PlayStation 4

Remember when Sony boasted that it had garnered one million PlayStation 4 pre-orders at GamesCom earlier in the year? Industry analyst Michael Pachter believes that the current number is much stronger than that, and actually closer to 1.5 million. But while that’s undoubtedly positive news for the platform holder, the Wedbush Securities man is concerned that it could create a supply problem.

“The only thing that they’re gonna have a problem with is supply disruption,” he said on the latest episode of the Bonus Round. “Those one million pre-orders that they talked about, which I understand is now up to 1.5 million, that’s a lot of consoles. That tells you that there’s not going to be a lot of boxes behind the first million and a half, so there are going to be supply shortages.” In other words: if you haven’t already pre-ordered, you could be waiting a long time.

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Nevertheless, as the Japanese giant has iterated on multiple occasions, this is a good problem to have – and Pachter believes that the firm has been faultless with its next generation plans. “[Sony's] been pretty flawless so far,” he exclaimed, comparing the company’s position to Microsoft. “Everything that they’ve said about PSN has been pretty flawless, and it sounds like there’s value for the cost [of the PS4].”

Despite the supply concerns, the platform holder seems pretty confident that it can get enough stock onto store shelves. Earlier in the year, SCEA president Jack Tretton indicated that the production of the machine was moving along extremely well, and that the phenomenal yields would lead to the biggest launch in PlayStation history. Meanwhile, analysts are in agreement that Sony’s system will outsell the Xbox One this Christmas. It’s going to be an exciting end to the year.

[source gametrailers.com, via gamesthirst.com, vg247.com]