While demand for the PlayStation 5 is still quite high, the console appears to be performing lower than its PS4 predecessor in several regions, including the UK and Japan. According to industry analyst @BenjiSales, it seems that the reason is that Sony is not meeting the demand for more supply. In a follow-up Tweet, the analyst says information from all regions is not yet available and it is possible that things may be different in some territories. However, given some of the ambitious goals that Sony had cited before the launch of the console, it seems that there are problems in the production part that hinder the momentum of the system.
@ BenjiSales’ tweet can be found embedded below.
Despite a world record debut, PlayStation 5 is currently sold slower than the PS4 release in several markets (e.g. in both Japan and the UK)
Sony claimed they wanted the fastest transition in history and the demand is huge. We need to find a way to speed up production
– Benji-Sales (@BenjiSales) January 11, 2021
As early as October, Sony chief financial officer Hiroki Totoki stated that the company planned to ship 7.6 million PS5 consoles in March 2021. That number is significantly higher than the company’s 6 million PS4 units. sent in a similar period of time. With the system performing lower than the PS4 in some regions, it will be interesting to see if Sony can make up for lost time.
These supply issues can be a major issue for Sony. If they continue until well into 2021, it could hurt overall console sales and convince gamers to look for alternative options. Analysts have been divided on whether or not PS5 can get ahead of its predecessor. Last June, Piers Harding-Rolls of Ampere Analysis predicted that PS5 would not sell as many units as the PS4, and predicted the same for the Xbox X series over Xbox One. Still, Japanese analyst Rakuten Securities believes that lifetime sales of PS5 could exceed 200 million, which would be almost double that of PS4.
Despite this shaky start, it looks like Sony is still positive about the future. During today’s CES presentation, the company once again cited the fact that PS5 had the biggest release for any Sony console. However, it remains to be seen whether this success will continue or not.
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