You Can Now Buy an Xbox Series X Console Without the Hunt

howtogeek.com:

It’s been tough to get your hands on an Xbox Series X or PlayStation 5 console since their release in 2020. But, just like now is a great time to buy a GPU at its retail price, you should know Xbox Series X console availability has improved dramatically.

The Xbox Series X may not always be available at every store, but it’s becoming much easier to find it in stock. In fact, we’ve seen several online stores that seem to have had them in stock for more than a week now. If you want to pick up an Xbox Series X, it will be pretty easy—you won’t have to buy “bundles” with a bunch of items you don’t need. You can get one for its $499.99 retail price. You won’t have to join premium subscriptions like Walmart+, Amazon Prime, and GameStop PowerUp Rewards.

Here are some places you can find it as of late July 2022:

Even Verizon is now starting to sell Xbox Series X consoles (as part of the Xbox All Access subscription that includes Game Pass—not for the standard up-front $499.99 price.)

It would be nice if this console were even more consistently available, but it’s 2022, and supply chains are weird for all sorts of items. Even if you strike out and all of these stores are out of stock when you look for one, there’s a good chance they will come back in stock soon. It’s not like it was anymore—consoles don’t just appear in stock and sell out almost immediately. You don’t have to pay attention to social media to score a console “drop” or pay a high markup on eBay.

Now if only Sony’s PlayStation 5 would be more consistently in stock. Hopefully, that will happen soon, too