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Bloomberg: It's Going to Get Even Harder to Buy a PlayStation 5 (chip shortage)

gundalf

Member
Turismo was on Geforce Now datamine and and it's been accurate thus far.

Lol totally forgot about that and some people will go mad if it happens. Although I think for the GT franchise it would be a net positive since it would cement it more in the mainstream world to be regarded as *the* "driving simulator".
 
I thought the same in the beginning...
BUT: there are limited chips available, and I guess that every cheap PS4 they build would reduce the amount of PS5 they can build (*)
And the plan was to produce as many PS5 as possible during a pandemic which reduces supply of parts. I think in "normal" times Sony would think about releasing a "PS4 super slim" for low cost

I guess they would be able to sell a PS4 with shrinked chips for below $200 for a profit, and with some bundled stuff (e.g. some games you only get with PS+ subscription like the collection) they would sell like hot cake and increase the number of PS+/PS Now subscribers.
But if you can not produce enough of your major, profitable expensive product, why should you spend resources to build something cheaper and be able to make less of the expensive product?

(*) eg. TSMC can only produce a limited number of 7nm Wafer per month, and AMD (and that Sony) only gets a certain number of it. Sony can decide if these Wafer get PS4 SoCs or PS5 SoCs baked on it, so every Wafer with PS4 SoCs will reduce the amount of PS5 Sony can make. And because the number of overall wafer is limited Sony could not just order more...

Sony has this fixated idea that whoever comes out first in the new generation will win, it's almost like they're feeling insecure about their position. Which is weird, PS4 was one of the most successful console out there, and yet here they were feeling insecure that Xbox would out race them in the new generation

Sony should've pushed of PS5 release to 2021, it's pandemic after all, stock up on the chips and supplies, while still continuing to produce PS4
 
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jhjfss

Member
(*) eg. TSMC can only produce a limited number of 7nm Wafer per month, and AMD (and that Sony) only gets a certain number of it. Sony can decide if these Wafer get PS4 SoCs or PS5 SoCs baked on it, so every Wafer with PS4 SoCs will reduce the amount of PS5 Sony can make. And because the number of overall wafer is limited Sony could not just order more...
ps4 does not use 7nm wafers. Their dies are on the 16nm process which has a separate allocation (I believe).
 

Neff

Member
PS5 is a really, really good PS4

PS5s are available to those who are willing to invest time and effort into obtaining one

That is all

be careful out there
 

MonarchJT

Banned
Why? Because there is a chip shortage worldwide?
Maybe that's why with hindsight Sony decided to release PS4 versions of their main titles?
because games can't sell how much they expect to sell seen that usebase is low. and i don't think they will destroy a generation by releasing crossgen games for longer instead of taking the bull by the horns once and for all and infinitely expand the user base by releasing on PC.
 

Stooky

Member
Sony has this fixated idea that whoever comes out first in the new generation will win, it's almost like they're feeling insecure about their position. Which is weird, PS4 was one of the most successful console out there, and yet here they were feeling insecure that Xbox would out race them in the new generation

Sony should've pushed of PS5 release to 2021, it's pandemic after all, stock up on the chips and supplies, while still continuing to produce PS4
Coming out first can secure a strong footing. Giving MS a whole year to sell with no competition is not good, MS would control the narrative. It would cost Sony too much money and would crash sony stock if they pushed PS5 release a year. That is not an option.
 

Lognor

Banned
There was still so much potential left for PS4. That thing has one of the most diverse console library, even rivaling PS2. Sony made a big mistake for killing it early I think.

They made a gamble sacrificing PS4 for PS5, and now even PS5 is in shaky footing. Had they not kill PS4 early, I think it had the potential to sell 135-140million by the end of its life
Yeah, they should have never made that ridiculous claim "we believe in generations." It was likely in response to Microsoft saying their games would be cross gen for at least the first year and Sony wanted to win some points with that statement. When in actuality their plan was to make most of their games cross gen. This wasn't a decision made in mid development. But with that statement, you're right. They really did sacrifice the PS4 for the PS5. And now they can't make enough PS5's. They left a ton of money on the table.
 

