Sony on track for PS5 launch despite supply-chain challenges

Latest PlayStation console expected to launch globally in the final quarter of 2020

Sony’s PlayStation 5 is “on track” for a full global launch later this year, according to the head of the Japanese company’s video-gaming division, despite fears that the coronavirus emergency could curtail supplies of the long-awaited console.

As Sony prepares to unveil the PS5’s first slate of games at an online showcase next week, manufacturing of the new console has begun, said Jim Ryan, president and chief executive of Sony Interactive Entertainment.

“It will ramp [up] over the course of the summer,” he said. “People are quite surprised by this but we are on track . . . We believe we’ll have quantities sufficient to support a global launch.”

The console’s predecessor, PlayStation 4, sold about 4.5m units in its launch quarter when it went on sale in late 2013. Some analysts had speculated that Sony might delay or stagger the PS5 launch in different regions if production was unable to exceed that number in time for the holiday shopping season this year.

“Our original assumption was there was potential to have a bigger launch than PS4,” said Piers Harding-Rolls, games analyst at Ampere Analysis. “The question mark was over the supply chain and availability of the product.”

Due to travel restrictions during the pandemic, Sony’s hardware engineers have been unable to visit factories in China, meaning they have to use cameras to build prototypes and oversee the production line. Its software developers are also integrating the console’s code base while working remotely.

“We feel that, not just us, but our publishing partners too, everybody looks on track to have their games coming before the holidays,” Mr Ryan said.

Next week, on June 4, Sony will for the first time reveal several new games that are in development for PS5, from both its in-house studio and third-party publishers. The livestream on Twitch and YouTube could also give players a first look at the console’s hardware design, after Sony showed off the PS5 controller last month.

Unveiling a strong software line-up will be key to justifying a price that analysts expect could exceed $450 when the PS5 goes on sale in the final quarter of 2020, despite expectations that the economic downturn triggered by Covid-19 lockdowns will linger well into next year.

“We always try to be sensitive to the world in which we introduce our products,” Mr Ryan said. “In our business, value typically manifests itself in the quality and range of games that are available . . . That is why we are going to the trouble that we will go to next week when we show the games.”

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Mr Harding-Rolls said there would “undeniably be an impact” from the economic downturn, even among early adopters who are usually prepared to pay top dollar for the latest tech.

But Sony is likely to make several upcoming games exclusive to the PS5, in contrast to Microsoft’s forthcoming rival Xbox Series X, which has emphasised compatibility with older consoles.

“This is Sony’s key differentiator,” Mr Harding-Rolls said.

While gamers wait for the next-generation Xbox and PlayStation, they are playing on their existing consoles and smartphones in record numbers. After PlayStation Network hit 103m monthly active users in December, Sony has reported “absolutely unparalleled” activity in recent weeks, Mr Ryan said, with 50 per cent more users than ever before spending an average of a third longer in each gaming session.

“Keeping the network resilient has been a big challenge,” he added. “We’ve had hardly any downtime at all.”

However, as lockdowns begin to ease, that gaming frenzy is starting to taper off. “Peak engagement really came in late March and through the course of April,” Mr Ryan said. “It is trending gently down as you would expect but it remains at very high levels.”