The accompanying reason has less to do with the COVID-19 pandemic; more to do with the Japanese tech giant’s expectations for the machine relative to its demand.
While Sony is already certain not to delay the launch on its hotly-anticipated PlayStation 5, reports are now surfacing that the machine could be supplied in fewer quantities than there were for the PlayStation 4 in 2013.
Accordingly, Sony could be mulling shipments of only five to six million units through the end of March in 2021. While the company sold 7.5 million PS4 consoles during the same launch period years ago, the reason behind this isn’t what you’re thinking of.
Expectations on demand
The culprit behind the purported limited supply of Sony’s PlayStation 5 has less to do with the current global pandemic and has more to do with Sony’s expectations for the device in terms of demand. Right off the bat, the machine is seen as a piece of more technically-ambitious equipment than its predecessor.
As it is, the PlayStation 5’s price is almost sure to be higher at the time of its launch more than ever. Most analysts in the industry think that the PS5, alongside the Xbox Series X, could launch with a heftier price tag of $450. Meanwhile, game developers are also expecting even higher pricing, at around $500 to $550, which is significantly up from the $400 starting price of the previous generation.
Talking about its launch, the PlayStation 5’s arrival couldn’t be too far off. Its mass production is, reportedly, commencing in June, and right on schedule. And once the system goes into production, containing leaks is almost next to impossible.
Although the COVID-19 pandemic may not have driven a wedge in the PlayStation 5’s production capacity, the global repercussions of the current health crisis could still affect the deals that may become available when the machine finally launches.
The end justifies the means
Similar to the Xbox Series X, the PlayStation 5 is also slated to move away from the hard-drive-based storage of the previous consoles to fast SSD storage.
Sony’s PlayStation 5 is also revealed to be equipped with an octa-core Zen 2-based CPU, plus an RDNA 2 GPU, which is claimed to generate up to 10.3 TFLOPS. With these alone, the alleged hefty price of the machine is only to be expected down the line.
Meanwhile, the PlayStation 5’s essential design is yet to be unveiled by Sony. But if we are to base its aesthetics from its recently-outed DualSense controller, the next-gen console might have a futuristic design, one that banks on a two-tone, white and black aspiration
Image used courtesy of PlayStation/YouTube Screenshot
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