PS5 to remain in short supply through 2022

PS5 sells 7.8 million consoles
(Image credit: Future)

According to a report from Bloomberg, Sony's PlayStation 5 will remain in short supply through 2022. In a privately held briefing to share its quarterly earnings report with analysts, Hiroki Totoki, CFO of Sony, was quoted saying that Sony will be unable to meet PS5 supply-demand and added: "even if we secure a lot more devices and produce many more units."

During Sony's public earnings call on April 28, CFO Totoki stated that the maker plans to ship more than 14.8 million PS5 consoles in 2021, doubling the number of consoles sold since its November 2020 release. However, due to the semiconductor shortages that all tech makers are currently facing, Sony has not increased its production output. 

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, most of humanity had to remain indoors due to lockdowns and social distancing rules implemented by governments. This positively affected the tech industry, causing earnings to rise and stock values to soar. Sony saw a 62 percent share price increase. Investors were told during the earnings report call to expect income to drop at least 4 percent compared to last year at this same time, which caused Sony stock to drop back below $100. 

In February, Sony reported that since its release, the PS5 had sold 4.5 million units and pointed out that sales were helped by its "strategic price point," which was below the cost of actually manufacturing the PS5. The PS5 has been in short supply since it was released, not just due to supply chain issues. Plus, you have scalpers who monitor sales and availability and then purchase most of the retailer stock as soon as it becomes available with the intent to price gouge consumers when reselling. There are entire Reddit, Discord, and other social media pages dedicated to the practice. 

At this point, it's probably easier to find a last-minute date for prom than find a PS5. happy console hunting, folks. 

Mark Anthony Ramirez

Mark has spent 20 years headlining comedy shows around the country and made appearances on ABC, MTV, Comedy Central, Howard Stern, Food Network, and Sirius XM Radio. He has written about every topic imaginable, from dating, family, politics, social issues, and tech. He wrote his first tech articles for the now-defunct Dads On Tech 10 years ago, and his passion for combining humor and tech has grown under the tutelage of the Laptop Mag team. His penchant for tearing things down and rebuilding them did not make Mark popular at home, however, when he got his hands on the legendary Commodore 64, his passion for all things tech deepened. These days, when he is not filming, editing footage, tinkering with cameras and laptops, or on stage, he can be found at his desk snacking, writing about everything tech, new jokes, or scripts he dreams of filming.