March 2022 NPD: PS5 Stock Problems Put Sony in Last Place

Such a shame that it has to be this way.

Depending on how long these stock problems last, we might be looking at an extended generation, since it'll take a while before sales ever slow down for these next-gen devices.

It'll be interesting to see if Microsoft's production advantage will allow them to substantially narrow the sales gap between Series X and PS5.

Also, interesting to note that with The Show on Nintendo Switch now, Nintendo's console has games published on it by themselves, Microsoft, AND Sony.

Going to be a very interesting meeting for Sony’s upcoming quarterly financial results. I was doing some shopping this weekend and there were plenty of Xbox series x and s in store. Two people in line bought a series x because they gave up on trying to find a PS5. Sony has to find a way to get this problem resolved fast.

It’s a real shame the supply issues mean people aren’t getting hold of the PS5. Doesn’t surprise me that some people are deciding to just grab an Xbox if they’re available, there aren’t that many exclusives for the most part they’d miss out on and there’s still plenty games for them to play.

It's absolutely impossible to get a ps5 brand new I got mine 2nd hand but know loads of people who still want one. I ended up paying double the price!

Sony still a good 6-7 million ahead in sales total, seems like Sony had the first stock of chips sorted but have struggled since, especially as Microsoft have been paying extra to secure chips before sony....

If the playing field was level I'd guarantee sony would be dominating the monthly charts every month in terms of units sold and dollars earned.

Theres some that would get the xbox instead of the ps5 just because they are too impatient to wait for next gen gaming, especially those who are only interested in casual games like fifa and cod, those people will get whatever console they can find in stock.

Supply chain problems aren’t going away any time soon. It isn’t just electronics anymore, it’s resins, coatings, plastics and even packaging where lead times have been significantly extended. Also transportation lanes are still very much clogged and the China port situation with Covid shutdowns is adding to it. I’m sure Sony and Microsoft both are spending a fortune on extended supplier agreements, expedited shipping and component purchase price variance.

@nedbvv weird. Omniscient internet people keep saying if you can't find one (new), you're just not looking hard enough. Are you saying they don't know what they're talking about? (p.s. they don't)

I managed to get one the other day through PS Direct so I'm very lucky. Unfortunately scalpers (and the people who buy from them) are just making a bad situation worse.

I also think companies could be doing more to help consumers who want one.

In the end though these are just effects of the much greater cause which is the semi conductor shortage. There was an interesting talk I saw the other day and the war in Ukraine has caused Russia to withhold a special type of gas which fuels the chip making process so this has made the shortage worse.

Sony and Microsoft are neck and neck in North America (7.72 million PS5 to 7.6 million Xbox Series X/S). I could see Xbox surpassing PlayStation there if this trend continues.

I guess I'm just lucky, or we have it good in the UK.
I got three on release day (Amazon, Game and Argos) and sorted two of my friends out.
Since then I've bought a second for myself and another one for another friend. Not paid more than rrp.

Whilst these figures will no doubt hurt, this is still the fastest selling PS so far, so I don't think anyone needs to worry longer term, though I'd bet Sony will be happy once production can reach the numbers they need.

If they can't fix this situation fairly soon I fear we're going to get even more diluted cross-gen games. Is Sony really going to put Spider-Man 2 and Wolverine on a platform that most people still can't get a hold of?

I'm not putting much stock in Sony being able to keep up with demand. / dad joke.

Gran Turismo 7 was number 2 at least hopefully Sony can get they’re Stock problem fix by the holidays so ps5 can have a Record breaking holiday season .

@uptownsoul they were most certainly not.

@mrtennis1990 I think Sony will focus discussion on their PC, mobile and PS+ revamp strategy around then.

Microsoft simply thought ahead of sony this time. Read an article a few weeks back, that sometime last year, microsoft put in a huge purchase for chips. And that is now bearing fruit. I was able to get a series x from microsoft and it was in stock for days on their website. If sony hasn't ponied up for chips, and that is clearly the case, they did this to themselves.

