Sony’s PlayStation 5 has already sold 19.3 million units, but did not reach its original sales target of 2021 by 3.3 million. Despite the decline, Sony still expects to sell more units than next year.
Sony initially forecast sales of 14.8 million PS5 hardware units in its second year on the market, but Sony revealed in its latest financial gains that it sold 11.5 million units instead. This coincides with a late adjustment made by Sony two months before the end of fiscal 2021-22, which lowered PS5 sales expectations to 11.5 million.
As you might expect, Sony reduces underperformance to the continuing difficulty of getting hardware components after a global shortage.
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Although it missed its target, Sony set its fiscal 2022 target (between April 2022 and March 2023) higher than ever and close to the first two years combined, at 18 million units.
Sony Chief Financial Officer Hiroki Totoki said in a profit webcast that it was “a number based on our current visibility in buying parts”, which means the company still expects a shortage of components to be a problem next year.
However, it should be easier for consumers to get a PS5 than in the previous two years, as the target of 18 million is significantly higher than its sales for year one (7.8 million) and year two (11, 5 million), and Sony is confident it will hit that higher number.
Totoki said that after the shortage last year, “we changed our source of supply in various areas” and “so I think we have a good prospect for the supply of parts.”
There will still be some users who can’t buy the PS5, because if the shortage of components wasn’t a problem, Sony would have set an even higher goal.
“We are very comfortable to be able to get the parts and components and we think there is a bit more demand than that, so if the question is whether we can cover the demand, I think we are still small,” Totoki added.
The availability and inventory of the PS5 still remain “very low, so in order to provide our PlayStation units to customers on a smooth and timely basis, we are still lagging behind in this regard.”
Sony also missed its overall sales target for the year, recording ¥ 1.16 trillion ($ 8.9 billion) instead of the expected ¥ 1.2 trillion ($ 9.2 billion), prompting Sony to buy back some of its own shares.
According to Bloomberg, Sony plans to buy back up 2.02% of its open shares, which means up to 25 million for a total of 200 billion yen ($ 1.5 billion).
The PS5 had the fastest-selling console in U.S. history when it was released in November 2020, surpassing the PS4 in its first fiscal year, a feat unmatched in its second.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer who sometimes remembers tweeting @thelastdinsdale. He will talk about The Witcher all day.
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