Phil Spencer says Microsoft is cranking out as many next-gen consoles as it can

In context: According to Xbox boss Phil Spencer, the company is working as hard as possible to get more next-gen consoles into the market. Both Sony and Microsoft have struggled to meet PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S demand—a problem compounded by holiday scalpers.

Last week Xbox Live’s Director of Programming Lawrence Hryb (aka Major Nelson) invited Phil Spencer to his podcast for an interview. When Nelson brought up shortages, the Xbox head said that all the cogs in the console manufacturing machine are turning at full speed (below).

“I get some people [asking] ‘Why didn’t you build more, why didn’t you start earlier, why didn’t you ship them earlier?'” Spencer commented. “I mean all of those things, and it’s really just down to physics and engineering. We’re not holding them back. We’re building them as fast as we can. We have all of the assembly lines going.”

The Xbox top dog also mentioned that he has been in close contact with AMD CEO Lisa Su, trying to work out a way to get more components. He didn’t elaborate further, but as most of us are aware, supply is equally tight at AMD.

Many factors contribute to the current next-gen gaming shortage. Shortfalls in the supply chain and delays from the pandemic have led to the inevitable. While Sony tried to hide it by denying rumors of production limitations, Spencer saw it coming as early as October and said as much upfront. The Xbox exec predicted that production would not catch up to demand until early 2021.

Sony has also reportedly been ramping up production of its PlayStation 5 in the new year. Insiders have said that the company has entered agreements with several PS5 component suppliers to increase production in 2021. If the rumors are true, Sony should be shipping an average of 1.4-1.5 million PS5 units per month throughout the year.

Image credit: South China Morning Post