Turk1993

GAFs #1 source for car graphic comparisons
Here in Belgium they do a lottery every 2 months to give a chance to buy a PS5 with R&C and a extra controller for 650 €. I signed 4 times but didn't get it FFS. I hope i can grab one before GT7 launches or hopefully a GT edition at launch.
 

Marty-McFly

Banned
PS5 may have a very hard time matching PS4 lifetime sales due to the long term shortages. Unfortunate timing to hurt a consoles momentum.
 

mckmas8808

Mckmaster uses MasterCard to buy Slave drives
Microsofts push into PC and streaming gaming makes it look like they had knowledge from the future at this point.

I'm not sure if you realize, but that number would make the PS5 one of the fastest selling consoles in human history. Just slightly behind the PS4 (which was the fastest).
 

John Wick

Member
I had to pay a scalper £650 for a PS5 with one game for my nephew. His birthday was fast approaching and we just couldn't seem to secure one at retail. As soon as I bought one only for my brother to manage to get one from Argos. Had to travel 73 miles to pick it up though. Leaving me with a spare scalped console.
 

John Wick

Member
Microsofts push into PC and streaming gaming makes it look like they had knowledge from the future at this point.
Whaaat?
MS main platform is PC. They were late to the initial party(Steam). They missed the boat there. As for streaming I think Sony were already doing it. Same with Google Stadia and various PC platforms.
 

nush

Member
Well, Sony is doing it. Why can’t Microsoft?

Sony have a huge electronics segment to their business and have been manufacturing electronic devices for decades. Also they are not "Doing it" they only have a $500 million investment in another company that is. These plants cost billions to make.


Sony-Organization-chart.jpg
 

Winter John

Member
Fine by me. I'm more than happy to wait until the revision comes out and they drop the price. No doubt the revision will look better too.
 

KungFucius

King Snowflake
PC gamers have pretty distinct tastes. As we've seen these games do OK. Im not sure linear single player games are super-duper popular on PC, they typically enjoy sandbox leaning titles with complex systems and modularity.
What the fuck are you talking about? PC gamers range from people who just play WoW to console gamers with more money to whatever niche of gamers you are talking about. There is a big swath of the PC market that will eat up PS ports.
 

CeeJay

Member
No, Taiwan has been experiencing their worst drought in 50 years since 2020, and that's where TSMC (the biggest chip manufacturer is). Without water to cool the plants, their manufacturing is extremely limited to the point where TSMC is trying to build a plant in Arizona.


That sounds crazy to me, they are having problems with it been too hot and dry in Taiwan so are planning to build a new plant somewhere else in the world really hot and dry?
 

ManaByte

Gold Member
That sounds crazy to me, they are having problems with it been too hot and dry in Taiwan so are planning to build a new plant somewhere else in the world really hot and dry?

Arizona isn't suffering from a drought.

CA is (but that's really man-made due to stupidity over a little fish), which is why they'd build in it AZ as opposed to CA where a lot of tech companies are.
 
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CeeJay

Member
Arizona isn't suffering from a drought.

CA is (but that's really man-made due to stupidity over a little fish), which is why they'd build in it AZ as opposed to CA where a lot of tech companies are.
If water is such an important resource for manufacture why not build somewhere with a high annual rainfall like Northern Europe for example.
 

yurinka

Member
Not looking good for next gen consoles, they're dying before fully maturing. Forcing the release in 2020 was a big mistake I think...
They are not dying. PS5 is on track to achieve Sony's goals, which for this FY means to be the best selling console ever after that same amount of quarters. Before it, PS4 and Switch set many gaming history records on that front.

On the software side PS4 is the console that sold more games in gaming history, and PS5 seems to be doing a better start in that side. On top of that, today they also have add-on stuff (DLC, MTX) and game subscription, meaning they make now a lot of money more this generation with each console than they did several generations ago.

In terms of game division, Sony is posting gaming history records on revenue for any console maker, and Nintendo in profits. MS doesn't break gaming history records but is performing better with Series than in the previous generation with XBO.

