Recently, Microsoft and Nintendo have revealed that they would be having issues getting more Xbox Series X|S and Nintendo Switch units in stores due to component shortages that arose because of the pandemic. Nintendo is officially targeting sales of 25.5 million consoles in the year ending March 2022 which is down from what they did the previous year. Nintendo is aiming for production between 28 and 29 million consoles. Microsoft has said that its shortage of Xbox Series X|S units will continue into Summer. Now, Bloomberg report has shared that Sony believes that the PlayStation 5 shortage will continue into 2022.
In a briefing after reporting its financial results, Chief Financial Officer Hiroki Totoki said “I don’t think demand is calming down this year and 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.” Totoki told analysts that Sony needs to ramp up production as soon as possible and make sure there are consoles on store shelves. He also told analysts not to be wary about capitalizing on the stay-at-home entertainment surge caused by the pandemic, saying “We have sold more than 100 million units of the PlayStation 4 and considering our market share and reputation, I can’t imagine demand dropping easily.”
Sony’s latest earnings report revealed that they have sold 7.8 million PlayStation 5 units in its first fiscal year on sale surpassing PlayStation 4 during that same period of time which sold 7.6 million units. Sony is aiming to sell at least 14.8 million units in the current fiscal year which would keep pace to match the trajectory of PlayStation 4.
Despite this, it seems like the stay-at-home demand is starting to level off as Bloomberg notes that monthly active users on PlayStation Network fell off from 114 million to 109 million. Sales of full games also declined in the same period.