Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan confirmed that the PlayStation 5 is completely sold out despite his best efforts to have enough stock, according to an interview with the Russia’s Tass. He added that he believes the supply shortage would have happened even without COVID-19. However. despite the success of the console, launching in the middle of a pandemic was a challenge he “wouldn’t recommend” to anybody else.
“Everything is sold. Absolutely everything is sold,” he said. “I’ve spent much of the last year trying to be sure that we can generate enough demand for the product. And now… I’m spending a lot more time on trying to increase supply to meet that demand.”
The biggest issue caused by the pandemic was in pre-production, according to Ryan. Because of travel and other restrictions, “we had to do all the manufacturing preparation by camera remotely,” he said. “I mean, just imagine that for a precision device like the PlayStation 5.”
Ryan expressed relief at the success of the console during a difficult year, but said in the end that the product and sales would have likely been the same even if people weren’t stuck at home. “The way we took it to market might have been a bit different, but the actual product would have been the same,” Ryan said. “We might have had a few more to sell, but not very many; the guys on the production/manufacturing side have worked miracles.”
He said that Sony is taking a wait-and-see attitude over Microsoft’s purchase of Zenimax, including studios like Bethesda and id software. However, it sounds like the company plans to take some action in response to Microsoft’s Game Pass. “There is actually some news to come, but just not today,” he told Tass.
