Sony recently confirmed that it shipped 4.5 million units of the PS5 during its previous quarter, which means their newest console has got off to great start from a sales perspective. For some time now, the company has maintained that it wants to match (if not exceed) the shipment and sales figures of the PS4 with its successor. In plain terms, that means they want to ship 7.6 million units in total by the end of the current fiscal year (which ends on March 31), and then an additional 14.8 million units in the fiscal year after that (until March 31, 2022).
During Sony’s recent quarterly investors call, chief financial officer Hiroki Totoki spoke about those targets, and said that while Sony is on track to hit its targets for the current financial year, shortages for components brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic might result in some difficulties for FY 2022.
“About the supply situation of PS5, 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,” Totoki said. “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. 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. Now about your second question about the image sensor.”
“Going forward, on a long-term basis, can we recover to the original level?” he continued. “We do not believe so because there are several issues, complex — complicated issues, that’s what brought us here. Therefore, what we can do is to deliver our image sensors to various customers, wide variety of customers. So when we look at the issues from external environment, we try to be resistant to such shocks and mitigate such negative impact from external situations in our endeavor. And we are on track in this endeavor as well.”
It’s not surprising, given what’s going on pretty much all over the world, that supply constraints are expected to continue for the new consoles for the foreseeable future. Recently, for instance, Microsoft said that they expect Xbox Series X/S shortages to continue until at least June of this year. Read more on that through here.