Sony wants to sell over 14.8 million PS5s next fiscal year but ‘faces difficulties’
Company discusses challenges caused by the global semiconductor shortage
Sony has said that a global semiconductor shortage could prevent it from hitting its PlayStation 5 shipment target for its next financial year.
During the company’s quarterly earnings call on Wednesday, executive deputy president and chief financial officer Hiroki Totoki said it hopes PS5 shipments in its FY2021 (April 2021 to March 2022) will surpass the 14.8 million PS4s shipped during the same stage of that console’s lifecycle in Sony’s FY2014.
“For next fiscal year, we believe that there will be strong demand to continue,” Totoki said of PS5 through an interpreter. “Compared to the original plan, we try to procure components at 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 shipments.”
AMD, which makes the chips inside PS5 and Microsoft’s rival Xbox Series X/S consoles, recently forecast supply issues through the first half of 2021.
Sony’s gaming business is on course for its best-ever year, according to its financial results published on Wednesday, when it announced it had shipped 4.5 million PS5 consoles between the system’s November launch and December 31, 2020.
Sony said last October that its initial PS5 sales goal was to outpace PS4’s launch sales achieved during the second half of the company’s FY2013, when the console shipped 7.5 million units.
“We are currently on track to meet our sales goal for the fiscal year of more than 7.6 million units, but we have not been able to fully meet the high level of demand from customers,” the company said on Wednesday.
“We continue to do everything in our power to ship as many units as possible to customers who are waiting for a PS5.”
Further reading
Microsoft spokesperson says Xbox Series X/S supply issues will continue ‘until the second half of 2021’
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