Published , by TJ Denzer
Published , by TJ Denzer
Sony has been having a notable back-and-forth with PlayStation 5 production hitches, mostly due to the COVID-19 pandemic throwing a wrench in things, but it hasn’t kept the company from doing everything in its power to move forward with as much momentum as it can going into the PS5’s launch this holiday season. The company boldly forecasted that it would have around 11 million consoles ready by the end of 2020, but issues with chip production for the PS5 have allegedly affected that forecast, forcing Sony to limit it by about 4 million units.
Word of Sony’s cutback on the PlayStation 5 console forecast came from sources familiar with production at the company, as recently reported by Bloomberg. According to these recent reports, Sony has had ongoing issues keeping inventory of the specialized chip used in the PS5 console consistent. Earlier this year, Sony roughly doubled its expected PS5 console numbers in hopes of launching 11 millions units by year end, but custom-designed system-on-chip (SOC) has come up against manufacturing issues which have resulted in a production deficit apparently as low as 50%.
Ultimately, Sony will still push to meet the 11 million unit goal it recently set for itself with the PS5, but this latest update echoes troubles earlier in the year in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Coming up against high production costs for components, Sony was apparently looking at manufacturing limitations early in the race for the next console generation. That said, and given Sony’s following 11 million console forecast, these issues seemed to be settled by the time the pandemic was coming under control in other parts of the world.
Sony has yet to reveal a launch date and price for the PS5 as of this writing, though it’s expected during this week’s PlayStation 5 showcase. Either way, the company still seems to have some speedbumps to clear ahead of the launch of its latest system.