@munstre they purchased more chips that's what I read somewhere anyway. At the the end of the day Microsoft has way more money & are doing everything to get ahead this generation

Sony PS5 had ok stock at Argos this weekend in the UK up North and then dropped stock today down South. Managed to get one for my brother PS5 disc edition, pick up from Argos this Thursday.
But overall Sony to need to get better supply out, when in stock they sell in minutes sometimes.

Must be hurting game, controller and online membership sales as well.

@munstre
Microsoft really have not made more consoles.
Currently Sony have made about 5 million more as they have sold 5 million more.

Additionally more than 50% of Series console sales are Series s not the powerful Series x.
So there is no Microsoft miracle here.

I got one day one via Amazon and the longer this goes on, the luckier I realise I was.

And yeah, this gen is going to be dragged out for years because of this. Can't see a PS6 before 2030.

This was an interesting read and gives you an insight into what's going on in the industry...

https://www.pcgamer.com/amd-wont-want-to-use-intel-fabs-but-it-might-be-tempted-to/

@uptownsoul that's what people need to understand, outside of the USA the xbox one sold 19 million consoles whilst playstation 4 sold 78 million consoles outside of America, that's HUGE and is sonys main market, Sony will supply more playstation 5 consoles to Europe and Asia than they do to the USA

Hmmm, even Nvidia 3000 and AMD 6000 video cards are becoming available again (prices are also coming down)

Why is this such an issue for Sony, is something that needs to be asked.

Hardware sales are down a whopping 24% YoY and 15% for the quarter. Sony needs to make more hardware.

• Elden Ring and Gran Turismo 7 are amazing. Nicely Done.
• Kirby and the Forgotten Land is fun but Barely lasted 1 week of my commute. Super short game (rent it)
• Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin, was "ok" (story gets better halfway mark). But Wait for a deep sale (or rent it)

At this rate, I'd say that the hope of things getting better this year is pretty much dead. At some point, retailers are going to start hoarding units for the holidays, that's going to be an insane mess, and there are probably going to be none to be found for a long time in early 2023 because of it.

Depressingly, saying that it might be easy to find one a year from now might even be too optimistic....

I have seen a few articles suggesting that Microsoft have paid more for chip priority or something like that. If that is true then I think it is maybe a bit of arrogance from Sony to not pay more to get the parts to make more themselves, perhaps they think that if and when the production improves then they will outsell the competition. To be honest I have started to loose interest in even trying to find a ps5 with Sony putting a big focus on cross gen and putting games on pc. I will wait it out to see what the availability is like and what the next wave of ps5 exclusives are. I might even getting a xbox instead this generation, I haven't had one since the 360 so might make a nice change 🤔 🎮

It will be interesting considering the studio buyouts and this supply problem for Sony; to see just how many people settle for the Microsoft consoles out of sheer frustration, and the lack of adequate customer relations/communication.

They really, really need new leadership and to listen to those that put food on their table.

Apart from the shortage its always North-America where MS sells decent numbers ( in general, not compared directly to Sony ), its an American brand after all. But in Europa Sony always outsells MS in big numbers. In Japan its between Nintendo and Sony, and MS isnt even in the competition there.

Right now the shortage just makes the gap bigger, but nothing surprising really. I would be surprised when we have these kind of numbers when availability isnt an issue anymore.

Unless Sony publicly made a claim of production woes stifling March North American sales, it's a little presumptuous to say that's the reason — no? I suppose console sales being strong elsewhere, with Playstation's numbers being atypical per se, can be seen as enough evidence. But it's always a little hard to me to buy stock is PS5's only obstacle towards dominance. Especially when — anecdotally, sure — my local retailers have seen a pretty equal amount of Xboxes to PlayStations.

I've given up on PS5 for the moment, my PS4 broke about a year a ago and would have been a good time to 'upgrade', but couldn't find one so bought a new Slim and a Switch Lite. Somehow the Lite has become my main gaming device since, guess I was one of the few that wanted a Vita 2!

This sucks. At this point I've went from "when are we going full PS5 only" to "I hope they at least keep Insomniac's Spidey & Wolverine PS5 only". Feels like their whole generation plan got wrecked and the people who actually got PS5s are falling on the sword.

I expect many PS5 exclusives will wind up cross-generational (like FF16). I know Microsoft paid for priority chip placement, it seems the PS5 is just going to be super rare for a couple more years.

