PS5 stocks to get worse in 2022 as Sony cuts production forecast

With the holiday season right around the corner, both Sony and Microsoft are scrambling to ensure that there are enough PS5 and Xbox Series S|X consoles in stock for eager gamers. Sony went as far as flying in millions of consoles via jumbo jets. However, the situation will get a lot worse after that, according to a new report from Bloomberg.

Anonymous insiders have told the publication that Sony has cut its sales target from 16 million consoles to 15 million. Looming component shortages have crippled Sony's ability to make enough PS5 consoles to keep up with rising demand. This, in turn, will undoubtedly affect game sales, especially for upcoming exclusives such as God of War: Ragnarok and Spider-man 2, as they are not available on previous-generation consoles. A Japanese game publisher states that the console shortage has driven many players to look at other platforms, such as PC.

Then again, it isn't just Sony that is afflicted by these shortages. The sentiment is echoed throughout the industry, with multiple bigwigs such as Nvidia stating that the aforementioned supply chain constraints could hamper production throughout 2022. While there is no word about how Microsoft's manufacturing prospects will be in 2022, it should be on the same boat, given that it relies on AMD/TSMC to design/manufacture SoCs for its current-generation consoles.

The manufacturing woes also put a damper on Microsoft and Sony's plans to launch new consoles in 2022-23. A previous rumour told us that an Xbox Series S was due in late 2022, with a Series X refresh to follow suit the following year. Similarly, an upgraded PS5 with a dual-GPU configuration is also in the works.