Sony Produced Over 6.5 Million PS5 Consoles Last Quarter, Aims to Beat 18 Million Forecast - Sales
by William D'Angelo , posted on 01 November 2022 / 4,276 Views
Sony Interactive Entertainment announced it produced over 6.5 million PlayStation 5 consoles during its quarter 2 of fiscal year 2022, which ended September 30, 2022.
There were 3.3 million PS5 consoles shipped during the quarter to bring lifetime PS5 shipments to 25 million units. That would leave at least 3.2 million PS5 consoles stockpiled by Sony to have ready for the holiday season, as well as for the launch of God of War Ragnarök on November 9.
"Regarding production of PS5 hardware, restrictions on the supply of materials and logistics have significantly eased, and the number of units produced during the quarter exceeded 6.5 million, progressing faster than planned," said Sony.
"We recognize that demand from customers for the PS5 continues to be strong as the actual sales situation at retail stores in the U.S. is such that, in September, it took an average of 17.5 hours to sell out of 100 thousand units after their arrival.
"To meet this strong demand, we will do our utmost to bring forward supply into the year-end holiday selling season and aim to exceed our FY22 forecast of 18 million units."
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Twitter @TrunksWD.
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Hopefully this means we're nearing the days of where we can walk into our local retail store and FINALLY be able to grab and buy a PS5 or Series X :) Can't believe it'll have taken over 2 years to get to this point, but that's the world we currently live in unfortunately.
You can buy a series x everywhere
I was seing that too from august to a few weeks ago but now that the holiday kicks in I'm starting to see "sold out" making somewhat of a comeback
If only.
you wish. Series S is everywhere though.
This hardware generation seems to be somehow stillborn, thanks to the supply disruptions.
6.5M in a quarter meaning their production capacities are now 26M a year. The rumor of 30M next year should not seems that far-fetch to anyone anymore.
That is true. And they attested that the constrains in supply have eased.
In the related thread both argument were used, personally I don't doubt Sony ability to sell those considering the demand for it. Plus even if they don't sell every unit there's practically 0 risk involved that early in the gen. The units will sell eventually no matter how much they produce in 2023.
Sony shareholder for many reason this time believes it's not the time shy away which I couldn't agree more.
In other word, IMO, the risk for Sony to still not have enough supply is far greater than the risk of having system on shelves right now and for the foreseeable future.
It's impossible to gauge actual demand at this point because of the limited supply. All units are selling, but they aren't even supplying as much as they were the PS4 at this point in it's life. Using this information to gauge the ability to sell production when it's double is not accurate. In addition, Sony has never sold 30M consoles in a year, ever. The PS4 sold 20M in a year at its height. It's very unlikely to happen.
It would be incredibly foolish of them to make 30M consoles in a year for 5-10M just to sit there for six months or more. That is a good way to lose money. Stores also don't want to hold that much product either.
It's impossible for us. Sony I believe is more apt to do it as they have more varied source of information. If I'm mot mistaken they still let existing user register to buy a ps5 as well as amazon invitation request.
Plus it's not like Sony going to blindly produce 30m ps5. They will take steps to ensure production capacity meet that target but will still react if the market does not follow suit. Considering shipping by boat they could react in about 1 to 1.5 months. Even then, like I said before even if they end up with never seen before amount of unsold units there are literaly 0 risk in the long run they will all sell.
And like I said before the risk might be far greater in not having the capacity to manufacture such volume than having it idling due to lower than expected demands.
You also have to consider that competition is wilder than ever. Sony may want to react preemptivly and ensure availability of their system not give any unnecessary opportunity to them.
In the end, It would be even more foolish of Sony if they had the demand and capacity to sell 30m consoles and not go for it.
Sony would be more apt at providing reasonable predictions of demand. Not extreme predictions of demand. They don't have that kind of data because PS5 hasn't shipped anywhere close to 30M. Companies have also been wrong on their projections before. For example, Nintendo thought the Wii U would sell 100+M units. Lastly, this is a rumor that isn't even confirmed from Sony themselves.
You're right, of course Sony wouldn't just make 30M consoles on the spot and ship them all at once. The reason they wouldn't do that is because stores wouldn't have the capacity to store them, and it would be a net loss for Sony since production generally cheapens over time. But those reasons are exactly why there IS a risk for producing 30M units if they don't all (or mostly) sell. Sony, MS, Nintendo...none of them want 5M or more consoles sitting on shelves because that's money wasted. In addition, that many consoles sitting on shelves doesn't look nearly as good as a console that has lower stock as it suggests higher demand and influences consumer purchasing decisions.
The competition being wilder is evidence that Sony likely wouldn't be able to sell 30M consoles in a single year. The PS4 couldn't do that when both it's competitors shot themselves in the foot. It's doubtful the PS5 would do that when both competitors are at their best.
Generally, people should stop trying to make exorbitant predictions on demand for the PS5 with the amount of stock we are seeing. If Sony was shipping 25M units each FY and the console was still out of stock, I could understand the prediction. But they shipped 11.7M consoles FY2021 and they've only shipped 5.7M consoles this FY. We don't have the data, and history suggests it isn't going to happen.