@KundaliniRising333
You don't get it do you? Somehow you are suggesting its Sonys choice to not have units for sale.. have you not read anything?
What about the current situation says 'they need to listen?
MS improved their stock situation by paying over the odds for capacity. Clever move, but PS cant do anything about that now its been made...
I'm sure they would love to have many units and be comfortably outselling their rivals. They simply don't have the options right now..

@uptownsoul I don't think it is right to say that Sony have worse supply constraints than their competitors, they just have a disparity between supply and demand. PS5 is more popular than their competitors (Switch because it's an older console, Xbox because it's just not as in demand).

On a personal level the supply constraints only affect people who haven't got a PS5 yet. Some lucky people have had one since launch. I got one last week. My perception is that there is no real problem with supply. The reality is that until we see consoles on shelves in our local shops, there is still a supply issue. I think (hope) that after God of War all games will be PS5 exclusive. I hoped that all games would have been exclusive to PS5 even when I didn't have one, because it makes games better and we can all get round to them eventually.

@UltimateOtaku91 At the same time though, Xbox is firmly focused on the budget gamer with game pass and none of their games are exclusive to the new console. Xbox also has a really good upgrade system, so people can continue with their old Xbox until the new ones are available. There is very little incentive for PS4 owners to buy an Xbox just to get in on the next generation when the new generation on xbox is just graphics and SSD.

@The_Moose The same thing happened for me. I got one from PlayStation direct. Everyone should just sign up and get on with other things in life until they get the email to buy one.

Good. Maybe they'll make more.

That's very interesting considering some of the messaging from last year that it's going to be better in 2022.

If people do end up purchasing the Series X over the PS5, cause of what's available, I do think they'll be quite happy with the purchase. I just picked up a Series X with Game Pass last week (my first Xbox ever) and I've been pleasantly surprised. It has some pretty cool features in particular the support for BC and the FPS Boost to go with it. Game Pass has also been really good with their offerings. I've been playing some of the older games like Dead Space 1 and 2. Very satisfied.

Elden ring is one of the greatest games ever made.sony do need more console available.ps5 is already a instant classic. Console.word up son

@Scob Please don't talk about numbers my little brain cannot comprehend like 2030.

Well it’s a problem for people to get their PS5 for sure. I feel bad for them who can’t wait to jump in next gen.
As for the numbers, and console war thingy. well I don’t think it’s interesting really.
Like I say I’ve got a PS5 and if a friend of mine says he’s got a SS/SX.
‘What console you mean? ‘ I ask.
‘A SS/SX!!!’ 🙅🏼‍♂️

How interesting.

Haha

I picked up an xbox one x just for red dead in 4k why isn't this on ps5? The original red dead is still worth playing. Other than that can't say I've used it much. Still way behind playstation in terms of exclusives

@colt3211 If Microsoft put in a huge purchase of chips. The real question is how many of those are actually going in consoles and not data centers for xCloud.

@Ralizah "Also, interesting to note that with The Show on Nintendo Switch now, Nintendo's console has games published on it by themselves, Microsoft, AND Sony."

Somewhere from the shrine, is the sound of Hiroshi Yamauchi's ghost cackling maniacally.

I still think it's 50/50 if this becomes an 10 year long extended generation or if it becomes a 5 year long lost generation and they just cut their losses and move on early to a new generation once production capacity increases, leaving gen 9 as a sort of non-existent bridge generation. Either way, there's no way it'll be a normal generation. All of gen 9 could be Wii U, lol.

@JJ2 although I think the only thing this proves is that your friend is an idiot...😁

@naruball

In the US it was much closer than the worldwide numbers. And neither were able to catch the Xbox 360 in the US.

Xbox is primarily a US console. They don’t sell that well outside of the US. But they are very competitive with PlayStation here.

As mentioned I do think this gen will have to be extended , can't have it when ps5 are easy too get then Sony announce ps6 for the following year!

@Rural-Bandit

I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that US sales are dominated by the yearly sports games and Call of Duty.

In that situation, people in the past (before cross play became a thing late last Gen) bought whatever console their friends played on so that they could share controllers for local matches and have an online ecosystem for online multiplayer.

