#New Xbox is still ‘on track’ to hit stores in time for the holidays

The next Xbox is still slated to hit store shelves this holiday season — coronavirus be damned.

In an interview with Time, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said that despite the pandemic forcing employees to work from home, the next-generation gaming system will keep its original launch window.

“Yes, we are on track,” Nadella said. “The head of our Xbox did say that one of the challenges in remote work is some of the content creation: there are certain things that do need people to come into studios that might have an impact in our first-party and third-party games.”

The comments come as video game industry saw its best March sales in more than a decade thanks to millions of gamers being locked indoors due to the pandemic.

The holiday window is traditionally one of the most lucrative quarters of the year for video game makers. Sony’s PlayStation 5 is also set to come out in December.

Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan last week told gamesindustry.biz that his team, as well as its game developer partners, are well positioned to meet their deadline.

“We are going to launch this holiday and we’re going to launch globally,” Ryan said. “We’re really looking forward to it and it’s going to be a blast.”