Less Than 6 Million PlayStation 5s in First Year

Playstation

25,800 Hypes

According to a new report from Bloomberg, Sony is expected to produce less than 6 million PlayStation 5 consoles in its first year. This is partly due to its speculated production cost and COVID-19 stifling promotional plans for the hardware.

Sources close to Sony PlayStation suggest its assembly partners are only producing 5 to 6 million units in the fiscal year ending in March 2021. Sony previously released its PlayStation 4 for $399 USD in November 2013 and it went on to sell 7.5 million units in the first two quarters. Developers expect the PS5 to be priced around $499 USD to $549 USD, which Bloomberg suggests is due to the scarce components needed to build the unit. It’s been previously reported that due to the manufacturing cost of the product, the company is finding it difficult to keep the selling price under $450 USD.

According to sources, Sony plans to sell its PS4 and PlayStation 4 Pro at a lower cost around the time of the PS5 launch in order to garner new PlayStation Plus and PlayStation Now subscribers. Sony’s Chief Executive Officer Kenichiro Yoshida has stated the company will “aim to increase recurring revenue rather than one-time hardware purchases.”

Production volume is still up for changes depending on how the pandemic turns out, but Sony will unlikely delay the launch of PS5 from the Holiday season, especially if the next-gen Xbox, which is expected to arrive around the same time, doesn’t delay either.

In other gaming news, Nintendo may add a dual-screen to its updated Switch.