Don’t count on being able to buy one any time soon
Sony is struggling to make PlayStation 5 consoles and has internally lowered its production forecast for the current financial year, according to a report in Bloomberg. While the company was expecting to assemble 16 million units between April 2021 and March 2022, that figure is reportedly now at around 15 million.
Sony had publicly predicted that it would sell 14.8 million PS5 consoles this financial year, so while this isn’t a large downward revision, it shows just how tight the supply is likely to be for the foreseeable future. The figure of 16 million units would have allowed Sony to meet that goal while securing additional stock for the following year.
Sony is said to be having trouble with logistics as well as the supply of components, as the world grapples with an unprecedented chip shortage. Bloomberg’s report says that component shipments aren’t always arriving on time, and varying levels of vaccine rollout have complicated operations at production bases.
Sony has forecast 22.6 million PS5 sales for the financial year beginning in April 2022, but its manufacturing partners reportedly think it will be difficult to meet that target. In other words, don’t expect it to get any easier to buy a PS5 any time soon.
Earlier this month Nintendo cut its Switch sales forecast by 1.5 million for the financial year due to the component shortage. Valve’s Steam Deck handheld PC has just been delayed by two months for similar reasons and now won’t ship until February.
