Ever since the Sony PlayStation 5 launched in November of 2020, it’s perhaps safe to say that supply has not kept up with the huge demand for the console at all. In fact, they’ve had to cut their own production estimates recently from 16 million units made to 15 million by March of this year, as the global silicon shortage continues to wreck havoc on supply chains everywhere. Things have gotten so bad that Sony are now making more PlayStation 4 consoles instead to cater to the high demand.
As reported by Bloomberg, Sony had originally planned to end production of its last generation console at the end of last year, but has since continued to manufacture them. Parts for the PlayStation 4 are much more readily available, use older components and would also cost much less to manufacture than the PlayStation 5. Sony apparently believes that they can continue to produce at least another million PlayStation 4 units throughout this year as a means of both easing the demand for the PlayStation 5 and to give itself some leeway when dealing with their manufacturing partners.
Sony themselves deny that they ever had plans to discontinue the PlayStation 4’s production, with a Sony representative telling Bloomberg that it was one of the best-selling consoles ever and that there was always going to be a crossover period between video game console generations. It’s certainly a different tune to the one Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan sang back in 2019, when he said that Sony wanted to make the transition to the PlayStation 5 as quick as possible. Of course, that was before the COVID-19 pandemic came about.
Whether or not gamers clamouring for a PlayStation 5 would settle for a console from 2013 though remains to be seen. A growing list of games have already been announced to be PlayStation 5 exclusives only, while a number of big titles also run much better on the newer hardware. Cyberpunk 2077 for instance ran much worse on the PlayStation 4, with graphical glitches and bugs ruining the experience for many gamers. There’s also no guarantee that you’d be able to play newer games beyond 2022 if you bought a brand new PlayStation 4 today.
With the Xbox Series X and Series S technically not officially available in here, Malaysian gamers are certainly between a rock and a hard place right now as they wait for more PlayStation 5 units to become available for purchase. There’s always the option of switching to PC gaming of course, but even then graphics cards are just as scarce as PlayStation 5 consoles right now. If you’re someone waiting for the PlayStation 5, let us know if you’d be willing to buy the PlayStation 4 instead as a stopgap.
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