In Sony’s latest financial report, it was revealed that PS5 sales are at the 17.3 million mark as of December 31, 2021.
While this seems like an impressive number, the PS5 has actually sold less than the PS4 in the same time frame. For reference, Sony has sold 20.2 million PS4 consoles in the same 1-year time frame.
This doesn’t mean the PS5 hype has died down though. After all, PS5s continue to be snapped up quickly in pre-order drops, meaning PS5 supply is still not enough to meet demand. Again, when compared to the PS4, the previous-gen PlayStation console was readily available in stores.
The reason for the low PS5 supply and subsequent low sales is the ongoing silicon chip shortage — the same shortage that has affected GPUs.
Regarding the ongoing shortage, Sony cut its PS5 shipment forecast in the ongoing fiscal year, indicating that the shortage will persist throughout the year. On top of this, there have been reports that Sony is continuing PS4 production through 2022 in response to the PS5 shortage.
While there are still plenty of folks who couldn’t yet secure a PS5, the silver lining is that PlayStation’s big exclusive lineup for 2022 are cross-gen releases. These cross-gen games include the upcoming Horizon Forbidden West and Gran Turismo 7, with God of War Ragnarok to follow later this year.
Source: Sony