We have good and bad news for the folks still looking to get their hands on a PS5.
To be different, the good news is that Sony expects to build a total of 18 million units globally this fiscal year, running into March 2023. This projection comes from the company’s latest earnings report. That’s a 60% increase over the 11.2 million units built and sold last year.
Sounds good, right? The bad news is that Sony doesn’t think this will satiate the ever-increasing demand for the console. During the Q&A part of the earnings call, Sony Executive Deputy President and CFO Hiroki Totoki said, “We feel that there was a little higher demand than that [18 million units]. If the question is whether we can meet the demand, I think [we are] still short somewhat.”
How much is that PS in the window?
The existence of sites like NowInStock.net and the countless bots on various platforms that watch stock levels and send out alerts when restocks are detected, mean everyone is already acutely aware of Totoki’s sentiments.
Totoki notes Sony isn’t giving up on trying to secure components to produce more PS5s. But “…at this point in time, what we can say safely is that we can achieve the necessary components for 18 million units.”
That might be easier said than done if recent history is any indication. The Japanese company predicted it would manage 16 million units last year. Lockdowns and supply shortages saw the company reducing that projection. Twice. First to 15 million units in November 2021 and then to the final number of 11.5 million units in February of this year. That’s close to 5 million fewer than Sony predicted.
However, Totoki, and by extension, Sony, remain adamant that the company will reach the 18 million unit projection for this year, despite what seems to be a worsening global semiconductor supply. The chip shortage has been hard on everyone so far. Well… almost everyone.
Source: Ars Technica
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