Sony has enough chips to make 14.8 million PS5s this fiscal year
Despite the ongoing global shortage, Sony is confident it has enough chips to build sufficient PS5s for its sales target of 14.8 million consoles by the end of its current fiscal year.
“The shortage of semiconductors has impacts in various areas and through various measures, we have been taking some action,” said Sony CFO Hiroki Totoki during a recent earnings call.
“For PS5, the target has been set for the number of units to be sold this year, and we have secured the number of chips that is necessary to achieve that. Regarding the supply of semiconductors, we are not concerned.”
The deadline for that sales goal is March 31 2022, and, if met, would take lifetime sales of the console to 22.6 million units. For comparison’s sake, Sony also revealed that 116.4 million PS4s have been purchased since the console’s release in 2013.
Of course, there’s no real prospect of Sony missing that sales goal if the chip situation is secure as the company reckons. Since launch, PlayStation 5 stock has been snaffled up the second it appears, and demand doesn’t show any sign of letting up any time soon.
Sony having enough chips to hit a sales target isn’t the same thing as having enough chips to ensure that everybody who wants a PS5 can get one. Or, as Totoki himself put it back in May: “even if we secure a lot more devices and produce many more units of the PlayStation 5 next year, our supply wouldn’t be able to catch up with demand.”
You might like…
While this is a very good problem for the company to have, it’s even better when accompanied with another bit of information from the call: the £449 PS5 is no longer selling at a loss, and has broken even. The same isn’t yet true for the £359 Digital version, but without a disk drive, owners have no choice but to give money directly to Sony if they want more games for their new console, conveniently cutting out the middle man.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
