With an upcoming PS5 Showcase event happening on Wednesday, September 16, fans have kicked their speculation into overdrive as to what PlayStation could be announcing. Many are expecting PlayStation to finally announce how much its console will cost as well as when they can expect to pre-order and play it. However, now it seems that less players will be able to get their hands on the PS5 during its launch window if a new report is to be believed.
According to Bloomberg, sources familiar with affairs at Sony have indicated that the company has cut PS5 unit production for the fiscal year from around 15 million units to 11 million. The reasons cited for this cut appear to involve production problems with its custom chips designed for the console. This report comes only hours after a different report stated that Sony is employing the use air freights to ship large quantities of PS5's overseas to meet demand.
Details surrounding Sony's production of the PS5 have been a topic of conversation for several months now. In mid-July, it was reported that Sony had made the decision to increase PS5 output to meet high demand. Sony had intended to only produce around 5 million PS5's before the end of March 2021. However due to COVID-19, gaming's popularity skyrocketed thus increasing the demand for the console, prompting Sony to double its original production plans.
The good news about this report is that the PS5 will still be launching in holiday 2020, and 11 million units is still a larger production scale than Sony had originally planned for the fiscal year. However, this likely means players will have a harder time getting their hands on the console itself and they will be eyeing PS5 pre-orders a lot more closely.
It's not surprising that Sony doubled the amount of PS5 consoles it had originally planned to produce. According to Amere Analysis' Piers Harding-Rolls, the PS5 is likely to outsell the Xbox Series X by double. Considering the amount of value the Microsoft is attempting to provide its base with, it makes sense that Sony would ramp up production in an effort to be the "winner" of the new generation as quickly as possible. It's just disappointing that its suppliers couldn't quite keep up.
The PS5 may be projected to outsell the Series X, but Xbox does have one advantage in the new generation: the Xbox Series S. The newly announced Series S promises next-gen gameplay with small compromises on graphical fidelity at low price of $299. Although "leaks" seem to happen every day, nothing has been confirmed with reagards to the PS5's price. Still, many analysts agree it won't be as low as Series S.
PlayStation 5 is set to launch in Holiday 2020.
Source: Bloomberg