US PlayStation shipments were reportedly up 400% last month

PlayStation shipments to the US in September 2022 were up 400% year-on-year, it’s claimed.

David Gibson, a senior analyst at MST Financial, studied import documentation to determine how many Sony Interactive products were arriving in the US.

According to Gibson, Sony Interactive shipped around 7.5 million kilograms of stock to the US in September 2022.

This was an increase of 400% (or five times the size) of the 1.5 million kilograms shipped to the US in September 2021.

It should be noted that this doesn’t necessarily mean five times as many PlayStation 5 consoles came to the country year-on-year last month, as the figure represents all Sony Interactive shipments, not just PS5 consoles.

However, Gibson notes: “Lots of reports of improved PS5 supply in the past few months, but no data until now. Import data into the US confirms that Sony Interactive (PlayStation) shipments in Sept were +400% YoY. Yes you read that right. Some of that will go into inventory for GoW launch for sure.”

Gibson also studied figures for Microsoft, estimating that Xbox supply was up 89% year-on-year (roughly 4.5 million kgs versus 2.5 million), but stressing that the data required more interpretation to reach this conclusion.

He also noted that Nintendo‘s figures appeared lower, with shipments down 59% year-on-year, but pointed out that Nintendo was also using air freight, and that his analysis only covered sea freight, suggesting the situation may not be as bad as it looks.

Gibson’s findings appear to echo those of GamesIndustry.biz head Christopher Dring, who last week tweeted that he had been told PlayStation had a strong September in terms of console availability.

“According to my retail sources, PS5 availability worldwide during September was ‘surprisingly good’,” Dring wrote. “One source told me it was the best it’s been for over a year. Looking forward to seeing that data.”

Further reading

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PlayStation 5 gets a price increase in Europe, Japan and parts of North America

Sony blames "high global inflation rates" but the US price will remain unchanged

Sony announced in August that it had increased the price of the PlayStation 5 by up to 12.5% in Europe, Australia and parts of Asia and North America, but there was no price increase in the United States.

Responding to the news, Piers Harding-Rolls, Ampere’s research director for games, predicted that pent-up demand for Sony’s console meant the PS5 price increase was likely to have “a minimal impact on sales”.