Still struggling to get your hands on a next-gen console? You’re certainly not alone. As the global chip shortage gets worse, not better, new consoles remain a rare sight on retail shelves, with the PlayStation 5 seemingly particularly affected. So much so, that February saw the Xbox Series X/S outsell the PS5 in both North America and Europe for the first time.

　　Microsoft’s win comes about due to the relative availability of the Xbox Series S, the only new console that can semi-reliably be found on store shelves. That said, Microsoft’s victory is a somewhat hollow one, as console sales were down as a whole in February due to availability issues. According to the NPD Group, North American hardware sales were down 27 percent year-on-year in February, and the situation was even worse in Europe, with console sales down 32 percent. Also, while the Xbox Series X/S beat PS5, they were both bested by the Nintendo Switch yet again.

　　Could the current severe PS5 supply issues be a protracted problem? Could Microsoft have a chance to make up some ground? It’s hard to say, as Sony has provided very little guidance about what PS5 supply will look like for the rest of 2022. Here’s hoping we can finally get to a place where console sales reflect which hardware players really wanted most, rather than just what they could get their hands on. Unfortunately, we’re definitely not there yet…

　　Friendly reminder that hardware market results in any particular window over the past year+ are more a factor of available supply than anything else. Best not to try and extrapolate too much in terms of consumer sentiment from the hardware sales.

　　— Mat Piscatella (@MatPiscatella) March 14, 2022

　　Anybody out there manage to get their hands on a new console recently? Anybody grab an Xbox Series S just because the other options weren’t available?