Update
Sony has informed GamesIndustry.Biz with a statement that denies the Bloomberg report.
“While we do not release details related to manufacturing, the information provided by Bloomberg is false,” the statement reads.
“We have not changed the production number for PlayStation 5 since the start of mass production.”
Original Story
According to Bloomberg’s Takashi Mochizuki, manufacturing plants have informed Sony that yields for the PS5’s SoC have been as low as 50%, creating a bottleneck in the manufacturing process of the next-gen console.
Sony Corp. has lost 2.4% in its market share appreciation, the lowest since July 2020. In response to the complicated situation, executives are now expecting 7 million units to be available by April 2020, a loss of 4 million units to be available worldwide.
Back in July, Sony reportedly asked their manufacturing plants and associates to “radically” increase the production of the next-gen console. Sony expected 5 million units being manufactured by the end of September, other 5 million between October and December.
To make the situation worst for PlayStation fans, the company announced that it will sell a limited quantity of units via pre-orders.
“We will be inviting some of our existing consumers to be one of the first to preorder one from PlayStation,” Sony will determine using “previous interests and PlayStation activities” who will be able to preorder the PS5. Sony confirms that “there will be a limited quantity of PS5 consoles available for preorder”
The manufacturing process is just one of the problems that Sony is facing ahead of the launch of PS5, the tech giant has to make sure that the units produce reach to the different regions in the world where pre-orders will be available. According to Senior Analyst at Niko Partners Daniel Ahmad, Sony will be using air freight to prevent delays.
Sony are using air freight to ensure that PS5 can meet demand / supply enough units
The company has booked 60 flights from October (Delta 747) to ship consoles to retailers. This supply is expected to last through the quarter
Air freight is faster than sea, but more expensive.
— Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) September 14, 2020
Sony will be using a shipping method that is significantly more expensive, production costs are the second-biggest problem for the Japanese tech giant ahead of fierce competition from Xbox that announced Xbox Series S, a next-gen 300 USD console, and Xbox Series X, the most powerful next-gen console at a highly competitive 500 USD.
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