Sony is still struggling to produce enough PlayStation 5 consoles and has reportedly lowered its internal production outlook for the current fiscal year, according to a Bloomberg report. While the company had previously aimed to assemble a little over 16 million PS5 systems between April 2021 and March 2022, that figure has now reportedly been reduced to around 15 million.
Publicly, Sony had previously stated that it wanted to sell more than 14.8 million PS5 consoles during this fiscal year. On paper, the downward revision may seem limited, but in practice it shows just how little room there is for setbacks. With an assembly target of more than 16 million units, Sony would not only have been able to meet its sales goal, but also build up extra stock for the following year. Because of that reduction, availability of the console is likely to remain tight for quite some time.
Sony is reportedly dealing with both logistics issues and a shortage of parts. The global semiconductor crisis continues to play a major role, but transport delays and disruptions across supply chains are also making it difficult to get enough components to the right places on time. According to Bloomberg, shipments of parts are not always arriving on schedule, while varying circumstances around pandemic measures and vaccine rollout have also made operations at some production bases more complicated.
Sony has also already indicated that it may remain difficult to fully meet demand in the next fiscal year as well. The company had hoped to scale up significantly in the fiscal year starting in April 2022, but manufacturing partners were said to be less confident about that internally. In other words: do not expect it to suddenly become much easier to buy a PS5 anytime soon.
These problems are not unique to Sony either. Earlier this month, Nintendo lowered its Switch sales forecast by 1.5 million units for the same fiscal year, also because of component shortages. Valve, meanwhile, had to delay the launch of its Steam Deck handheld by two months for similar reasons, meaning the first systems would not ship until February 2022.
