Microsoft ran out of Xboxes at a Halo tournament, used dev kits instead

[mongeese]

Cutting corners: It's been over a year since release, and you still can’t buy a new Xbox at a reasonable price for Christmas. And neither can Microsoft. At the first Halo tournament of the season, the company ran out of Xboxes and provided players in the open bracket with dev kits.

You might think that being the actual maker would help Microsoft find enough Xbox consoles, but apparently not. At least they’re not hoarding them!

A new season of the Halo Championship Series kicked off on Friday and is continuing into the weekend (you can watch the streams here). As of writing, there are four teams still competing for first place out of the 32 that entered the tournament.

By now, the players will each have a genuine Xbox Series X. But at the beginning of the tournament some of the players were using Xbox dev kits in their "retail mode," according to Halo’s esports lead, Tahir Hasandjekic, also known as Tashi...

Heads up open bracket players - you'll be playing this weekend on Series X development consoles. They're functionally identical and will be operating in "Retail" mode so it's the exact same experience, they just look a little different.

Why? Global supply chain shortage is real.

— Tashi (@Tashi343i) December 15, 2021

If hypothetically, Microsoft had brought an Xbox Series X for each of the 128 players in the tournament’s open bracket at their current price on eBay, they would’ve had to spend about $120,000; almost half of the tournament’s $250,000 prize pool.

But, in reality, Microsoft doesn’t have to pay that much. A hundred consoles isn’t a lot to them, and their failure to acquire them in time is better explained by poor planning. That said, using dev kits isn’t a big deal, and apart from a few technical issues that were (as far as we know) unrelated to the consoles, the tournament has been a fun one.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/92689-microsoft-ran-out-xboxes-halo-tournament-used-dev.html

 

[Neatfeatguy]

I got my hands on a Xbox Series X that's coming to me in a few days. Paid retail cost. Suck it! I win and I didn't have to enter into some Halo tournament.

 

[elementalSG]

Ironically, the current eBay price for an XBox might actually be closer to what it actually costs Microsoft to manufacture an XBox since we know Microsoft loses money on the actual XBoxes and makes the money back selling games and XBox Live memberships

 

[VaRmeNsI]

It's quite simple, plandemic started, demand for chips was assumed to be reduced, government forced people to stay at home, demand for chips skyrocketed, government also printed tonnes of money so people can afford to buy even more than usual, everyone is then surprised when there's a shortage...

 

[Irata]

I got my hands on a Xbox Series X that's coming to me in a few days. Paid retail cost. Suck it! I win and I didn't have to enter into some Halo tournament.

Same here - had to get the All Access pack and paid it in full though, but it‘s retail cost and having two years of game pass on the XsX and PC isn‘t a bad thing.

And it definitely beats getting an overpriced graphics card.

 

[Shadowboxer]

Hopefully for the next round Sony and MS will ditch AMD and get someone in who’s got a bit more influence at TSMC or has the capability of making competitive chips through other foundries.

 

[Xclusiveitalian]

My local walmart has hundreds of Xbox Series S they cannot sell lol

 

[Dimitriid]

Back in early November I remember they were available even on like Amazon, normal retail and didn't run out of stock immediately.

I guess Microsoft event organizers need to sit down and watch that Arnold Schwarzenegger movie and learn a valuable lesson about buying their gear *WELL BEFORE* Christmas season...Or just pay scalper prices.

Actually they should be forced to just pay scalper prices just to get some poetic justice.

 

[m4a4]

Hopefully for the next round Sony and MS will ditch AMD and get someone in who’s got a bit more influence at TSMC or has the capability of making competitive chips through other foundries.

If eeeveryone is affected by the chip shortage, who might that be?

 

[defaultluser]

If eeeveryone is affected by the chip shortage, who might that be?

In addition, there are several other major parts shortages that go into each Console that will never be built by TSMC - GDDR6, and Phase doublers are just as couple!

This problem is so intense because several major fabs are having Raw Material supply issues!

 

[Neatfeatguy]

In addition, there are several other major parts shortages that go into each Console that will never be built by TSMC - GDDR6, and Phase doublers are just as couple!

Look at Sony - I don't recall if it was confirmed or not, but there are multiple different versions of the cooling fan that Sony uses for the PS5. It was suggested that it may have been due to the fact they had issues getting supplies from the original manufacturer they were using for the fans and had to look else where to find a similar solution.

Hopefully for the next round Sony and MS will ditch AMD and get someone in who’s got a bit more influence at TSMC or has the capability of making competitive chips through other foundries.

As you can see, it's not just chips that are the problem. There are many underlying factors that go into building a console (just like a PC) and if one area falters it's easy to see that other areas will, too.

How many people wanted to build new systems this past year and had troubles getting CPUs and especially GPUs? Some folks are still waiting on GPUs. Some folks are now waiting on DDR5. There's always something and the only way to blame TSMC would be if they were not living up to the agreed terms signed by these companies, to produce the contracted amounts. I don't see any news about TSMC not living up to the terms that their customers agree upon, that is, unless we're just not being told about it.

 

[quadibloc]

At least Microsoft isn't hoarding XBox consoles is indeed the big takeaway.
This is an interesting story, but mostly because it is amusing, showing that the supply chain issues really are affecting everyone.

 

[quadibloc]

Actually, the only thing I disagree with is your use of the word "plandemic". Yes, government measures to contain COVID-19 and limit its economic impact are likely to cause inflation in the long run, and to lead to the supply chain issues we're seeing.