If you were on the lookout for a PlayStation 5 during the holiday season, you may be disappointed. Because, Sony has just reduced its production outlook for the PS5 for this financial year and blamed both component and logistics constraints for it.
And the irony is not lost on fans as news of the output cut comes close on the heels of the company launching the PlayStation Direct online store in Europe.
The Japanese entertainment giant had targeted production of 16 million PS5 units in a year ending March 31, 2022, which it has now scaled down by a million units, says a report quoting Bloomberg News. The company's aggressive sales target of 14.8 million for the for the fiscal year appears tough as is the case with the head start it had hoped for in 2022-23.
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Why it's been a year of delays
Last month, the company's chief financial officer Hiroki Tatoki had told investors that issues around logistics and shortages of components had become severe. PS5 sales during the quarter-ended September had been lower than expected and warned that the trend might continue for the festive season as well.
Readers would recall that PlayStation 5 holds the record for the fastest console from Sony to reach 10 million units during July, but has since fallen behind the numbers clocked by its predecessor, the PlayStation 4.
That sales should be impacted in parallel to the company's efforts to launch the PlayStation Direct in the US and some European countries makes it tough for the company's prospects over the current quarter and the first quarter of 2022.
From an India perspective, the PlayStation 5 has been a bit of a joke ever since it launched last year. There were multiple re-stocks that happened but the console went off the shelves almost immediately. In fact, Flipkart, an online store, that had advertized the console, began cancelling orders at one point due to non-delivery.
The global lockdown followed by uneven vaccine rollouts in countries housing Sony suppliers made shipments unpredictable for the company. Some of the components that were in short supply include power management chips that Toshiba provides to TSMC. In fact, the company has warned that the situation may not normalize in 2022.
Of course, Sony isn't the only one facing troubled times due to component shortages and shipment delays. Rivals Nintendo and Valve too have reportedly downgraded their sales forecast for the full-year due to supply-chain issues.
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