Gamers are still trying to get their hands on Sony's PlayStation 5 months after launch, but that may continue to prove difficult as the company struggles to meet demand.
During a briefing following Sony's Q3 earnings call, a Sony spokesperson confirmed that the company plans to sell more units of the PS5 in its second financial year (April 2021-March 2022) than the highly-successful PS4, which sold 14.8 million units.
"For [the] next fiscal year, we believe that there will be strong demand to continue. The second year of the launch of the PS4 [hit] 14.8 million, we would like to exceed that level of PS4 when it comes to PS5," the spokesperson said.
However, that will prove difficult with a global shortage of semiconductors, which are used in AMD processing chips in the PS5 and its competitor, the Xbox Series X/S.
"It is difficult for us to increase production of the PS5 amid the shortage of semiconductors and other components," Sony CFO Hiroki Totoki said. "We have not been able to fully meet the high level of demand from customers [but] we continue to do everything in our power to ship as many units as possible to customers who are waiting for a PS5."
A spokesperson for the company said Sony has tried to emulate past production plans that successfully got the PS4 into gamers' hands, but were met with unforeseen roadblocks.
"Originally, our plan was that at the time of the PS4 launch, we try to exceed that level by 7.6 million units this fiscal year, and we are on track to achieve this. And for next fiscal year, we believe that there will be strong demand to continue. But compared to the original time, we try to procure components and the level of the second year of the launch of the PS4 at 14.8 million, we would like to exceed that level of PS4 when it comes to PS5," the spokesperson said. "However, the level of demand by customers is so high for PS5, therefore, for various devices, we try to procure larger volume. However, we have to look at the global shortage of semiconductors. When we try to increase our capacity, we face difficulties because of this global situation. However, we are doing our best to exceed the original plan in terms of shipment."
These supply shortages caused by COVID-19 have also affected Microsoft's ability to restock Xbox Series X/S, but Sony's rival is hopeful that stock will be less "constrained" by June of this year.
AMD CEO Lisa Su said during a recent financial earnings call that the supply shortages will likely continue until the second half of 2021, which means that PlayStation 5 shortages will likely also continue until the back end of this year.
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