Pandemic Could Slow the Adoption of Next-Gen Consoles

Due to the ongoing global pandemic, we could possibly see shortages of next-gen consoles according to Niko Partners, a games industry analytics group.

While the ongoing pandemic has all of us couped us in our home binging our favorite games and buying new ones, that might not be the same case for when next-gen consoles hit the scene this holiday. According to the games industry analytics group Niko Partners, we could see smaller supply numbers for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X.

Niko Partners stated that roughly around 90% of video game consoles were imported into the United States after being manufactured in China. After almost no production happening in February due to the closure of many Chinese factories, it is presumed that we could see a strained supply of hardware when they release later this holiday. It even states that we could possibly see inflated price points due to the numbers.

Daniel Ahmad, a senior analyst at Niko Partners stated in an interview with GameDaily.biz: “Component scarcity and logistics issues will increase the production and shipping cost of next-gen consoles set to launch this year. At this point, it is unlikely that Sony and Microsoft will price consoles at $400 or lower without taking a significant loss. As noted in the report, software delays, an upcoming recession, higher prices of consoles, and cross-gen games in year one could provide less of an incentive for current-gen owners to upgrade initially.”

We knew that the global pandemic would impact the industry in a multitude of ways. Games have already been delayed to working from home conditions. Other titles have pushed release dates so that it will have enough physical copies to coincide with digital releases. The games industry is a multi-billion dollar industry so I have to believe that it will bounce back when this is all said and done.