Sony’s PlayStation 5 and Microsoft’s Xbox Series X are undoubtedly the most hotly anticipated consoles, with their launches expected to later this year. Alas, now it seems that even those may be delayed as they come under threat of – you guessed it – Coronovirus (COVID-19) concerns.
Suspicion of delays for the launch of both consoles was recently forecasted by an industry analyst group called DFC Intelligence. In its statement, the group says that it is expecting the console to be delayed further. Pushing back their initial release within the holiday season of 2020.
Regarding supply chain. Switch has been impacted due to production halts in China. 90% of all consoles shipped to the US in 2019 were produced in China.
Production is starting to ramp back up again so the impact should be fairly limited, given demand in Q4 is higher than Q1/2.
— Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) March 12, 2020
DFC Intelligence’s forecast about the two next-generation consoles are understandable. As the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread, governments and industries the world over have taken stringent measures against the virus. Either by suspending staff – companies like the UAE-based airline, Emirates, asked its staff to go on unpaid leave – or having them work remotely from the safety of their own home.
On another note, Daniel Ahmad, a senior analyst at Niko Partners, recently tweeted about the subject. According to Ahmad, production of the next-generation consoles are beginning to “ramp back up again” and that the impact of COVID-19 should be fairly limited.
In the following tweet, Ahmad also seem to err towards the side of caution, stating that if both Sony and Microsoft’s production of the console doesn’t reach full capacity at the end of the second quarter of 2020, it’s likely that both consoles will have no choice but to see a launch sometime later in 2021.
