PS5 stock update: PlayStation boss says ‘absolutely everything is sold’ as Sony looks to increase supply

Andrew Griffin
Tuesday 24 November 2020 10:42 GMT
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PlayStation has said that “absolutely everything is sold” as fans still struggle to get hold of new PS5s.

The company is working hard to fix the problems with supply but sounds unlikely to have significant amounts of new consoles in the future, according to an interview with Jim Ryan, Sony Interactive Entertainment’s chief executive.

“Everything is sold. Absolutely everything is sold,” Mr Ryan told Russian news agency TASS.

"I’ve spent much of the last year trying to be sure that we can generate enough demand for the product. And now in terms of my executive bandwidth I’m spending a lot more time on trying to increase supply to meet that demand."

Mr Ryan said that the Covid-19 outbreak may have impacted the amount of consoles available, but not significantly. “We might have had a few more to sell, but not very many: the guys on the production/manufacturing side have worked miracles,” he said in the same interview.

Microsoft has also indicated that the problems with getting hold of new consoles are largely not a result of the pandemic restricting supply, but the way that it has increased demand for the new console.

Even before the PS5 launched earlier this month – on 12 November in some countries including the US, and then the rest of the world on 19 November – supply was very limited. Pre-orders sold out almost immediately and very few opportunities to buy a new console have appeared since.

Sony apologised in the wake of those pre-orders, admitting that the process “could have been a lot smoother”. It suggested at the same time that “more PS5s will be available through the end of the year".

Other retailers have suggested that more consoles could arrive before Christmas, but not indicated when they expect there to be enough supply to meet the overwhelming demand for the console.

While some PS5s have appeared at some retailers since, they appear to be added with little warning and in only low quantities, leaving fans frustrated as they hunt around the internet for a chance to buy the new console.

Sony has been largely quiet on the amount of consoles that are being manufactured since then, and how many might be available. But supply looks severely constrained, and rival Microsoft admitted that its Xbox Series X and S might not be readily available until April next year.

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