With the limited PS5 Stock situation still ongoing throughout the first six months of 2021, PlayStation boss Jim Ryan has sought to promise budding buyers that the company is trying its best to increase availability. Commenting during an interview with Nikkei that has been translated by VGC, the CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment touched on a couple of reasons why the PS5 console has been tough to come by.
He said: "Supply under the new coronavirus was very complicated, and we had to limit distribution to online. The supply and demand for semiconductors is also tight worldwide. We are asking our suppliers to allow us to increase production, which will flow into the market this year."
It's welcome news for the large majority of interested purchasers who have yet to get their hands on a PS5 console since launch in November 2020. It's clear that the coronavirus pandemic had a huge effect on distribution methods and stock production, but Sony still managed to make PS5 the fasted selling console in US history in terms of both unit and dollar sales. An impressive feat indeed — how many would have been sold if the world was a normal place? The mind ponders. Have you had any luck getting a PS5 yourself? Let us know in the comments below.
[source nikkei.com, via videogameschronicle.com]
Comments 50
Got lucky getting ps5 a couple of days after it launched in my country 😃
Sweet that means i should have a Ps5 by the end of the year. Now sony force retailers to sell the system in store not just online.
Lucky enough to have gotten mine in December.
Managed to bag one from Very in January but this is good news for those who need one
No luck so far :-/ But this probably means I'll be getting one just in time before the PS6 hype train starts up ...
I honestly don’t get how some are still “struggling” to get hold of them.
See so many people in the UK say how hard it is to get one but they are constantly available.
If people really wanted one they would get one. All of my friends now have them and only a couple are ‘tech savvy’ and had alerts on. The rest of them just got them as and when.
Can’t wait for them to be available freely in supermarkets just so we can hear the end of it 😂
Had one since 8am on launch day 🤷🏻♂️
Wasn’t hard at all
@Jacko11
US local stores sell out in seconds when its sold online only or have like 3 instock at the most. Not everybody stalks retailer website 24/7 people have lives outside Ps5 gaming
@Arugula Do pc players who have good rigs moan that pc players with poorer setups can still play the games? 🤣
great. ***** scalpers.
@Jacko11 try getting one in Puerto Rico and say that to my face again.
No luck for me. Maybe in the coming months.
I managed to get one here in the UK, using an app called Hot Stock, back in March. But in all honesty, there's no rush to buy a new console yet.
@TrueAssassin86
Exactly its the same in the UK, unless you look 24/7 or pay scalper prices, really sick of people who say they are readily aviliabe if they are so readily available post some links that aren't scalper prices
Got mine since launch day.
Thinking about it now... I think every one of my gaming friends who expressed an intention of acquiring a PS5 now has one. I still have friends with PS4s but they weren't looking to upgrade anytime soon.
That obviously mostly means I don't have many gaming friends
@KayOL77 Its not an apples to apples comparison. There is tech inside of the PS5 that cannot be utilized on games that are cross generational without considerable effort and redesign on the part of the developer.
Take the SSD for example. A games typical design of funneling you through tight spaces, and loading hallways, to hide data streaming is no longer necessary; but cross generational games will still have to keep this behavior in; and its not something you can just turn off on the PS5 because there is quite a bit of level design and sacrifice/balance that go into getting it just right.
@TrueAssassin86x @ithinkyousuck
I was very clearly referring to the UK.
Guess that was missed 🙄
@LiamCrofy amusing typo "to make PS5 the fasted selling console"... if there's one thing the PS5 isn't, it's slim!
@suikoden completely disagree, but ok.
There'll need to be something I want to play before I bother.
If Horizon lands this year, I may bite. Other than that, I'm happy to wait. The unnecessary £70 price tag for games is also offputting.
@Jacko11
Post some links then if as you say they readily available and not scalper prices . Readily available to most means nearly constantly available not a small trickle here and there, are all these people lying who say they can't. More likely you have been lucky, stalking sites 24/7 or paid scalper prices. As mentioned most people have lives/jobs that involve more than getting a ps5 so can't spend all day every day looking
@Jacko11 I got one, but I wasted 2 months of search and in the day I got it, I had to spent basically the whole freaking day, because I knew I wasn't getting another chance soon.
@Jacko11 Your wholly anecdotal evidence is extremely compelling.
@The_New_Butler lol, right?! I mean, he can ask but this shortage in semiconductors isn't getting much better so I don't know what it's going to matter.
@suikoden i literally have no job so spent two days within the last week sitting in front of computer/phone with tracking app and never got one. I just ended up getting a Series S because ain't nobody got time for that over the long term. At least I don't - employed or not.
Don't understand what some people get out of skewing reality.
@suikoden never once said readily available, so you and the other dude can kindly check yourselves.
And every week, one of these have stock:
GAME, Tesco, Amazon, Curry’s, Smyths, Argos, BT via email and Very. GAME have been doing preorders since January where you get the allocation of the next batch of stock.
You guys can all disagree, but the evidence is there online. I don’t need to provide links. I will reiterate, as I have done for weeks, if you REALLY wanted a PS5, you would have got one by now. UK ONLY and not at scalper prices.
And this is for people who both do and do not “have lives”.
