How hard is it to buy an Xbox Series X? So hard, Microsoft had to resort to using development kits for a Halo Infinite tournament over the weekend.
As NotebookCheck reports, over the weekend Halo developer 343 Studios started the Halo Championship Series 2021: Kickoff Major in Raleigh. For that, Xbox Series X consoles were required for tournament participants, but 343 couldn’t source enough of them. As the tweet by Tashi, Halo Esports and Viewership Lead at Microsoft/343 Industries, reveals, “the global supply chain shortage is real.”
Everyone is struggling to purchase the new generation of console hardware, but when it comes to a tournament that must have consoles, 343 had to think outside the box. The solution just so happened to be sitting in the 343 offices in the form of Xbox Series X development kits.
These kits are used in the development and testing of Xbox games. They typically contain more RAM, look more like a desktop PC, and have additional functionality so developers can take a closer look at how the hardware is being used by a game. However, for the tournament they were switched into a retail mode with Tashi assuring everyone that “they’re functionally identical.”
So if you are trying and failing to find an Xbox Series X, at least you know that even Microsoft is facing the same problem and thankfully not removing stock from the supply chain for tournaments.
