PS5 forecast reduced to 18m units due to component shortage

Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) has lowered its plan and is expecting to sell 18 million PlayStation 5 consoles during the next financial year. This reduction in their previous estimates is attributed to the ongoing shortage of semiconductors and various other components.

Following the release of Sony’s full-year results for the financial year 2021 which shows that the PlayStation sales have risen to $20.7 billion and that 11.5 million PS5 consoles were sold which brings the PS5’s lifetime figure to almost 20 million.

Hiroki Totoki, the Executive Deputy President and CFO at Sony, informed that the 18 million units are what we feel very comfortable they can get the parts and components for, however, that was still somewhat short of the current demand for the latest PlayStation console.

He continued by saying that the company has a good idea of how to procure the components and parts, but going forward, for example, the situation of the pandemic in China could pose a problem because if it worsens in the future, and the lockdowns expand further, there is a possibility that the production could be negatively affected.

Totoki concluded by saying that nothing happens overnight and that the company needs to be proactive, have a focus, and take appropriate measures.

Nintendo has also released their yearly results this week and they show a similar problem with the shortage of components. The company reported its hardware sales were down by 20% to 23 million units which brings the total sales down by 3.6% to $13.1 billion.

Separately, Hiroki Totoki was also asked about the upcoming revamp of PlayStation Plus and the reported dip in the number of subscribers.

Sony reported 47.4 million active PS Plus users during the last quarter of the financial year which is a decline compared to the 48 million users from the quarter prior as well as a small decline from the 47.6 million users in Q4 FY2022.

Totoki commented that subscriber numbers are an important but not a single metric and emphasized the importance of total gameplay time adding that the stay-at-homer requirements are much less strict in 2022 compared to last year.

He said that the stay-at-home demand was a temporary factor, but after it has subsided, it seems that the high level of engagement is maintained, so on a mid-term basis; he isn’t too concerned about the PS Plus.

Totoki added that he is sure that the high level of engagement will continue and that he has a positive take on the renewal. He concluded by saying that the renewal will begin in June and that the company would like it to grow and be supported by users and share his great expectations with them.

On a separate occasion, Hiroki Totoki confirmed Jim Ryan’s comments regarding new first-party releases being a part of PS Plus at launch. Both of them stated that the quality and investment would suffer if Sony decided to take that approach.

Totoki concluded by saying that Sony’s $3.6 billion acquisition of Bungie should be completed by the third quarter of 2022.