It doesn’t look like the PS5 supply shortage is going to be resolved any time soon; and this time it comes straight from the horse’s mouth.
According to a report by Bloomberg, Sony has told a group of analysts that it might be 2022 before the PlayStation 5 supply issue is fixed. According to the company’s April financial reports, Sony sold 7.8 million units up to March 31, with its target for the fiscal year being 14.8 million units. The target was agreed upon in order to keep up with the sales pattern of the PS4, which has sold 115.9 million units to date.
“I don’t think demand is calming down this year and even if we secure a lot more devices and produce many more units of the PlayStation 5 next year, our supply wouldn’t be able to catch up with demand,” said Chief Financial Officer, Hiroki Totoki, at the briefing which was attended by a number of analysts.
The company is finding it hard to keep up with the explosive rate at which the PS4 sold, due to the ongoing Covid 19 restrictions, as well as the global semiconductor shortage. Unfortunately,Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., the world's largest semiconductor manufacturer, along with other manufacturing giants like Continental AG, Renesas Electronics Corp., and Foxconn Technology Group has warned that the shortage may last longer than earlier expected. We may reach 2023 before supply starts normalizing.
The CFO told the analysts that Sony will be doing everything in its power to boost production and get the console on shelves as soon as possible. “We have sold more than 100 million units of the PlayStation 4 and considering our market share and reputation, I can’t imagine demand dropping easily,” said Totoki to an analyst who asked if the company was unable to leverage the home entertainment surge as a result of the pandemic.
However, Bloomberg noted that according to Sony’s latest financial report, PlayStation Network’s monthly active users dropped from 114 million in the previous quarter, to 109 million.
It’s not just Sony that’s having production problems because of the semiconductor shortage, Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa also admitted that the company was unable to meet its desired production targets for the Switch.