Sony wouldn't make 30M or ship because it is just impossible, but they can have contracts to product let's say 25-30M consoles in a year and plan the deliveries weekly/monthly and if at any point they get saturated they won't be able to reduce that minimum 25 (as it would also be hard to outdo the 30), but they can eat that excess while correcting the contract for the next year or so.
Yes I fully agree it would be quite hard to sell 30M even more with the price increase, but at the moment for me producing 30M when they are struggling for 18M is even more unlikely.
Hard as hell for sure, but like the saying goes "Go big or go home". I believe that Sony can pull it off as long as they are focus.
We can pull history to shows that Sony isn't going to make it but, as I understand it, this time, there are way more green signals for this to be in the realm of possible than at any time before.
But like I said before Sony is not going to blindly go for this goal without adjustment when needed.
If PlayStation production ever hit 7.5M+ in a quarter next year then will know Sony have laid out the ground work for a 30m year to be a possibility.
If Sony can produce 30M and put it on their annual goal, they will do whatever they need to achieve it even if need to give 100USD discount on black friday. Executives don't like losing bonus, so not hitting a target because it is impossible to manufacture to target and you review down is one thing, but because you planned bad on the sales you committed to make doesn't look to good.
Selling 30 mil in a year is definitely an extremely tall order, but I expect they could very possibly reach sales of 25 mil+ with the pent up demand, especially if they also launch a Slim which seems quite likely. I agree that there's no way we'll see a 5 mil discrepancy between shipped and sold, but shipments could end up a million or two higher than sales, since suppliers would probably be able to have more console in stock at the end of the FY than at the beginning (and such a discrepancy is not unheard of). This is of course all assuming that they ship approximately 18 mil as they predicted. If they ship more this FY then they would likely be able to sell less in the following one, or vice versa (due to demand).
In regard to the ability to sell PS5's being produced I'll quote Sony's response "We recognize that demand from customers for the PS5 continues to be strong as the actual sales situation at retail stores in the U.S. is such that, in September, it took an average of 17.5 hours to sell out of 100 thousand units after their arrival."
But that information is taken from when the console is notably out of stock. People are putting themselves in queues and feel obligated to purchase once available otherwise they will miss out (in addition to wanting the product of course). But that behavior changes when a console is readily available. For example, in 2017 people were waiting in queues to purchase a Nintendo Switch four months after launch, but this didn't happen in 2021 despite selling almost twice the amount of consoles that year. The fast sellout of a product is based on demand + availability, not demand alone.
I should have specified that it wasn't meant as form of rebuttal. rather I posted the info more as a base to work off since it at least gives us a general idea of the rate of sell through at a given point in time .
I'm of the opinion that only Sony and their retailers have any real idea of the actual demand and even then it is one of those things that need to be constantly monitored but with that information we now have some numbers ,so that give us a bit more definition when we guesstimate whether that demand allows for a 30 million calendar year or not and that's a story that and even if the answer is yes it doesn't make it a fait accompli.
This will be a strong holiday season.
Holiday will be good and hope they pass the 18M projection.
With 3.2 mil stockpiled and that level of production they're seemingly gearing up for a Nintendo level holiday quarter. Not sure exactly why they wouldn't have shipped out another million or two of those though.
Most likely because their sales data shows that holiday sales bring in a different demographic compared to the rest of the year , one where you have a mass of people looking to buy in a specific period of time and because they want it for Christmas if they can't say find a PS5 they will quickly move onto a Switch or Xbox , another reason is those holiday sales help bring new gamers into the fold, and with those gamers comes the chance to lock them into your ecosystem ,how many times have we heard the story about how mum and dad or an relative buying a console for Christmas started my love of gaming
The production will make it possible but I wonder if the demand will actually be there. Especially given the huge economic headwinds in PlayStation's largest market, the EU. And unlike the 08 crash, inflation is having a much more serious effect on spending habits
Generally the video game industry benefits from economics downturn as it is view as a cheaper leisure than most. If Sony is pedal to the metal with Ps5 production is because they fully believe demands is/will be there.
In a more typical downturn I would agree, but the current cost of living crisis in large parts of Europe is completely unprecedented in the post war era, and one of the key drivers of inflation is energy costs. Are people going to want to spend disposable cash on consumer electronics when they are struggling to keep the lights on and the home heated? I don't think that us at all a ridiculous or unwarranted question. This downturn is qualitatively different from all of the previous ones and I think will produce unpredictable outcomes
It's not like people are going to do nothing at all, they will switch their leisure to something less expensive. A single winter trip to somewhere warmer for a whole family is way more expensive than buying a ps5/Xbox/switch with a few games.
The COVID-19 pandemic was exceptionally good to Nintendo's coffers, and I apologize if that sounds completely abhorrent. An lot of people rode out that storm in Tom Nook's tropical resort.
You talking about economy with that profil picture is just perfection.
? ps I do not talk economy I enlighten others to economy
I wasn't believing the 18 million forecast but now I'm starting to believe it, 3.2 million in stock plus what will be produced I would say 7 million or more ps5 shipped by the end of the year
