- Sony will continue to produce roughly 1 million units of PS4 in 2022 to offset the pressure on PS5 supply.
- PS5 is expected to be hard to find as the company works on fixing the supply shortage.
- With expanded PS4 availability, Sony expects to add and keep more players in the PlayStation ecosystem.
Sony has struggled to provide a good output of PlayStation 5 consoles since it launched in November 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic has slowed down software development and there is a global chip shortage that has contributed to the PS5 shortage since its debut. Along with these, rampant PS5 scalping has made issues worse than they need to be. According to Bloomberg, Sony expects PS5 shortage to last for a while and it will continue to produce more PS4 models to keep up with the demand.
Bloomberg’s report claims that Sony has told its assembly partners that it will continue making PS4 consoles throughout 2022 and add around a million more units to offset the pressure on PS5 production. A Sony spokesperson has also confirmed this information by saying, “It is one of the best-selling consoles ever and there is always crossover between generations.”
Although Sony hasn’t officially announced that it will discontinue PS4 production, Bloomberg claims that the company was planning to do so by the end of 2021. The PS4 uses less advanced chips and it is simpler to produce compared to the PS5. A previous report also states that Sony’s PS5 supply has been cut by almost 1 million units for the fiscal year ending in March 2022. Increasing production orders for PS4 will most likely assist Sony in negotiating with manufacturers for a better deal.
Since its launch in 2013, PS4 has sold over 116 million units across the globe and remains to be a popular gaming console. Expanding PS4 availability would allow Sony to keep players within the PlayStation ecosystem until it manages to fix the PS5 supply shortage. All of this information suggests that PS5 consoles will continue to be harder to find and potential buyers will have to keep an eye out for restock dates as they have been doing for over a year.
