Sony reduces PlayStation 5 forecast to 18m units due to component shortage

gamesindustry.biz:

James Batchelor

Editor-in-Chief

Wednesday 11th May 2022

Sony Corporation

Sony Interactive Entertainment

Sony expects to sell 18 million PlayStation 5 units during its next financial year, a reduction of previous forecasts thanks to the ongoing shortage of semiconductors and other vital components.

Investors asked the company's executive deputy president and chief financial officer Hiroki Totoki about the reduction during an earnings call, transcribed by Seeking Alpha.

The call followed the release of Sony's full-year results for FY2021, in which PlayStation sales rose slightly to $20.7 billion and 11.5 million PS5 units were shipped worldwide, bringing the console's lifetime figure to nearly 20 million.

Sony previously estimated it would sell 22.6 million, although Totoki said this figure had involved "more than PS5" adding that it was reduced "because of the constraint of components."

"18 million units is what we feel very comfortable that we can get the parts and components [for]," Totoki said, adding this was "still short somewhat" of current demand for the latest PlayStation console.

He later added that the impact of the component shortage was "not only restricted to game business" and still subject to change.

"We do have a good feel about how to procure the components and parts, but going forward, for example, the situation of the pandemic in China -- if it worsens going forward and if the lockdowns will expand further, then that will have a possibility of affecting the protection and that can be a downside risk," he said.

"However, this will not happen overnight. So for us, we need to be proactive, have a focus and take appropriate measures."

Nintendo's full-year results, also released yesterday, showed a similar issue with