And funnily enough, I don’t have one personally. Because I won’t be buying one till I get a new TV. But I have purchased two, one for my uncle who told me they was available via GAME and wanted me to choose the best bundle for him, and another from Argos.
Yes there's consistent, periodic stock drops but that doesn't mean everyone who wants, gets. The quantities are limited and the demand is still ridiculously high. That's not an everyone gets one equation.
Got mine in mid-December by complete fluke — made a random call to a store that had just received 2 of them literally minutes before I called, and the other one was already spoken for.
I've actually had a harder time trying to get my hands on a DualSense Charging Station.
@Jacko11 You are mistaken, there hasn’t been a restock in the uk, in a single store, since the first week of April.
This is because Sony expedited their supply chains in order to get more consoles through before March 31st, which is the end of their financial year, and they waned to be able to say it outsold the PS4 in their financial reports.
So in March there were more consoles available than normal, with weekly restocks, but they still all sold out very quickly, I would guess in a matter of minutes.
That also meant that the consoles that would have made it through the supply chain in the first few weeks in April were already sold and there will now be 3 weeks with basically no consoles in some territories, the UK being one.
I got mine on day one completely hassle free. I feel for those who've been struggling since as I obviously got lucky. Bought it from Game when they went on pre-order the night before they were supposed to. I don't think anyone had spotted it at that point and I had time to casually stroll through the online checkout with no queues.
Since then I know several people who have picked one up with perseverance so it's not the reality that they're all going to scalpers.
I had resigned myself to the fact that it was going to be a while before i could purchase one...i thought my wife was sitting up all night setting her art business website up but she was online watching just about anybody that had the things in stock..countless times she had one only to find at the checkout that somehow it had mysteriously evaporated into thin air..just vanished...eventually her persistance paid off and i am the proud owner of one of those ps5's that so many on here say just aint worth it yet...yeah right...
@Dekutheevilclown Smyths had them on sale this morning 🤷🏻♂️
Still no. And looking worse. I asked around in January and was told not till May. 2 weeks ago I asked the dude at Walmart and he said not till Black Friday. Really?
On the positive side, I don't feel like I've missed anything yet. Don't think I'll need a 5 until Forbidden West at the earliest.
@LordSteev Same. When I can't find one around the time H:FW releases that's when things get desperate.
Didn't know there was a problem getting one, got mine day one easy 😁😁😁, only joking. Hopefully in the next few months they will be easily available for everyone who wants one and all the scalpers are stuck with their ps5.
Although the title implies that previously they had asked suppliers to limit production....
In my mind, the PS5 still hasn't really come out yet. Sure, some people could buy it starting in November, but I view the rest of this year and the next as a sort of 'early access' period before the generation properly kicks off. When almost all games are still cross-gen and exclusive projects mostly have vaguely defined release windows, I see little reason to take the leap to a new console.
Got myself one PS5 at largest local retailer in february.
It was very hard and not normal to chase it like that.
Not to mention stock for PS5 digital was non-existent.
Scalpers be damned.
I hope it happens for those that really want one. I'm not ready yet. I hope I can wait for a slim version.
@Jacko11 "Constantly available" in the UK is a HUGE exaggeration. If that were the case i'd be able to walk into Argos or Game and pick one up now (But I can't). Also some of us work full time (Day/Night shifts) and can't spend all day/night checking online for the latest stock drop (Which usually has a 5-10 min window)
@Jacko11 First up, please check your tone. It comes across as rude. Secondly i have read your posts (and the logical responses from others).
The full picture is that supply cannot meet demand internationally. There is nothing really more to add so please don't bother.
@Darylb88 same to you. Check your accusational tone sir.
@Ithinkyousuck - Not that old chestnut
@Paranoimia and the horrendous storage solution too 😑😑
We shall see if it improves but I won't hold my breath it's still impossible to get one now, I doubt that will change anytime soon, I'm in no rush anyways
@huyi The storage isn't a major issue for me. I'm sure the storage expansions will be quite pricey, but I currently have an 8TB external drive on my PS4 with about three quarters of that space available.
As I understand it, the drive will plug into a PS5 as is, allowing me to play any PS4 games from the drive, and also allowing me to shunt PS5 games to it for storage.
I'll believe it when I see it. I'm still bitter about what scalpers have done to people who actually wanted to own and use a PS5.
@Paranoimia that's the problem right there, most of my ps4 game are on a 2tb internal drive and i can't transfer that to a ps5 drive, not enough space, yeah i could transfer them to a external, but it's the inconvenience and problem i have with the storage situation.
@huyi It's something I wasn't looking forward to. I had most of my stuff on a 1.5TB internal drive, and some on a 1TB external. When I got the new drive, I had to move all the stuff from the internal to the new external, and then move everything from the old external to the internal, and then from the internal to the new external.
It was a bit of a PITA, but I just resigned myself to moving a few at a time, leaving it running when I had other non-gaming stuff do. It's not ideal, but also... isn't that bad if you break it down into smaller chunks.
At least now everything is on the external, and when I do eventually get a PS5, it's just a question of unplugging from one and connecting to the other. Best done sooner rather than later, as your collection is only likely to get bigger!
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