PlayStation 5 stock shortages have been an issue for Sony ever since the console launched last November. The coronavirus pandemic impacted the company's production line significantly, with limited components and shipping limitations both playing a part. We're now over five months removed from the PS5's release, and actually buying a console can still be an exercise in frustration.
Sony has suggested that the situation probably isn't going to change a whole lot over the course of this year. Speaking during the Japanese giant's latest earnings call (as transcribed by VGC), chief financial officer Hiroki Totoki said: "We’re aiming for more sales volume than the PS4 [during year 2]. But can we drastically increase the supply? No, that’s not likely."
In other words, supply still can't keep up with demand. Totoki goes on to explain that component shortages are still a problem, but there are potential workarounds. "For example, we could find maybe a secondary resource, or by changing the design we could cope," Totoki suggested.
Despite everything, though, the PS5 is selling extremely well. The console's almost at 8 million sales already, and it's managed to surpass sales records set by the PS4. Whenever the PS5 is made available, it sells out incredibly quickly, and those short bursts of concentrated consumer interest are all adding up.
[source videogameschronicle.com]
Comments 56
Unbelievably high sales and stock going so quickly when it turns up. Almost like it’s in Sony’s best interest to keep it that way with minimal supply.
Mmmmmmmmmm…… 😂
Still yet to pick up a PS5 or Series X due to these issues.
It's at the point where come the end of this summer I'll be so fed up I'll take whatever one I can get ahold of first and wait a couple more years for the other.
At least bring 20m this year so I have more friends to play with.
Until the semiconductor shortage is sorted they can’t do anything. Apple are losing 3-4 billion USD next quarter alone through the shortage. If they can’t do anything to secure supply then Sony stand no chance.
Great for MS though. Whereas Sony struggle to get hardware out, MS have been focusing on xcloud to let people play next gen games on existing devices.
Once I can buy one pretty easily I will... happy with my old PS4 until then.
I still genuinely can’t believe I snagged one.
I guess it's up to my wheezing PS4 to slog through its obscene backlog.
I just want to know what SSD m.2 drive I should buy before the Chia cryptocurrency sends the price of all SSDs through the roof. Sony… please?
@thechetearly same. I had no idea when i grabbed my preorder how tough it would be to snag one going forward. I was originally going to wait for a year, but very glad i didnt.
Hopefully the semi conductor shortage can be resolved sooner rather than later, as the implications are massive beyond gaming. And of course i hope all in the PS community who want one are able to get one sooner rather than later.
Same song and dance every generation
Did we honestly expect you’d be able to walk into a store and buy new console so soon after launch!?! If the answer was yes, you are new to this game.
@thechetearly Me too.
@itsfoz Not really, because they make more money off the software than the hardware, so there's no point in bottlenecking your own supply if it hurts software sales.
Hopefully genuine gamers get to buy these consoles and not greedy profit chasing people.
@Total_Weirdo and I was about to ask where the mandatory comment/moan about scalpers was, and then you popped up
At this point, I think we should really put to bed the notion that Sony is not providing enough PS5 stock. They had more units available than anyone else at launch, and are still selling at the fastest rate ever (beating their own record with the PS4). Since Sony doesn't operate its own stores they need to put the heat on their retail partners to put these consoles on the shelves, or find a fair way to get them into consumers hands over the internet. The pressure on the retailers to find a solution should be coming from gamers and journalists too. There's just no excuse for us to be this far in, and gamers still have to compete with bots.
@Octane Most product has been a remake of a PS4 game or available on PS4 though.
I’m only joking anyway…. Partly.
@Premier_Class I wonder what they could do. One thing they could do is offer priority access to PlayStation direct to PS Plus subscribers. With the vaccine, they just need to put them in stores.
Unfortunately I think this official admission is going to make scalpers salivate as they increase their prices a bit more on their bot enabled stock.
@itsfoz Even if you're serious, I don't see how that makes a difference. Even if they were all PS4 ports, a software sale is a software sale.
I've just given up on finding a PS5 entirely. I'm planning on getting one when I can just walk into a store and get one off the shelf, so yeah, I'm looking at 2022 or 2023. :/
@B_Lindz that was my plan as well but a friend was able to get me one at launch. Lucky? Yes. And I know this is much easier to say when you have one but genuinely you’re not missing much yet. Astrobot was great but it’s really a well made tech demo and you can get the same gameplay on the VR game. Demon’s Souls is a remake. Gorgeous but gameplay available elsewhere. That leaves Returnal which I don’t have an educated opinion on yet. Otherwise, you’re really not missing anything. I’m playing Avengers on it and that’s about it
@AgentGuapo With this much time into both the pandemic, and console sales, anyone could have come up with a safe way to sell these things in person. A whole host of other in demand products are being sold in person all the time. The big launch rush is over, just stock them on shelves with no fanfare, and people will get them as they see them. If they really just can't conceive of that though, there are a lot of things that could be done to improve online distribution too, such as allowing customers to add their name to a virtual waiting list so they're guaranteed a spot in line when stock arrives. There are many ways to verify it's actual customers reserving a spot too. Sony's PlayStation Direct site, does it pretty well by giving ample time to que up, then selling the consoles by lottery system so it doesn't matter how fast you are. They are only one piece of the puzzle though. What it comes down to is laziness from these retailers imo, they're getting their money and they don't care beyond that. That's why Sony, gamers, and journalists need to start calling them out.
