In a new report from Reuters, electronics manufacturing heavyweights Foxconn and Luxshare have submitted planning proposals to local authorities, aimed specifically at growing their video game console footprint.
Fushan Technology, part of Foxconn, is seeking production permits specifically for Microsoft Xbox gaming devices, the report claims. Fushan aims to scale up to 4.8 million additional Xbox gaming devices as part of the permit, which likely includes Xbox Series X|S consoles, official Xbox controllers, accessories like the official Xbox headset, and possibly even Xbox Cloud Gaming server tech. Do note that this wouldn’t include the Xbox Ally handheld — which is produced by ASUS, not Microsoft, despite the branding. China’s Luxshare-ICT has also posted proposals to expand its own console manufacturing operation by an additional 4.5 million units per year.
Pls guys, click on the link, it’s not fair for Jez and Windows Central. There’s a lot more in the full article.
Man, there’s so much to say here about the politics of it all… lord this administration is turning me into my grandparents and uncles. I’ll leave it at the thought of a political joke about Trump’s tarrifs bringing manufacturing back to the US… sure. Companies totally wouldn’t seek out cheaper less lengthy solutions to what is (hopefully) a temporary problem.
Good for Vietnam I guess. And hopefully the boost in manufacturing Xbox hardware really benefits gamers over the next year. I have to say, I am surprised they aren’t just tanking the potential sales losses and tanking it out until next Gen which might just get classified as a PC and not a toy. I’m starting to think price decreases are something mythical that I dreamt up as a kid. But hopefully this at least gives them the stock for Black Friday sales. And I guess this confirms that Next Gen is 2027. Because while this deal will probably benefit the launch of next Gen hardware, the prepping for 2026 suggests to me that they do indeed still want to sell current Gen hardware especially with that being a big anniversary year (or maybe they’ll surprise us all and give us next Gen). Also makes you wonder if they’ll continue to produce the Series X and S and call that the “cheaper” models compared to next Gen. They could even do a basic refresh to update internals. The Series S might be the only console that lags next Gen, so maybe even just give it an update and tell developers they can drop the OG series S after a year or two into next Gen.
Hoping this helps them stay more competitive. MS really needs to make sure people still stuck on Xbox 360 and Xbox One upgrade to Series consoles and not the competition. Especially now at the turning point that GTA6 might be at this point in the generation. Could be one last hurray in 2026 before next gen drops in 2027.
no better year than next year to push Xbox consoles. Forza Horizon 6 first on Xbox/PC then PS5 later might move a few units for people who cant wait, and i wouldnt be surprised if Gears and Fable are also Xbox/PC first and then PS later. Halo Campaign Evolved on gamepass, stuff like Clockwork Revolution and Subnautica 2 supposedly next year, rumors that next years CoD will be MW4 (so a return to “grounded” CoD at least) and supposedly could be current gen only so people on Xbox One/PS4 will be looking for a console to upgrade to and then obviously GTA6
Hopefully this helps Xbox get a little bit more in the game and allow some form or a lower price to match the competition and do some sales once in a while. Looks like Black Friday was brutal for MS, even in the US.
Was under the impression that Tariffs aren’t applied to consoles in the USA unless they are manufactured in Russia?
Whatever the case… It’s good to see more stock coming online since it was disappointing to see so little effort on Microsoft’s behalf to discount their hardware over Black Friday. To their credit, MS did have some great discounts on software
So most tech like smartphones and PCs are excluded from tarrifs for the most part, but Video Game consoles got classified as Toys by the white house so they take the full hit.
The website isn’t at all phone friendly, but if you’re saying that it’s not the consoles = toys = tarrifs like the articles are saying, then it could just be general stock issues. Xbox has had to choose between expanding their cloud infrastructure and hardware. Or the AI boom limiting components. In general it’s better for Xbox to have more stock than less, particularly when it comes to sales periods like Black Friday.
Black Friday is where you sell the most. Xbox One used to do really well on Black Friday, really wish MS would at least take the hit once a year.
If not, at least for the 25th anniversary, which is exactly around the release of GTAVI, do a big hardware push and either lower the price of the console, or match the competition and subsidize GTA VI for all new buyers.
That’ll move consoles! Hopefully that move to Vietnam helps out a lot!
From my understanding, Black Friday was always getting rid of excess stock for commercial products at the end of the year. It’s hard to do sales cuts when you don’t have any excess stock. And like impossible when you are struggling with stock in general and producing the product costs more than when it first launched. Really crossing my fingers the deal is building up stock already (or really soon), so that come Black Friday Microsoft will be in stock and have deals.
In general the every around Black Friday each year has just gotten less and less. It almost feels like we’re getting too efficient. I need companies to overstock products more.
US Tariffs are only applied to consoles if they are manufactured in the likes of Russia, North Korea. Maybe it’s more of an issue of certain components falling into the Tariff bracket?
I remember when Xbox did a Black Friday deal with the digital Xbox One S here in Great Britian and it sold out almost everywhere. It was very disappointing that Xbox didn’t look to take a hit even if it was just for one day; Sales data reflects that too Xbox had one of its worst black Friday’s results ever and where even Next Playground did better
Hopefully with more console production next year and with the big Xbox birthday we’ll have better Black Friday deals and sales in 2026
I think they need to nail it as all of those users that only buy a console once every few generations might be making the move with GTA VI and they need to keep those users in the ecosystem and on Gamepass at all costs.
If not those users will be playing GTA Online along with all of the f2p games and spending their money on vbucks on the PlayStation ecosystem for the next 10-12 years.
It wasn’t a game changer, but it did seem very Scrooge like from Microsoft not to have any major deals on its hardware even if it was just for a day.
Like you say hopefully it will be better next year with more stock and also the big birthday
