Microsoft has announced that the Xbox One X and Xbox One S All-Digital Edition have been pulled from the product stack and will no longer be manufactured. It’s important to note that this doesn’t mean the total end of the Xbox One series of consoles. This is just a shrinking of the number of console variants that will be produced.
On Amazon, listings for the two current-gen consoles were changed over to “discontinued”. There may be some stocks of the two consoles may still be found online, just don’t expect your local retailer to restock anytime soon. It will likely take some time before we start seeing a serious drying up of stocks of used consoles though. Other retailers have already followed Amazon’s example and listed the consoles as “discontinued”.
“As we ramp into the future with Xbox Series X, we’re taking the natural step of stopping production on Xbox One X and Xbox One S All-Digital Edition,” said a spokesperson in a statement given to Eurogamer. “Xbox One S will continue to be manufactured and sold globally.” Any gamers wishing to jump into the Xbox One brand want to “check with their local retailers for more details on Xbox One hardware availability.”
It makes sense to shut down production of the Xbox One X and Xbox One S All-Digital Edition. These two consoles were nearing the end of their lifespan anyway, and it doesn’t make sense to continue to sink money into parts for an older console. Though the Xbox One X and Xbox One S All-Digital Edition had solid reception among gamers, Microsoft should be pouring time and money into preparing for the launch of the Xbox Series X.
“With the new devices and services coming out, this seems more like an effort to reduce the number of [consoles] in the market and avoid consumer confusion,” Joost van Dreunun, founder of video game investment firm New Breukelen, told CNN on the news breaking.
If for some reason you still want to jump onto the Xbox One train this late into the game, the base Xbox One S remains an option. Still, it’s sad to see the more powerful variant go. The Xbox One X, released in November 2017, was designed for 4K gaming from the get-go. Playes could get into next-gen optimized gaming for relatively affordable prices, but the Xbox brand still struggled.
Faced with the thunderous success of the Switch and the PS4, Xbox is a distant third. Microsoft’s flagship product still falls behind Nintendo’s Switch and Sony’s PlayStation 4 in terms of sales, according to industry speculation.