My biggest worry is not when I’m actually able to finally get a PS5, but how big my backlog is when I do! 🙄
When goods are limited like this, one is forced to think the manufacturer or its employees are in on it with the scalpers. Yea on the front it's £450 but really since we can't meet demand, we wanna sell it £1000. 😉
@itsfoz Eh. The "artificial scarcity" conspiracy was off-base when it came to Nintendo Switch, and it's even more off-base here, IMO. For a few reasons:
There's just no reason for Sony to constrain stock. And, with the pandemic stressing supply lines worldwide and causing massive price disruptions in several industries right now, it shouldn't be a surprise that they're not able to push out as many consoles as they'd ideally like to.
@2cents during what other gen were they hard* to find 6 months later?
Correction: *near impossible
@TheArt that wouldn’t make any sense. The reason Sony and Microsoft sell these below cost is because they know they’ll more than make it up with PS Plus, Xbox Live Gold, Game Pass, and licensing fees charged to publishers.
Sony doesn’t make any money selling only to scalpers. Rogue employees doing so could be charged with federal embezzlement crimes.
Can’t really blame Sony for this, other than making a great piece of hardware that lots of people want.
@OMGitsLiamT Ta-da
@Hopewell I love your honestly. Thank you so much.
@Ralizah I love comments that are as well thought-out and constructed as yours. I couldn't agree with you more. Sony wants people to buy their consoles, but that just isn't possible. Launching a console during a pandemic was a very risky move. I'm just impress with what Sony has been able to do during these crazy times.
@Hopewell @B_Lindz not trying to rub it in at all but I really disagree with the previous comment of not missing anything. PS5's Astrobot is the best example of how the Dualsense is actually innovative and it's a great 4-6 hours of gameplay. Demon's Souls is one of the better Soul experiences now at 60fps and is graphically superior to most software out. Playing last gen titles like God of War, GoT, Days Gone, Control, etc...at 60fps are much better experiences than PS4 counterparts and Returnal + Ratchet are on the way. Dualsense and SSD are really next-gen and it's hard to even play my PS4 now. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, not knocking anyone, but I certainly think it's worth the price ($500/$400) mind you not scalpers price. The next-gen experiences are trickling in and it's one of the better PS launches Sony has ever delivered IMHO. Web singling in MM was also really fun on Dualsense.
@zupertramp About 2 1/2 years for the WII. And living in NY I can attest to that, though I had 1 near launch I was still following the stories and would always look to see if it was in stock wherever I went.
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090320/1538114202.shtml
Sony keeps saying stuff like this I'm going to start believing them soon, meaning I may just not bother looking until... well not next year, maybe closer to Christmas anyway, when stores horde their stock for big Sunday morning dumps. Assuming they'll be in stores by the fall, not just online.
The problem with stock issues is and I’m sure Sony don’t want stock issues:
You let the competition get more sales as most need something new to play be it switch or series console.
You lose not just console sale but, game sales, controllers, media remotes etc etc.
The general gaming public start to get annoyed and it is not good overall PR.
Less take up with online subscriptions etc.
Stock shortages is bad overall for PS5 as explained above, and they should move heaven and earth to sort it out.
By the way I have a PS5 digital so it’s not me moaning because I can’t get a PS5.
@rjejr Wow, that's one heck of a shortage for the Wii!
If the PS5 one is going to be similar, I'm glad the old Pro is running smoothly and quietly and about 90% of all new releases are getting a PS4 release too!
@rjejr ah that's true the wii and n64 were both a pain to find. I kinda forget about Nintendo sometimes.
In any case, I find the suggestion that this is the norm every generation, with every console, a little... detached from reality.
Christmas will be a Bloodbath this year again. RIP lots of little kids dreams
'drastically' being the key word, so basically be realistic.
🤷♂️
Still they are very confident they expect to sell more than they did for PS4 (if I get it right?) so I'd say it's good news.
@AgentGuapo Just thinking out loud but hey who would've thought Apple would be found guilty of deliberately slowing down old devices after releasing the latest.
Best selling console in Europe and EMEAA for March (and best month since launch month)
They are making them - the demand is just crazy right now.
I want one, but the hype has definitely died down for me as I've realized that there's still not much reason to get one. I got a PS4 at launch, and I'd say it was about two years before I was playing it more than the PS3.
