Sony may be building a few more PlayStation 4 consoles to deal with the current shortage, but Microsoft has gone with a different tactic. The company has stopped making the Xbox One (technically the Xbox One S) and is focusing all of its efforts on the Xbox Series S and Xbox Series X.
A farewell to Xbone
This does not appear to be a recent decision. “To focus on Xbox Series X/S production, we have halted production of all Xbox One consoles by the end of 2020,” said Cindy Walker, Senior Director of Xbox Marketing. The edge. The base Xbox One S is still readily available in stores; GameStop is offering a new Xbox One S Digital Edition for $300, stones not included. Microsoft had to get rid of some consoles before pulling the plug over a year ago.
Both last-gen platforms enjoyed higher-than-expected demand in 2020 when the pandemic hit and some of that growth may have continued into 2021. According to data from VGChartz, Sony shipped 1, 84 million PlayStation 4s in 2021, up from 1.2 million. Xbox One systems. MS no longer releases Xbox sales data, so all sales data for Microsoft is approximate.
Console sales over the past two years. The teal and red lines on the left are Xbox One and PS4. The blue line is the Switch / New Switch and the green and black lines that appear in late 2020 represent the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X. Chart by VGChartz.
Back when Microsoft discontinued the Xbox One X but kept the Xbox One S, there was speculation that the last-gen console might have a second act as a low-end streaming box designed as a method cost-effective integration software for Xbox Cloud Gaming. Microsoft has argued for years that the purpose of Xbox is to create loyal customers and plug people into the Xbox ecosystem rather than just moving hardware around. This aligns with the company’s overall approach to the Windows ecosystem.
It would have been interesting to see that happen, but it’s no surprise that it didn’t. The hardware inside the OG Xbox is old and the system does not support the latest WiFi standards. The processor inside the Xbox One S dates back to 2013 and was originally designed as a low-cost mobile APU. I have a soft spot for Jaguar – I’d go so far as to say it saved the company in 2013 – but even the best processor microarchitecture eventually needs to be improved or retired.
Finally, it may be in Microsoft’s interest to leave Xbox One in the first place. The brand was tarnished at launch by the company’s poor communication and some design choices around Kinect, and while the Xbox One X fixed many of Xbox’s problems, it didn’t seem to move the share of market between Sony and Microsoft. The Xbox Series S | X may or may not improve MS’s sales numbers over Sony’s, but they’re much better consoles for your gaming dollar than the Xbox One was in 2013 – assuming you can buy one at MSRP, of course.
Game console prices remain high and demand continues to outstrip supply. At present, it is hoped that things will start to pick up around the middle of the year. We’ll see if 2022 can deliver on that promise, 2021 certainly didn’t.
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