If you’ve been thinking about buying one of Sony’s PlayStation 5 consoles this holiday season, you might want to think about pulling our your wallet early.
According to a report by Bloomberg, Sony plans to manufacture a limited number of PlayStation 5 units by March 2021, or between 5 million to 6 million units. In part, that’s because of the expected price of the console and the disruptions to Sony’s supply chain caused by the coronavirus, according to the paper.
The numbers, though, could be somewhat significant. We still don’t know exactly when the PS5 will launch; Sony has said only that it will launch in 2020, and presumably during the holidays. Sony launched the PlayStation 4 on Nov. 15, 2013, and sold 7.5 million units through its first two quarters, ending in March 2014. If Sony launches the PlayStation 5 around a similar time frame, it would presumably have 1.5 million to 2.5 million fewer consoles available to sell during the same period.
Bloomberg attributed the shortfall to what it reports could be a $499 to $549 price tag for the PlayStation 5, significantly higher than the $399 Sony charged for the PlayStation 3. Add to that the economic uncertainty surrounding the coronavirus, and Sony’s decision makes a bit more sense. Bloomberg has also reported that Sony has struggled to obtain key components for the PS5.
So far, Microsoft has not made any statements regarding its own Xbox Series X, scheduled to launch this holiday season. PCWorld speculated about the prices of each console in February, before Microsoft disclosed far more detail on what components were under the hood. We might learn more about what the current economic situation means to Microsoft when the company reports earnings on April 29.