Sony Interactive Entertainment’s Chief Executive Officer, Jim Ryan, has told Axios that the issue of PlayStation 5 scalpers and resellers “frustrates and upsets” him.
“This really frustrates me and upsets me, especially when resellers and bots manage to get their hands on stock,” he said. The executive went on to reassure fans that Sony is working “incredibly hard” to get PS5s into “the right hands.” As part of its efforts, Sony is utilizing PlayStation Direct, and plans to expand the distribution service to Europe before the end of March 2022.
That said, Ryan reiterated that demand for the console is very high, and Sony is still facing manufacturing constraints due to global component shortages sparked by the pandemic. Despite this, the company managed to ship a record 7.8 million PS5s by the end of March 2021.
In the same interview, Ryan talked about the future PS5’s lineup beyond Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart. He officially confirmed to Axios that Horizon Forbidden West‘s release is still a “maybe” for 2021. However, one of the things Sony wants to avoid is releasing its best games in the second half of the console cycle like it did during the PS4 era.
“Yes, the output during the PS4 cycle was excellent, but the great majority of those games came in the second half of the cycle,” Ryan recalled. He pointed out that Sony has already begun remedying this by releasing exclusive titles like Spider-Man: Miles Morales and Demon’s Souls at launch, followed by Returnal and Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart – all of which were critically acclaimed.
[Source: Axios]
