Huge demand for the PlayStation 5 has meant stock has remained low to non-existant since last year, and Sony warns that those supply issues could persist through 2022.
Bloomberg reports that Sony CFO Hiroki Totoki told investors that the company has struggled to meet the demand for the console, which launched November 2020. "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 Totoki. “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.”
Sony revealed last month that the PlayStation 5 has sold-out consistently, with over 7.8 million consoles sold through March 31. The hope is that Sony will be able to produce close to 15 million units this financial year, which means that it’s likely gonna be just as hard to get a PS5 this year as it was at launch. If Sony meets its goal, the PlayStation 5 will be on track to match the success of its predecessor, the PlayStation 4.
Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO and president Jim Ryan said back in February, in an interview with the Washington Post, that “demand was greater than we anticipated.” He said that “supply chain issues” were to blame for the “slightly lower supply” than initially expected at launch. Speaking with the Financial Times, he suggested that supply will “get better every month throughout 2021,” but it would appear as though that could no longer be the case.
