It was reported by Bloomberg that Sony expects PlayStation 5 shortages to continue through 2022. In addition to the scarcity of parts due to the launch of a new console versus the demand, Sony (and all other companies) faced challenges due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. With a lot of businesses going to virtual/remote offices, layoffs due to downsizing in order to balance company budgets, and continued strong demand, Sony (and Microsoft) thought that consoles wouldn’t become readily available until around April of this year.
However, that time has obviously come and gone and there are many gamers out there watching social media, their emails, and any other ways to receive alerts for a chance to score a new console before a bot can snatch one up. Some have been lucky, most have not.
The news from Sony’s camp today didn’t exactly lift the spirits of gamers who are still trying to score a PlayStation 5 for themselves. The demand is still very high and semiconductor supply is still very low. This combination created a new projection of 14.8 million consoles being sold this fiscal year (7.8 million have already sold between launch and March 31). With the slow income of parts to build PS5s, the manufacturing of consoles is projected to not keep up with the high demand.
All of this equates to a new projection that demand won’t be met and/or stabilized until 2022.