Xbox series X stock UK – live: Today’s latest restock news from John Lewis, Game, Smyths and more

Well there’s no easy way to break this to you, but we’ve had an entirely Xbox-free Monday.

We’ve had our ears to the ground, listening out for faintly plausible rumours of upcoming restocks, and we’ve heard nothing concrete.

• Argos in Bristol might have some consoles in stock at the weekend.
• Smyths Toys could restock in some stores this week.
• There was a cloud that looked a little bit like an Xbox controller above east London this afternoon.

Mondays are usually slow, so we’re anticipating more Xbox series X activity as the week progresses. Keep on eye on the Microsoft Store, which sometimes restocks in the evenings. And in the morning – just before we start up our liveblog again – John Lewis & Partners could have one of its infamous 7am drops.

Join us again tomorrow to be the first to know when the Xbox rears its pretty little head. Bye bye!

One way to get around the lack of Xbox series X stock? Use Xbox Game Pass on your PC to play a selection of Xbox games.

For the uninitiated, Xbox Game Pass allows you to pay a flat monthly fee to access a rolling library of hundreds of games, rather than purchasing games outright. It also lets you play games via cloud streaming – which is essentially like being on a Zoom call with a game you’re controlling.

Launched back in 2017, Xbox Game Pass was billed as gaming’s answer to Netflix. The service unlocks a library of more than 100 games, which you are free to download and play at your leisure, so long as you keep paying the subscription fee.

Confused about Game Pass? We don’t blame you. Have a read of our explainer and we’ll tell you everything you need to know:

Much like every other retailer right now, the Xbox series X is currently out of stock at John Lewis & Partners. The last drops we’ve seen have been in mid-June, late April, and on two occasions in March, each time selling out in a very short space of time, as you’d expect.

The online retailer usually adds new stock to the website in the early hours of the morning, around 7am. So we recommend setting your alarm to be in with the chance of sniping Microsoft’s new console. Can we still call it “new”? Newest.

We’ve also heard reports of in-store drops at John Lewis & Partners, so we’d always recommend checking in with your local store on the off chance that they have any of the next-gen consoles lying about.

One small consolation for Microsoft is that its biggest rival, Sony, is also facing serious supply chain issues. The PlayStation 5 is in high demand but it’s a little easier to find on the shelves than the Xbox series X.

We have a good idea of which retailers are most likely to restock the PS5 next, but you still have to be quick to grab one when they appear.

The Xbox series X has excellent built-in security when playing games online, but there are still reasons why you might want to install a VPN on an Xbox.

If you use your Xbox to watch Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video or some other online streaming service, a VPN allows you to spoof your location and access TV shows and movies not normally available in your country.

Want more free shopping insights? Sign up to the IndyBest newsletter right now to access the best deals and round-ups of the week’s must-have products, as chosen by our team of IndyBest experts. We find some surprisingly generous discounts out there, so it’s worth a click.

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We’re anticipating more Xbox series X stock this week but – while we’re all standing around here like lamp posts – why not cast our eyes over some lovely (and actually in stock) deals we’ve found?

Over on our daily deal tracking liveblog we’ve got a crack team of highly trained bargain hunters scouring the internet for the best discounts on everything from iPads and 4K TVs to fizzy wine and air fryers. There’s something for everyone.

There are two criteria these deals have to meet. They must offer a decent discount, and we don’t recommend anything we wouldn’t buy, eat, drink or sleep on ourselves. Go take a look.

The Xbox series X is very much not in stock at Amazon right now, but we still expect new stock to arrive in August.

The online retailer is overflowing with PlayStations lately – check out our PS5 stock tracker or updates – but hasn’t deigned to restock the Xbox series X since 14 July.

Whereas Amazon restricts sales of Sony’s next-generation console to Prime customers, the Xbox gets no such protection. As such it’s exposed to automated bots and unscrupulous resellers and sells out in the blink of an eye.

You have to have fast fingers to get one into your basket. Make sure you’re signed into your Amazon account, and ensure your payment and delivery information is up to date. If you haven’t already, register for a 30 day trial of Amazon Prime in case the Xbox series X is exclusively available to those hallowed customers.

Slim. It’s been more than a month since we last had an Xbox series X restock at Very.

The retailer restocked on 20 July, and since then it’s been all quiet on the Xbox front. According to our friends on the PS5 stock tracking live blog, the retailer is rumoured to be receiving an allocation of freshly baked PlayStations later this week. Let’s cross our fingers this means a similar resupply is on the horizon for Microsoft’s next-gen console.

We’ll keep checking for new availability at Very so you don’t have to. Stick with us for updates.

Last week, Activision revealed the newest entry in its long running shooty-gun franchise. Call of Duty: Vanguard spans four major theatres of WW2 and further departs from realism by throwing in a bunch of stuff your granddad never told you about, such as zombies.

Call of Duty: Vanguard is coming to Xbox series X on 5 November, and is available to pre-order now (£69.99, Argos.co.uk). You can pick it up as a cross-gen bundle, meaning you can start playing on your current Xbox and then upgrade when you finally get hold of an Xbox series X.

The PlayStation 5 is being treated to a playable preview of Call of Duty: Vanguard this weekend, 27-29 August. We dirty little Xbox goblins will just have to sit here and wait our turn. We’re allowed to see the alpha trailer, at least.