Updated October 12: Microsoft said in a statement to Windows Central that Walmart and Target remain “committed partners,” suggesting the recent clearances were a location-specific move and not an indicator of the company's overall policy. The original story is like this.
Many more major U.S. retailers xbox Console inventory. The purported turn of events signals further problems for Microsoft's embattled Xbox hardware division.
In late September 2025, Costco's website purged its entire Xbox section, and the retailer's physical stores significantly reduced their remaining Microsoft consoles in an apparent move to clear inventory. A subsequent Consumer Reports report said the effort was global, spanning Costco's U.S. locations as well as stores in the United Kingdom, New Zealand and other countries.
Walmart and Target reportedly pull Xbox consoles
This trend is now said to be continuing at several other major retailers. Target reportedly began removing Xbox sections from certain stores the week of October 6, according to Reddit users CodeE1985 and Jawwaad127, who call themselves Target employees. In response to this alleged development, Reddit user Spacefox_85 said that the Walmart where they work is planning to ditch their entire Xbox section following an ongoing store remodel. These reports appeared online just days after Sam's Club began purging Xbox consoles, and less than a month after Costco did the same.
Neither Walmart nor Target have yet officially confirmed that they will be pulling Xbox products nationwide as part of a company-wide policy. But the writing appears to be on the wall, especially after Costco confirmed that clearing Xbox stock was a “business decision” it has no intention of revisiting any time soon.
Microsoft insists it's not giving up on its Xbox consoles.
What makes the story even more complicated is that Microsoft claims it is not giving up on Xbox hardware, as it said as many times as recently as October 5th. According to a statement from a company spokesperson provided to media outlets, the tech giant is still “actively investing” in its gaming hardware as of late 2025, with the main implication being that another Xbox console generation is just a question time.
What's not yet clear, especially in light of recent developments, is what Microsoft's next-generation console lineup will look like. With hardware sales plummeting due to brand drops and price increases due to tariffs (the latest measure took effect October 3, raising the price of the 2TB Xbox Series X to $800), the company may be forced to align its next console more closely with PCs. A unified SDK standardizes multi-platform development and allows studios to continue releasing Xbox console games without significant additional investments, essentially treating those games as PC versions targeting specific hardware configurations. According to recent industry reports, the 10th generation consoles are currently expected to launch in late 2027.
- brand
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microsoft
- original release date
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November 10, 2020
- Original MSRP (USD)
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$499
- operating system
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Proprietary (Windows-based)
- processor
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Custom AMD 8-core Zen 2 3.8GHz
- solve
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720p – 4K UHD
Source: TheGamer
