Sony is confident in its ability to shift PlayStation 5 units during the rest of this year, predicting “record-breaking sales”.
In an interview with CNBC, PlayStation business executive Eric Lempel said Sony was on track to meet its ambitious target of 25 million PS5 units shipped during 2023, a figure that would make it the best year for any PlayStation console in history.
Lempel put this down to Sony producing plenty of consoles in time for the crucial holiday period, as well as the launch of Insomniac’s Spider-Man 2, which is the fastest-selling PlayStation Studios game of all time over a 24-hour period.
“We launched back in 2020,” Lempel said. “We suffered from the same supply chain issues that everybody was dealing with. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to deliver PS5 to every consumer that wanted one. This holiday season is the first holiday season we will be fully stocked on PlayStation 5 in every geography.”
It was a similar sentiment in an interview with Barron’s. “We’ve had consoles a bit here and there over the last three holidays, but this is the first time we’re in full supply and we’re thrilled about that,” Lempel said.
“We launched back in 2020, and the reality was it took some time for us to catch up, like everybody else in the world, with some of the component shortages coming out of COVID. But now we’re excited that anyone who wants a PS5 will be able to get one.
“Our outlook on PS5 is really strong. We’re expecting one of the strongest seasons in our history in terms of console sales. It’s a combination of the great product we have and the titles that have released since launch — as well as most recently with Marvel’s Spider-Man 2.”
In August, Sony said sales of the PS5 could pick up in order to hit the 25 million target. Sony kicked off the current financial year by selling 3.3 million PS5s during the three months to June, a figure up significantly on the 2.4 million sold during the same period last year but lower than expectations. Since going on sale in November 2020, PS5 has sold 40 million — a figure tracking slightly behind the PlayStation 4.
It’s busy times on the PlayStation hardware front, too. Sony is about to launch the PS5 Slim, which has a reported release date in the U.S. PS5 streaming handheld PlayStation Portal launches November 15. Sony's PlayStation Access controller is due to launch later this year, too.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
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