PS5 has been posting poor sales numbers of late because of a lack of supply – and not, it’s important to underline, because of a lack of demand. Microsoft recently gloated that it was stealing marketshare from its closest competitor, but the caveat has always been Sony’s inability to ship enough hardware. That looks like it’s slowly beginning to improve, with 18 million consoles planned for the coming fiscal year – and availability increasing in key countries like the UK.
Case in point: while the system has been rock bottom for several weeks, it rebounded in Britain last month, outselling even the Nintendo Switch to become the top-selling console of the month. We’ve seen evidence of this reflected in software sales charts, where tentpole titles like Horizon Forbidden West and Gran Turismo 7 have suddenly surged in response to fresh shipments. If there’s a positive to find here, it’s that consumers still want PS5s – it’s just been near-impossible to find.
While it’s unlikely you’ll be walking into a store and purchasing a system any time soon, the hope is that Sony is able to improve production to a point where availability is, at the very least, easier to manage. There have been a lot of restocks in the UK and USA lately, and you can keep an eye on our PS5 stock page for the latest information. Hopefully better months are ahead for the hardware, after a dismally slow start to the year.
[source twitter.com]
Comments 20
That was when I got mine, I've had a bit of a gap playing on PC and retro but it's nice to be back on Playstation. Now I just need a chair for my racing wheel and my setup will be pretty much perfect
Finally some decent news.
Don't forget that Xbox is gaining market share from a terrible base level and still only because their main direct competitor cannot meet demand. It is actually nice that there is a bit of competition. Maybe now PlayStation can sort out some glaring faults like no global quick resume function and dumb stuff like uploads of PS4 game data.
SONYdoomed.
Hmm...doesn't work as well
This was never in doubt. Sales number mean nothing when there is not stock availability.
Glad more people who want one now have a chance to experience the system - its a fantastic machine with some fantastic games.
I think Sony have been somewhat trumped by XBox's Series S which has been available for quite a lot of the time. Sony's only serious reply to this is the PS4 and that isn't a Pro any more.
PS5 has been missing for so long with only the odd fleeting stock of inventory that disappears in no time. The DOE version seems to be unwanted so I do wonder if Sony shouldn't come up with a PS5 Slim 'n' Short to replace the DOA and reposition the price plan back towards the PS4 price - either that or reintroduce the Pro at a bargain price?
@GrailUK
dead man walking.
@sanderson72 PS5 stock dries up the moment it becomes available, no matter which edition it is, so I don't see how you can say the digital-only console is "unwanted."
That's also why Sony won't be dropping the price of this system for years, even with revisions. Demand far outstrips supply as is. There's no point in lowering the price as long as that remains true.
@carlos82 Yeah you're back. I see you got tired of tweaking settings on PC eh...been there. 😉
Yes hopefully supply pick up this year but let’s hear from Intel on the topic. 😅🎤🫢
@TheArt haha, it can get tiresome and was as much that I realised I was using a 3060ti to mainly play some old FPS and arcade games, so that went and paid for quite a few games, a headset and a wheel. Still got my PC as my CPU has 8 Vega cores, so still plays my old games but I don't see anything replacing the PS5 as my main platform for some time
This doesn't surprise me, if stock was consistent the playstation 5 would be number one every month, they need to secure more chips even if they have to pay more than the competition
Finally some good news for sony in contrary to the team in green dealing with a DRM fiasko and offline games completely unplayable for days.
@UltimateOtaku91 Ehh, it don't know about that.
@sanderson72 lolz
What's the deal with the chip manufacturing plant in Japan Sony contributed to? That ought to spice things up 😋
@Ralizah I'm saying it's unwanted as the sales figures are heavily skewed towards the disc edition and when you can find a PS5, the DOE is always the last one to sell out, the disc edition solus going first of all.
Even those cheeky high street scalpers CEX are charging £650 for a boxed disc edition and £360 for a boxed digital edition.
On purely a supply issue, I can't see a case for Sony's continuation of the DOE given the overwhelming demand for the disc edition. Sorry, just my view point.
@sanderson72 The disc version is probably manufactured in larger quantities as well. Sales figures of the two models don't mean much on their own when both disappear quickly after listings go live.
I mean, obviously the one with a disc drive is more popular. It's not meant to be the primary model of the system. With that said, once supply does begin to recover, it'll provide a lower MSRP entry point into the PS5 ecosystem, and, more importantly for Sony, make purchasers entirely dependent on their digital pricing.
There is no incentive for them to price one that can run discs lower than $500, though. At least not for many, many years.
The only time I've used and installed Twitter on my phone was to follow PS5 stock alert accounts. Did that for a week, and now I've had my PS5 for over a year now.
Glad to hear more ppl are able to get one. I hope it gets easier to get one asap!
Finally managed to secure the disc version last night. For those in the UK, Argos still had some this morning when I checked.
Now the difficult task of choosing the first up from my wishlist. Ratchet & Clank and Demon’s Souls I think.
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