This Quarantined Gamer Was Surprised With An Xbox Series X

This is a brilliant story for your Saturday: someone has been sick with coronavirus and quarantined for three weeks, so their pal purchased them an Xbox Series X and dropped it off at their door.

The hype for the next generation of Xbox has been through the roof for almost the whole of 2020, as lots of people approached the launch of the Xbox Series X and S with hopefulness that this would be a highlight of an otherwise tough time. However, the impact of the pandemic has been widespread, and the stocks of the consoles and the delivery schedules to retailers had been affected. Though consumers had a warning that pre-orders would go live, the demand for the Xbox Series X and S surged higher than the supply, and unfortunately, many went without.

It is more powerful than the PlayStation 5, with a 12 teraflop GPU, 1TB SSD, and custom eight-core Zen 2 CPU, as well as an enormous library of titles through Xbox Game Pass. It is also theorised that the news of Microsoft's acquisition of ZeniMax Media (effectively pocketing huge properties like The Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Wolfenstein, DOOM) might have spurred demand for the new Xboxes to spike. Microsoft has been woolly about the future of these franchises, but finally stated that new and upcoming Bethesda titles will release "first" or "better" on Xbox and PC.

For these reasons, it's been extremely challenging to get your mitts on an Xbox Series X or S, and some people are waiting to try once again on Black Friday. Reddit user GEORGE_P00NY had given up on their quest for an Xbox Series X after their pre-order was cancelled, and their low mood from being stuck at home sick with coronavirus must not have helped things. However, yesterday, they uploaded a photo of their new console, and explained what had happened.

"Been quarantined with COVID for 3 weeks and lost all hope of getting an X since Target 86'd my preorder. Until today one of my best friends saw a Target near him had a few available, bought nearly the last one and drove it 40min to my doorstep. Love your friends stay safe and keep checking Popfinder," they said.

Commenters are revelling in their surprise success, and commended how generous their friend is to try to buy another pricey console for their pal. Another mentioned that they might have encountered said friend in the line for their own order, but it turns out that there are "homies helping out homies" all over the United States. You love to see it.

Topics: News, Xbox Series X