Although coronavirus has wreaked havoc on supply chains around the world, Microsoft’s Xbox chief Phil Spencer has no fears about the pandemic impacting Xbox Series X availability this holiday season.
In an interview with former Nintendo boss Reggie Fils-Aimé, Spencer said that Microsoft has been forced “to work through some challenges” in its Xbox Series X supply chain, but the console is still on track for a 2020 holiday season launch.
“[We] feel good about timelines, feel really good about this holiday,” he said.
Coronavirus has shuttered supply chains around the world since manufacturers in China were forced to close their doors in February to halt the virus outbreak. While those plants have since reopened, the coronavirus spread around the world has forced the closing of facilities across Europe, the U.S., and elsewhere. Getting them back online has proven to be a long and arduous task.
Those realities have shone a light on both Microsoft’s Xbox Series X and Sony’s PlayStation 5, which were both slated for release later this year before the pandemic hit. Neither Sony nor Microsoft has changed its launch schedule, but speculation surfaced over whether supply chains could push their releases into next year.
Spencer, however, said that he and his fellow executives still “feel good about” Microsoft’s supply chain.
“The hardware side, it feels like we’ll be able to get enough units,” he said.
But even that comment may not allay every fear players have. There will apparently be enough Xbox Series X units to satisfy hardware demand this holiday season, but Spencer’s comments seem to clearly focus on hardware and not software.
Indeed, stay-at-home orders have caused widespread delays across the gaming industry, which Spencer acknowledged in his interview with Fils-Aimé. He stopped short of saying whether any Xbox Series X launch titles could be pushed back.
Microsoft did not immediately respond to a Digital Trends request for comment on the status of the launch games and will uopdate this story when we hear back.
For its part, Sony has similarly expressed confidence that the PlayStation 5 won’t hit any manufacturing snags and should be available in ample supply this holiday season. Whether such availability will also extend to PlayStation 5 launch games is unknown.
