Xbox Series X: Microsoft says it was able to ship more consoles than expected even as shortage continues

(Ian Gavan/Getty Images for Xbox UK)

Microsoft says it has been able to ship more new Xboxes than it expected – despite the ongoing issues with buying one at all.

As with the PlayStation 5, the new Xbox Series X and S have been nearly impossible to buy since they were released almost a year ago. A range of problems – including the ongoing chip shortage making them hard to make, and lockdowns increasing demand – have meant that the consoles rarely appear and often go out of tock as soon as they do.

But Microsoft says that even in the context of those issues, it had managed to do better than it expected with shipping consoles to customers.

“We were able to ship more Xbox Series X and S consoles than expected even as demand continues to exceed supply,” said Amy Hood, Microsoft’s chief financial officer, in a call with investors after the company released its latest results.

The high demand for the console has helped make vast sums of money for Microsoft. Hardware revenues were up 166 per cent in the most recent quarter, it said, continuing a year of strong growth.

As a whole, gaming revenues were up 16 per cent. But that came amid some struggle in other parts of Microsoft’s gaming business to match the interest in the hardware: services, such as the Xbox Game Pass, grew much more slowly.