PS5 Will Be Hard to Buy Even in 2022
PlayStation 5 is still hard to buy even though it's been more than six months since its release. New predictions have emerged that Sony won't be able to meet demand for the PS5 in 2022 either.
The huge demand for Sony consoles means that getting a PlayStation 5 more than six months after its release still requires cunning and patience or a fairly deep wallet. Offers in stores are still disappearing after a few minutes.
We do not have good news for those hoping for an improvement in this matter. All indications are that PS5's availability problems could persist into 2022. Even a significant increase in PS5 production this year may not meet the gigantic demand, claims Sony's CFO. According to Bloomberg's anonymous sources, Hiroki Totoki was said to have shared this prediction in a closed-door meeting while discussing the company's results. The director was also said to have added that Sony is increasing its component inventory in every way possible. However, as Ars Technica's Kyle Orland points out, the Japanese giant may find it difficult to buy chips off the market at ever-higher prices, as it's already losing money on each unit sold, only earning money later from game sales, among other things.
Analysts present at the meeting were allegedly concerned that Sony is unable to take full advantage of the opportunity provided by lockdown during the pandemic, but company officials assure that both the results and sales forecasts for the PS5 are great. By the end of March 2021, Sony had sold 7.8 million PlayStation 5 consoles, and the number of units sold is expected to reach 14.8 million in the next fiscal year. The previous generation, the PlayStation 4, has already sold 115.9 million copies.
The PlayStation 5 shortage in stores isn't just due to the overwhelming interest in the device during the pandemic. Companies around the world can't respond quickly to changes in the market and ramp up production due to severe limitations in component availability. Low availability and very long waits for parts is a global problem, far beyond digital entertainment and affecting many other electronics manufacturers and even the automotive industry.
Sony is constantly looking for ways to increase PS5 production and reduce costs in the process. Recent reports indicate that a new version of the console with a 6nm processor is expected to hit the market in the second half of 2022.
