Despite everything, it’s still pretty darn hard to get a PS5. Time, promises and restocks haven’t really helped the situation, and picking one up is still as difficult as ever. But there’s some hop on the horizon, with Sony promising to ramp up production to levels “never achieved before”.
In a briefing with investors, Sony confirmed that one of its top priorities is getting ahead of PS5 demand — which means increasing production of new consoles. Sony also says that it expects to close the gap between PS4 and PS5 sales, after the latest console lagged behind the elder generation in 2021.
But with supply chain issues easing up, Sony hopes that this will translate to increased PS5 production. However, the company does have some concerns about the impact the Russian invasion of Ukraine might have on part availability. But to mitigate potential problems, Sony looks to be diversifying its supplier base “for greater agility in unstable market conditions”.
And good thing, too, because the demand is insane. While it is slightly easier to grab a console in a PS5 restock, it still requires people to follow various trackers and be ready to buy as soon as stock appears.
Sony has the figures to back up the insane PS5 demand too. Apparently, in its first fiscal year, it took 82 minutes to sell 80,000 PS5 consoles. Meanwhile it took nine days to sell the same number of PS4s during that console's first fiscal year. It's enough to make you wonder how well the PS5 would be selling if supply weren't as constrained as they have been.
