According to a report published by Bloomberg, Sony has cut its estimated PlayStation 5 production orders by 4 million units for this fiscal year, after the company initially intended to produce 15 million units by March 2021.
Sony cites the reason for the setback is due to manufacturing issues related to the console’s custom-designed system-on-chip. In July, Sony boosted its production orders in anticipation of higher demand due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, with more people staying at home.
The report further cites that the tech giant’s production yields have been as low as 50% for it’s SOC. As a result, this has hampered their hopes of producing higher scores of consoles. Despite a substantial increase in subscriptions to their PlayStation Plus service, and huge sales from summer hits Ghost Of Tsushima and The Last Of Us Part II, Sony is still struggling.
Despite the production setback, Sony is still on track for its next PlayStation 5 showcase event (Wednesday, September 16). The showcase is expected to last around 40 minutes and will “feature updates on the latest titles from Worldwide Studios and our world-class development partners.”
The times for the showcase are as follows: 1 p.m. PDT / 9 p.m. BST / 10 p.m. CEST, and will stream on Twitch and YouTube.
Earlier, new details for the PS5 were released online. Games analyst Daniel Ahmad discovered the box contents and model numbers. The information came from a distributor’s database in Hong Kong, which included the standard and digital edition model numbers, and complete box contents (including the pre-installed Astro’s Playroom on SSD).
The PlayStation 5 is scheduled for release this Holiday season, alongside its main competitor, the Xbox Series X. The Series X recently had a release date of November 10 confirmed, so PlayStation 5 release date news shouldn’t be far off.
Update: Sony has since reached out to GamesIndustry.biz denying the Bloomberg report in the statement below:
“While we do not release details related to manufacturing, the information provided by Bloomberg is false. We have not changed the production number for PlayStation 5 since the start of mass production.”