Microsoft discontinues Xbox One production

Rival Sony forced to produce more PS4 consoles, to combat PS5 shortage

Microsoft has confirmed that it stopped all production of the Xbox One line of consoles at the end of 2020. The Redmond giant said that it wanted to focus on the newer Xbox Series X|S line of consoles.

Cindy Walker, senior director of Xbox console marketing gave a statement to The Verge, saying Microsoft would, "focus on the production of Xbox Series X / S, we stopped production for all Xbox One consoles by the end of 2020.”

The shortage of chips the world over, has hurt sales for the new consoles from Sony and Microsoft. Both the Xbox Series and PlayStation 5 consoles have seen massive shortages, with the situation unlikely to improve till the end of 2022.

Also Read: Sony may be looking at expanding backward compatibility for PlayStation 5

A recent report from Bloomberg stated that Sony had planned to stop production of the PlayStation 4 by the end of 2021, but was forced continue and cushion the PlayStation 5 shortage to try and keep players in its ecosystem. Sony will now produce PlayStation 4 units throughout 2022.

Sony said that it will add roughly one million more units of the PlayStation 4, to make up for the shortfall of PlayStation 5 units in the wild. The decision was said to be taken, because the older consoles use less advanced chips, and are easier to make.

Also Read: Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X become Microsoft's fastest-selling gaming console despite chip shortage

A Sony spokesperson told Bloomberg, "It is one of the best-selling consoles ever and there is always crossover between generations.”