‘Haven’t Played Your Console in a While?’ Trade It in, Xbox Tells Customers Amid Stock Shortages

Xbox is sending emails to customers reminding them that they can trade in their Series X and S consoles if they’ve been collecting dust. The email has reportedly been sent to customers in the U.S. who haven’t used their console in some time.

The past year or so has seen console prices skyrocket thanks to the ‘RAMpocalypse’ sparked by generative AI companies such as OpenAI, Google, Anthropic, and Microsoft itself gobbling up components. As these AI companies vie for dominance and hoard all the RAM, prices soar for the end user while hardware is harder than ever to get hold of.

Valve’s Steam Frame VR machine was originally supposed to launch for $750, for example, but thanks to the crisis created by AI companies, it ended up costing over $1,000. Meanwhile Nvidia graphics cards are way more expensive than they used to be.

Console price rises and shortages come at the worst time for both Sony and Microsoft, with November’s launch of GTA 6…