Right now, I just want one so I can play PS4 games in their best possible version.
@sanderson72 Wii shortage was weird, brought on by retirement home acquisitions. 1.8mil per month Nintendo was making. Don't think Sony is making nearly that many, no wonder they can't keep up. But this all has happened before, nearly 13 years ago, so Sony can't come across as being completely blindsided by some unforeseen demand for video game consoles we've never seen before, b/c 10 years ago wasn't all that long ago.
https://www.wired.com/2007/11/wii-shortage/
@zupertramp Nintendo does kind of exist in it's own bubble though in the minds of gamers, doesn't it?
Remember when Jim Ryan said that they were going to upgrade PS4 owners to PS5s at an unprecedented pace?
And now we have Hiroki Totoki telling us that they're merely aiming to have more sales volume than year 2 of PS4 but not drastically more.
At what point should we start tagging any article quoting Jim Ryan as "Rumor"?
Past caring tbh. The initial FOMO has passed and between my massive PS4 backlog and a Series S with Game Pass, I'm set for years. Not a fan of Sony's AAA or bust approach or the general direction they seem to be heading either.
@B_Lindz
Hey, maybe black friday if we're lucky. Still don't feel we're missing much, game-wise.
At this rate I won't get to play a ps5 till 2023 which is ridiculous, good thing I have a lot of games on ps4 for now at least
I don't understand why Sony can't keep up with demand if they know that gamers really want to buy one, don't they want our money? Lol
@LordSteev there is not enough exclusives for the console yet, just PS4 ports/upgrades mostly?
@2cents @thefourfoldroot Too bad they have no exclusives to play!!😂😂
@2cents I’ve never had a problem getting a console! EVER! I skipped the WiiU and xbone but have bought every other major console since NES.
@huyi Have u not been paying attention!
Sacked it off as a bad joke now,might as well wait for the ps5 pro.There's no chance you'll get one for cheap either come Xmas (black Friday) i think it's even affected the auto industry?
@thechetearly Dito
I still can't believe how I got my ps5 on the day it came out. I never got any console on day 1 until the ps5. This is crazy but the ps5 is my fist PlayStation console. Everyone who doesn't have one keep fighting. My advice is to get one from target. You will only be competing with people in your local area because u have to pick it up from the store instead of having it shipped to your home. You can avoid scalpers and dramatically decrease the number of competitors.
@huyi
Yeah, and some of the new games I'm not super interested in. I also usually won't go back and re-play a game just because it got a generational update unless I was really in love with the original. (Mass Effect, for example). I don't think I'm going miss not having a PS5 until Horizon Forbidden West comes out.
@NEStalgia If they produced something that was mind-blowing and not available on the PS4, I'd be getting very cross if I hadn't got a 5. I think we've all realised to take anything uttered by Jim Ryan with a large pinch of salt (unless he announced he was leaving...)
As someone who has owned the original PlayStation through to the PS4 Pro, I just haven't seen anything worth laying out £450 on, though the same could be said for the PS2 (took until Gran Turismo) and the PS3 (got a shiny 60Gb just after they'd ceased production as I wanted PS2 b/c)
As things stand, Returnal looks good, Ratchet & Clank is a shinier & slicker PS4, PS3, PS2, or Vita R&C and Demon Souls is a game I didn't care for on the PS3. After that, what's worth the outlay?
I bought a PS4 at launch and played twice as much on my PS3 than I did on PS4. Its great that you can play PS4 games on PS5 without the need to keep a PS4 connected to play PS4 games. It will be sometime in 2022 when the need to fill some of your PS5 gaming time with PS4 titles will fade to zero.
Shortages were the same then even without supply shortages for PS4 at launch. The Demand is driving the current shortages not chip shortages. Sony is producing more PS5 than it did PS4's.
@itsfoz
Sony, eh, I don't think they go that route, Nintendo on the other hand, yeah I believe that 100% 😑
It really is likely due to component shortages. (Also, PoS scalpers😡) One of my employers customers is Ford. They're currently on a 3 week shutdown because they simply cannot get the semi-conductors needed for production.
When I deliver to the Ford plant in South Chicago, it's like a ghost town in there compared to how much of a pain it is to usually get in and out.
That's just one example, companies the world over are facing this shortage. Covid really screwed things up, and we'll be feeling it's effects well into next year most likely.
I know it seems most people don't want bundles, but it seems to be the best bet to actually get a PS5.
A lot of people like to talk crap about GameFly, but being a GameFly member, I was able to easily grab a PS5 bundle. It was far more expensive, but I'm already a subscriber, so I just paid my subscription up front for 9 months plus got an extra controller and Spider-Man: Miles Morales. Not a big deal since I've been with them for nearly 12 years. Gotta demo games somehow since developers hardly make them these days.
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