Sony Cuts PlayStation 5 Production Plans by 4 Million Units: Bloomberg [Update]

Update Sept. 15, 9:18PM PT: Late to updating this, but Sony says this report is false, according to a statement provided to GamesIndustry.biz: “While we do not release details related to manufacturing, the information provided by Bloomberg is false,” said Sony, adding, “We have not changed the production number for PlayStation 5 since the start of mass production.”

The upcoming PlayStation 5 is likely to be even less available, as sources indicate that Sony has cut production plans by 4 million units.

According to a new report from Bloomberg, sources familiar with affairs at Sony have indicated that the company has cut PS5 unit production for the fiscal year from around 15 million units to 11 million due to production problems with its custom chips designed for the console.

Sony is reportedly experiencing a 50 percent lower production rate of its SoC than expected, creating a “bottleneck” that is holding up overall unit production.

SoCs are integrated circuits that combine crucial computer components on a single chip, such as a GPU and memory. In the debut of its latest flagship console, Sony revealed custom AMD RDNA 2 GPU technology capable of running at up to 3.5GHz, as well as 16GB RAM and 825GB SSD internal storage.

The custom SoC, according to people familiar with the matter, is proving problematic. Bloomberg reports that production is “gradually improving” but is yet to “reach a stable level.”

Sony’s original plan for the PS5’s launch window was six million units, which falls roughly in line with what we saw for the PS4 back in 2013. However, with the dawn of the coronavirus pandemic and more people playing games from home, the company increased its plans significantly to meet potential demand.

When taking into account original production plans, this fall to 11 million units isn’t the end of the world, as it still falls above what Sony was planning to deliver before COVID-19 completely transformed how consumers were set to approach the next-generation of consoles. With any luck, those with a pre-order won’t have trouble securing the console.

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