PS5 and Xbox Series X|S are the protagonists of a new generation and with several new elements, but in one respect this one stands out as particularly strange: the lack of consoles available on the market, persistent problem but which could finally be close to one solution. A similar situation has never been seen before, with the consoles being unobtainable two years after their launch and the phenomenon of scalping now endemic to the market. On the other hand, the causes are known: from the Covid pandemic to the raw materials crisis, which has shocked the entire technology industry, the new generation has found itself overwhelmed by the production problems that have conditioned its diffusion up to now , however counterbalanced – and in a certain sense aggravated – by the considerable demand from users, which has further exacerbated the problem of availability.
From all this we have seen bizarre situations emerge that have practically become the standard of the current market, especially as regards PS5 but also to a lesser extent Xbox Series X (not Series S, now available in a rather stable way on the market): overpriced consoles ranging from in any case, in great demand, scalpers who dominate production by imposing their conditions, retail chains that force users to buy PS5 together with bundles of products of dubious utility and desirability to further inflate the price. However, we could perhaps be close to seeing a progressive disappearance of all these problems, given the recent increase in shipments and in the availability of new consoles, which would have led Sony, according to some sources, to enormously increase its sales forecasts for the next fiscal year .
This concerns the PS5 in particular, precisely the one that has recorded the greatest availability problems in recent months but which, according to data released by some market analysts, has undergone a 400% increase in terms of shipments to the USA starting from September .
The data is in line with other encouraging signs in this sense, given that the console has begun to be available on a more regular basis also in other markets such as the United Kingdom, although these positive variations are still difficult to see in Italy. Probably, a market of secondary dimensions like ours will subsequently receive this increase in supplies, initially reserved above all for the USA and UK, therefore the positive effects will arrive later, but are in any case foreseen for the next few months.
In short, it is still too early to claim victory, but there is no doubt that the trend is positive and that this increase in production and availability will end up being felt in Italy too, where PS5 could soon become purchasable in the normal way even in shops, perhaps without surcharges or forced bundles. Beyond the possibility of purchasing and the economic factor, another positive element of this greater diffusion should also concern the technological transition towards the new generation: with this difficulty to mesh from a numerical point of view, the user base on PS5 and Xbox Series X | S has remained relatively small, forcing developers to still hold the previous consoles in high regard. A greater diffusion of the new consoles, given the demand, should translate into their much faster and wider adoption, which should ultimately lead to a clear break from the old machines and therefore (perhaps) also to a more substantial and evident evolution of the technological video games.
