While the PlayStation 5 has been an undeniable financial success for Sony (in fact, it has had the biggest console launch of all time), its launch has been unfortunately mired by scalpers, who were able to acquire large quantities of the console and sell them to desperate consumers for more than double the standard retail price.
Between the scalping issue and the limited supply of PS5 consoles, the launch has certainly been rough for many people. But now it transpires that scalping could have negative consequences on the business itself. According to a Bloomberg report, figures in Japan show that PS5 software sales are unusually low.
While Sony is believed to have sold 213,000 consoles within the PS5's first month, only 63,000 physical games were sold, which means consumers were buying less than one game for every three consoles. When a brand-new console launches, software sales are considered extremely important, especially if that console is being sold at a loss like the PS5. So, basically, since regular consumers are unable to acquire a PS5, they have no reason to purchase games for it.
Analyst Hideki Yasuda adds that, even if digital software sales were taken into account, the percentage of PS5's that have been sold and are actually being used isn't particularly high, due to the aforementioned scalpers. Another analyst says that the lower than usual software sales could negatively affect profitability over the coming years.
It should be noted that there are other factors that have likely played a part as well. For starters, with some PS5 games also released on PS4 (e.g. Spider-Man: Miles Morales), some consumers have probably simply chosen to buy the PS4 versions since they don't need to purchase a new console. Plus, the PS5 is backwards compatible, meaning there are probably several people who had no interest in the PS5's launch titles and bought it just to play upgraded PS4 games. What's more, there is a version of the console that only plays digital games, which obviously would affect physical software sales.
Hopefully, Sony will be able to make the PS5 more readily available sooner rather than later. Its own PlayStation Direct website is possibly the best way to acquire a console directly from Sony and it's believed to be coming to Europe as well.
In the UK, politicians are now calling for action against scalpers. Members of the Scottish National Party have suggested that the reselling of goods that have been purchased using automated bots be made illegal.