Sony Boss Jim Ryan Says PlayStation 5 Production Is "Ramping Up Over The Summer"
The head of Sony Interactive Entertainment expects the overwhelming demand for the console to balance out in the second half of 2021.
Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan has acknowledged the PlayStation 5's continued absence from store shelves, laying out his plans to fix the shortage as the year progresses.
In an interview with Wired about the new console--which has sold 7.8 million units since March 31 despite the shortage--Ryan spoke about the steps being taken to mitigate the shortfall. "We’re working as hard as we can to ameliorate that situation," Ryan says. "We see production ramping up over the summer and certainly into the second half of the year, and we would hope to see some sort of return to normality in terms of the balance between supply and demand during that period."
The lack of PlayStation 5s on the market has not hurt the console's performance when compared to its predecessor, however. The Wired article mentions that according to Sony, from the November launch to the end of March, PS5 owners have spent 81 percent more time on the console than early PS4 owners did during its first months on the market in 2013-2014. Sony also notes an 11 percent rise in software sales between the PS5 and PS4 in that same period of time.
The PlayStation 5's momentum will only continue with Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart launching on June 11 and both Horizon Forbidden West and the next God of War also on the way. In fact, PlayStation Studios head Hermen Hulst has confirmed 25 first-party PS5 games are in development, with around half of them being entirely new IP.
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