These are not mutually exclusive. In fact, they go more hand-in-hand, hence the saying, supply and demand. The amount of supply is dependent on the amount of demand present in the market. The PS4 and Switch had no problems selling large numbers of units because there was demand for those platforms.
Why is the Xbox One having a lack of supply? It can't be due to shipment issues because otherwise, that would've affected the PS4 and Switch, as well. It has to be a reason that would only affect the Xbox One. Either (1) Microsoft deliberately reduced shipments or (2) the demand is simply not there and as such, Microsoft reduced shipments to avoid overstocking. Reason 1 would not make much sense because as stated, a consumer that wants an Xbox One is not someone who would buy an XSX at launch. In addition, since Microsoft is focusing on GAAS, it would behoove them to increase the amount of active users. Selling more Xbox Ones to consumers would achieve that goal.
They don’t go hand in hand when the supply is intentionally cut off because they don’t want to keep making consoles that they are replacing in less than 6 months.
Why are people having such a hard time believing this? Yes, Covid has caused supply issues for the other 2 consoles as well, but they are still
being supplied. Xbox
is not being supplied because they cut production intentionally. Like this isn’t a hard thing to grasp. They are done with the Xbox one, hence why they cut production. That’s all there is to it. Demand plays no part in it. Microsoft has cut and run with every single generation. This isn’t new or unheard of.
More users is great, but do you
really think that a user only jumping in to the generation in
year 7-8 is going to be providing them with lots of revenue? I’ll answer that - no, they won’t. Those customers won’t be buying a Series X for another 7+ years, so they’re of very little value.
I don’t know why you question if maybe MS cut supply - we know they did. They literally discontinued the One X, their latest console. They discontinued their second newest console, the One All Digital. Do you see a pattern here?