Report: Sony Is Limiting PlayStation 5 Production The electronics giant is only planning to manufacture six million PS5 consoles by March 2021.
By Matthew Humphries •
This story originally appeared on PCMag
If you're planning to purchase a PlayStation 5 on launch day, you're going to have to contend with two potential blockers: limited stock and a high price.
As Bloomberg reports, people familiar with Sony's launch plans have revealed the company is limiting production of its new console during the first year. With the launch most likely happening in November, Sony is intending to produce just six million consoles by the end of March 2021. For comparison, over the same period for the PS4 launch, Sony sold 7.5 million consoles.
Related: PlayStation 4 Sales Hit 100 Million Mark
You'd be right to think the coronavirus pandemic is playing a part in Sony's decision to produce fewer machines, but it's not the only reason. Sony is also expecting demand for the PS5 to be lower than the PS4 due to a significantly higher price point. The PS4 launched at $399 and subsequently dropped to $299 when the PS4 Pro arrived. The price point of the PS5 is expected to be either $499 or $549, which is still lower than the PS3 launch price of $599.
Sony isn't willing to delay the PS5 launch due to coronavirus, but it will be launching a more expensive machine thanks to manufacturing costs topping $450. Coronavirus has surely pushed costs up by limiting supply while demand continues to rise, and it's those high costs that led one gamer to build his own Switch recently.
With little Sony can do about costs, it's thought the strategy at launch will be to simultaneously push new sign-ups for PlayStation Plus while potentially cutting the price of the PS4 and PS4 Pro. That way, the company is still expanding the number of PlayStation gamers even if they aren't adopting the latest hardware. And as the PS5 is backwards compatible, all the PS4 games purchased should continue to work when those gamers do eventually upgrade.
