Even after a full year on the market, the PS5 is still hard to find, and now it appears like Sony’s supply woes are about to get even worse.
Based on a new report from Bloomberg, sources familiar with Sony’s operations claim the Japanese tech giant recently revised its production targets down from 16 million units to around 15 million units for the fiscal year ending in March 2022. Previously, Sony had set a sales target of 14.8 million PS5s sold by March 2022, a target that looks to be even harder for Sony to achieve if supply is further constrained.
The news follows similar statements from Sony CFO Hiroki Totoki who told investors during a call last month that shortages and supply issues have started to become even worse, and that any future restrictions caused by the covid-19 could have additional impacts on PS5 production.
That said, even with covid-19 wreaking havoc on chip production and global supply lines, the PS5 still managed to become Sony’s fastest-selling console ever, having topped 10 million units sold back in July. This suggests that Sony’s supply issue could be chalked up to outrageous demand than limited production, likely due in large part to a greater number of people confined at home seeking out new forms of entertainment— something which may not have happened to this extent in a “normal” year.
Thankfully, while the global chip crunch is expected to continue into 2022, there does seem to be some renewed hope for gamers looking to purchase Sony’s latest console. For the vast majority of the PS5's first year on sale, most major retailers restricted the sale of PS5's to online purchases only, with various retailer’s websites often buckling anytime a new shipment of consoles became available for purchase.
But more recently, retailers like Best Buy and Gamestop have started shipping consoles to local retail stores, giving people (particularly those who don’t want to spend time hammering refresh on their web browser) another avenue to buy a new PS5 (or an Xbox Series S/X).
Behind the scenes, it seems Sony has also made some hardware revisions to the PS5 designed to help the console run cooler while also potentially sidestepping the demand for some parts that were already in short supply.
Unfortunately, despite the PS5 entering its second holiday shopping season, trying to find a new PS5 that’s actually in stock still remains a frustrating endeavor that will likely continue well into 2022.
DISCUSSION
You know what’s also hard to find? An Xbox 360. My consoles lens is misaligned and can’t read discs. And I have time now to start Mass Effect 3 but I have to play it on the 360 cause all my player profiles are on it.