In that situation, it doesn’t really matter which console you pick. They’ll play those games with equal settings.

People like me are weird. I’m driven by single player games and single player exclusives are still somewhat of a thing. Considering my budget I’m forced to choose between two expensive consoles. I went PS5 again solely because I prefer Sony’s exclusives over Microsoft’s.

But I’m not a brand loyal player. While I’ve owned almost every PlayStation, I did leave Sony for about four years during the 360/PS3 generation. Played on 360. After four red rings, I traded my 360 for a PS3.

If money was no object, I’d have a Series X since I really like what Microsoft has done this generation with the hardware. A friend of mine has one of those special Halo Infinite edition SXs and that thing is SEXY.

@suikoden

I think it’ll be another PS3/360 generation where it lasts about three years longer than normal.

@NEStalgia No real reason to skip this generation, though. The hardware is more capable for games right now than the eighth gen hardware was for AAA games at the time, and demand for this hardware is pretty strong.

Sammy proposed it might force Sony into embracing cross-gen longer, which is possible, but when numbers are reported, it always seems like the bulk of new Playstation game sales are on PS5. It strikes me as being a Switch/3DS situation, where the base almost fully moved onto the new hardware despite initial supply constraints.

@Ralizah Depends on how much of the market is satisfied when supplies normalize and where devs are in just wanting more. If to much of the gen is based on PS4 cross games they may cut their losses, market an all new $750 inflation era machine for the new 6 figure class and move on to something better and more marketable shrug

@Rural-Bandit

I’m glad we have an American console manufacturer and I’ve bought two of their consoles. The OG Xbox, which I adore to this day; it’s on my top five consoles ever. And I had a 360 for four years. Have good memories with that thing, minus the GPU separating itself from the motherboard every year (which is what usually caused the RROD).

I think this Gen in the USA will be really, REALLY close in the end. I expect Sony will pull a narrow victory, but it’ll be so close that we can just say it was a tie.

When it comes to cars… I won’t lie I’m primarily Japanese. I’ve owned three American cars, all of which I loved for different reasons. I had a 99 WS6 Trans Am for six years. I loved it and hated it at the same time. Loved it because it felt really old school without being old school. Hated it because little stuff broke on it every other day. But man it was fun to drive, especially because it was a six speed manual T-56 car.

I had a 2001 Lincoln Town Car that I regret selling to this day. Yeah I got weird looks being a 20 year old (at the time) driving what is stereotyped as a grandma ride, but I really loved that car. It was extremely comfortable, I deleted the air suspension so i didn’t have all the suspension problems everyone else had with them, it was mechanically reliable, and it was the cheapest car to work on when stuff did break. I ended up selling it because a guy offered me 2 grand more than I paid for it.

Lastly, a 2007 Mustang. It was meh, but I did appreciate the usable trunk compared to that nonsense that Trans Am had.

Every other vehicle has been Japanese in origin.

production and sales figures will spike tremendously when they bring themes and the web browser back

@Deljo
Ha there are very few real idiots (a Trump like person if you will) actually. Most people including me just forget to use their brain well too often. That’s what the internet and ‘smart phones’ do haha

Seriously though it’s like saying Sony sells a lot of apples and Ms sells a lot of fruit (which includes apples and oranges).
I don’t find it very interesting statistics haha
😃
Unless they just mean to talk about how many millions they make which is even less interesting.

@TurboTom
‘Microsoft have paid more for chip priority ‘
It’s a rumour from a well known xbox fan on a YouTube console war channel who gets (some of) his ‘leaks’ from random unknown source emails he even admits himself.
🤷🏼‍♂️
It’s very possible and speculation on the data rather than a leak I think.

Let's also don't forget that last months we saw targeted hate campaigns against every exclusive sony title..almost every youtuber and press (mostly USA) over criticized HFW and GT7 like they are totally garbage and they have nothing to offer. USA gamepass evangelists claim that it's better to play old games for cheap than pay for next-gen titles. Yes they go that far..Microsoft not only pays for chip priority,it also pays to control the narrative.

@uptownsoul
I think Xbox worldwide estimates are (shipped) to retail. 🤔

@Ristar24 I've still got my 4 year old Pro and I've got a Switch arriving for my birthday next month.