The console market has been growing in the recent many years and it's expected to continue growing in the next ones.
 
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Fat Frog

I advertised for Google Stadia
It's not like PS5 or Series X had a load of next gen games anyway...

Current gen are fine for 2022/2023.(especially Xbox cloud ones)
 
Sony have a huge electronics segment to their business and have been manufacturing electronic devices for decades. Also they are not "Doing it" they only have a $500 million investment in another company that is. These plants cost billions to make.


Sony-Organization-chart.jpg
$7B. You’re telling me MS doesn’t have $7B?
 

NikuNashi

Member
Even without the pandemic and chip shortage it would still be impossible to walk into a store and buy a PS5. Everyone wants one,demand is unprecedented. I would love to know the percentage of Xbox Series owners who intended to buy a PS5 but switched to Xbox due to scarcity, I would guess around 30%.
 

nush

Member
$7B. You’re telling me MS doesn’t have $7B?

I can see why you're not the CEO of a platform holder.


Last fiscal year they made 3.7 Billion in revenue for the Xbox department. That's revenue, not profit. So you expect them to dump over 2 years worth of revenue into a hole wait 2 years or so to maybe see a ROI?

Or, like they have

Invest in strategies to get their software onto many platforms, thus reducing their risk exposure of manufacturing and selling as many plastic game boxes (There's no profit in the hardware) as possible and increasing software sales?
 

nush

Member
Even without the pandemic and chip shortage it would still be impossible to walk into a store and buy a PS5. Everyone wants one,demand is unprecedented. I would love to know the percentage of Xbox Series owners who intended to buy a PS5 but switched to Xbox due to scarcity, I would guess around 30%.

Sony picked up a lot of former Xbox owners when Microsoft shit the bed at the start of the last gen, that sector of the market would probably slide back just as easy.
 

NikuNashi

Member
Invest in strategies to get their software onto many platforms, thus reducing their risk exposure of manufacturing and selling as many plastic game boxes (There's no profit in the hardware) as possible and increasing software sales?

By this logic there is only one sensible course of action, release MS games and services on Playstation.
 

Thaedolus

Member
My nephews got theirs last Christmas, I got mine in July and my buddy who has been ~~suffering~~ without one got his yesterday. As far as I give a shit the shortage is over.
 
I can see why you're not the CEO of a platform holder.


Last fiscal year they made 3.7 Billion in revenue for the Xbox department. That's revenue, not profit. So you expect them to dump over 2 years worth of revenue into a hole wait 2 years or so to maybe see a ROI?

Or, like they have

Invest in strategies to get their software onto many platforms, thus reducing their risk exposure of manufacturing and selling as many plastic game boxes (There's no profit in the hardware) as possible and increasing software sales?
Dude, you made a comment that MS got into PC gaming because they had foresight regarding the chips shortage. I said that if they had the foresight they would have built a chip manufacturing plant instead (whether alone or in partnership). And you think that it’s just the Xbox division that uses chips? They went to PC because they could not grab market share.

And it’s not like only the Xbox division would use the chips. MS makes laptops and tablets too

Also, Ken Kutaragi was the CEO of a platform holder. That didn’t work out well during the PS3 era. Don Mattrick was the head of xbox.
 

Needlecrash

Member
I bought a PS5 yesterday from Target. The discord group I'm in helped me get a system and I've only been looking for less than a week. It's harder to get one but it's not impossible.
 

Abriael_GN

RSI Employee of the Year
Noticed this just today, but the publically-stated target by Sony for this fiscal year has always been "above 14.8 million" (repeated during every financial conference) not 16 million, and Sony said to its investors in august that it had secured enough chipset to achieve it. They never updated or increased that target.

So yeah, this sounds like Mochizuki (who definitely isn't new to this kind of antics) inventing a higher target and prophetizing that they won't make it, but will make 200k more than what their publicly stated target actually has always been, so when the number comes out in that ballpark, he can say "hey! I was right!" while clickbaiting about an alleged (and likely false) reduction now.

Take whatever he, his "sources familiar with Sony" and Bloomberg say with a massive grain of salt.
 
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