Back in April, a Bloomberg report claimed that Sony plans to produce a considerably lower amount of PlayStation 5 consoles at launch compared to the PS4. According to the publication’s sources, although COVID-19 didn’t impact Sony’s production capacity, the PS5’s costly components and resulting price tag will impact demand, especially if customers are still reeling from financial losses incurred during the pandemic.
Many took Bloomberg’s report as confirmation that the PS5 will face supply shortages at launch. This concern was echoed by analysts who predicted that global supply chain disruptions caused by COVID-19 may also result in console manufacturers scrambling to secure critical components. When CNet recently asked SIE executive Jim Ryan how hard it will be for customers to get their hands on the PS5, he said:
Today is a very important day for us because following today we will see meaningful activity with retailers in terms of the generation of preorders, even if it’s absent price. But we will be collecting those data points, extrapolating what that means in terms of day one demand – and we’ve obviously done this many times and you know, we’re not perfect, but we’re not bad at it either – and that will in turn inform the production process. A lot of very serious work starts for us right now.
The PS5 and Xbox Series X price tags are still a mystery. People have been latching on to placeholder prices in their absence but neither of the two companies have dropped the slightest hint about a potential price range.
[Source: CNet]
