microsoft are in no such position to cut production.

Sony and Microsoft have bumbled their next-gen console releases each in their own way.

Thanks to Microsoft needing to delay Halo: Infinite almost a full year, they have released one new exclusive game for Series X|S: The Medium. That game in no way can be called a “system seller”. The X|S is a glorified upgrade machine for games on Microsoft Game Pass, to play games that have been released in the past or games that they already owned. On the other side of the spectrum, Sony has suffered more technical issues, rather than its lack of playable content. The PS5 is the poster child for the manipulation of online marketplaces with retailers unable to make real headway in plugging the holes exposed. They also may have more technical problems as reports of stick drift in their DualSense controllers start to trickle in only months into their life cycle.

Suffice it to say, the next-gen consoles could have been delayed into later this year, if not be released during Holiday 2021. The ongoing pandemic and everything it has delayed and hampered spelled trouble for both consoles. In an ideal world, Sony and Microsoft would use that newfound camaraderie, that kumbaya “We’re all gamers” schtick they’ve been playing up recently, to agree that for the good of the culture to put off their releases. Instead, they both decided to bet on whatever short-term hiccups came their way to make those fiscal year reports look good.