Still nothing of interest exclusively on the white wardrobe. I've had 3 invites from Sony (one every couple of months, it seems?) and at least two options to buy one from GAME.

Looks like I'll be 'old gen'-ing for a while and enjoying gaming on the go too. I was also one of those people who wanted a Vita 2 (or technically, a PSP 3!)

Jim Ryan is probably green lighting the manufacture of more PS4s to compensate as we speak… 😤

@JJ2
Yeah I think i know who you mean, that Jeff grubb bloke or whatever his name is. However I do find it strange that Microsoft suddenly seem to be able to make more than Sony at the moment. Xbox can compete with playstation in USA and UK, but everywhere else Sony will sell a lot more if they can make enough. Perhaps the increase in xbox is with the series x model, seen as they apparently don't need to put them in the cloud server thing anymore, whatever it is called 🤷‍♂️

@Bionic-Spencer Strangely, the PS4 does seem to be mostly out of stock everywhere too...?

@OrtadragoonX the fact that MS refused to share any numbers of xb1 consoles sold for years and only talked about stats (wow, you guys played Halo for this many hours!!!!!11) shows just how bad they were doing. As for final numbers being close, is there an official source that confirms that? (i.e. MS and Sony reports?)

There's nothing really that good out on PlayStation at all at the moment.

Most of the sales are on PS4 games and most of them don't have PS5 upgrades or even uncapping the framerate, sooooo...

COME ON JIM BOY!!! Sort it out!!! +I don't get how a console with ZERO good Exclusives still!?!? like the new Xbox can be selling at all??? Very odd.

@TurboTom
Didn’t mean him but he’s fitting the description haha
Oh yes there’s definitely something up with production at Sony. Everything is speculation at this point as to what though. Ms used the excuse of servers chips provision for a long time, now I don’t know what Sony excuse could be 🤷🏼‍♂️
Sony definitely was ahead re production at launch and they slowed down. I’m sure it’ll pick up soon

@Rural-Bandit
I respect your speculation or rumour based ‘info’ (I know where it came from, the ‘speshal guy right?) but I don’t think it’s that simple. Like I said it’s possible speculation random people put together but nowhere near established facts.
. ‘The wind that blows is all that anybody knows’
🧘🏼

I love my PS4 and all, but I am one of those Xbox numbers. I’m not huge into “4k ultra speedy graphics” and such, so an Xbox Series S for the price of a normal Switch was too good to pass up. Backwards compatibility is a huge selling point for me. I can play Lost Odyssey again! I can play the FFXIII trilogy on a next-gen machine. I can play FFXV with a great frame-rate! All without breaking the bank.
The price is right to dive in without worrying too much about huge commitment. Sure I’m not getting the ultimate graphics, but they’re pretty great. Especially for a guy that doesn’t own a 4k set yet (I know, I know…).
Also, I’ve reaped benefits from the extended generation with most Playstation exclusives still coming to PS4. It’s almost like PS4 became Playstation’s accidental Xbox Series S…
All said and done, I would like a PS5 at some point, but it’s too hard to find (I won’t pay a scalper), it’s way too big, and it just doesn’t have exclusive enough content yet.

@Rural-Bandit
I mean we don’t know everything doesn’t mean we have to go with alternate facts. 🤷🏼‍♂️
I just checked again Amazon uk I could get series consoles delivered easy tomorrow but no way to get a ps5 and it’s been this way for a long time.
I’m more optimistic though (if the war in Ukraine doesn’t blown up). Now PS5 availability can only go up 🤟🏻

@Rural-Bandit
Nah I just checked out of curiosity.
‘Sony has paid for chip priorities and now so is MS’ I’m curious to see your source about those ‘facts’.

@JJ2
Well I think there is a lot of YouTube fanboy channels that could fit the description for both consoles lol. Yeah hopefully things improve soon, things like the pandemic and the ukraine war will probably have also had a impact.

@TurboTom
Indeed. Mystic is about the only one I can think of genuinely not caring about console war and not pretending

@JJ2
That is true, I have watched some of his videos over the years. Although I haven't been interested in watching as much YouTube lately to be honest.