Sony says supply issues are impacting PS5 sales, but it’s hopeful of hitting targets

Sony has said PlayStation 5 supply issues are negatively impacting hardware sales, but that it remains hopeful of hitting its annual console shipment target.

The company’s goal is for PS5 shipments to exceed 14.8 million units during the current fiscal year ending in March 2022 (FY21), which would surpass the number of PS4s shipped during the same stage of that console’s lifecycle.

The company shipped 2.3 million PS5 consoles in the first quarter of FY21 and said on Thursday that it had shipped a further 3.3 million during the second quarter, for a total of 5.6 million during the six-month period.

To hit its annual target, Sony will need to ship over 9.2 million PS5s during the second half of FY21 (for reference, it shipped 7.8 million in the last six months of FY20).

“At this time, there is no change to our FY21 unit sales target for PS5 hardware, but several factors are significantly impacting the supply of the product such as disruption of the global distribution supply chain and limitations on the supply of components, especially semiconductors,” Sony executive deputy president and chief financial officer Hiroki Totoki said during a financial results briefing on Thursday.

He later reiterated: “In the second year of PS4, it was 14.8 million units [shipped] and we were targeting to exceed this number and we have not changed this target.”

However, Totoki also admitted that PS5 sales in the first half of the year hadn’t met Sony’s expectations.

“Worldwide, there is a disruption in logistics, and mainly semiconductor device supply being constrained, and this is having a larger impact [than expected], and as you know, the hardware sales in the first quarter were less unit wise and so this is having an impact on us, and likewise for the second quarter.

“But I think that with our efforts and putting in place different measures, the PS platform momentum can be maintained, and especially to the users who are waiting for the PS5, we want to be able to supply as many PS5s as possible to our customers who are waiting – that is our thinking.”

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Speaking during Sony’s previous earnings call in August, Totoki claimed that company had secured enough semiconductors to achieve its fiscal year target of shipping 14.8 million PS5s.

Totoki said today that PlayStation’s development workforce has grown by almost 20% in FY21 following a string of studio acquisitions. He also suggested more developer buyouts could be on the way as the company plans to “continue to aggressively invest” in its development capabilities.