Jim Ryan ‘feels bad’ Sony won’t be able meet PS5 demand for ‘some time’ yet
PlayStation boss says “improving inventory levels remains a top priority”
Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan has admitted there’s currently no end in sight to the PS5 supply issues that have frustrated fans since the console’s November 2020 launch.
Despite a global chip shortage, PlayStation’s boss said on Wednesday that the company has managed to produce and sell a record number of PS5 consoles.
However, overwhelming demand for the console means PS5 won’t be readily available for some time yet.
“We’ve built more PlayStations faster than we ever have before which makes me happy. But on the other hand, we’re some time from being able to meet all the demand that’s out there, which makes me feel bad,” Ryan told Reuters.
“Our partners are performing really well for us, but the chip shortage is definitely a challenge that we are all navigating.”
In a separate Famitsu interview, Ryan was asked if he thinks PS5 availability will improve by the end of this year.
“We know that it’s still difficult for gamers to get PS5, and we’re very sorry about that,” he responded.
“There are signs that things are loosening up a bit, but we still have a lot of work to do.”
Sony claimed on Wednesday that PS5 has become its fastest selling console ever after topping 10 million sales globally.
The console reached the milestone in mid-July, about eight months after its launch, and just under a month faster than the PS4 managed.
“While PS5 has reached more households faster than any of our previous consoles, we still have a lot of work ahead of us as demand for PS5 continues to outstrip supply,” Ryan said.
“I want gamers to know that while we continue to face unique challenges throughout the world that affect our industry and many others, improving inventory levels remains a top priority for SIE.”
Further reading
PlayStation 5 hits 10 million sales to become Sony’s ‘fastest selling console’
During an analyst briefing in May, Sony reportedly told attendees that it expects PS5 consoles to be in short supply until at least 2022.
“I don’t think demand is calming down this year and even if we secure a lot more devices and produce many more units of the PlayStation 5 next year, our supply wouldn’t be able to catch up with demand,” Sony CFO Hiroki Totoki said at the meeting, according to Bloomberg.
Around the same time, PlayStation was offering a more hopeful outlook on PS5 supply in its public statements. “We’re working as hard as we can to ameliorate that situation,” Ryan told Wired in May.
“We see production ramping up over the summer and certainly into the second half of the year, and we would hope to see some sort of return to normality in terms of the balance between supply and demand during that period.”
