Why are PS5s still so hard to buy?

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Thing came out like a year ago. No closer to finding one than the day they released.

In: Economics

6 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

We’re still in a pandemic, with all the impact of that on production lines and on demand. There was a big microchip shortage that, as far as I know, is still impacting industrial users (computers, consoles, electronics, cars).

Anonymous 0 Comments

There’s an international shortage of processor chips and other hardware needed to make PS5s, partially due to the pandemic interrupting supply chains and causing backlogs at factories that make the parts, but also because a ton of people during the pandemic decided to invest in better home computers (either to farm cryptocurrency or to play video games at home since they were stuck indoors) and there’s a shortage of the chips needed to make PS5s as a result.

Likewise, there’s not a Sony PS5 factory. Instead, Sony has to rent out the use of a factory ahead of time for, say two weeks, and during those two weeks the factory will make PS5s. The problem is that if it turns out you sold out immediately, then you need to schedule another time in the future to make more PS5s, and you are at the mercy of the factory’s schedule for when they will have other openings available.

Sony would LOVE to make more PS5s and sell them all. It’s just that a perfect storm of problems is keeping that from happening.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Part of it has to do with supplies, but the biggest reason has to do with hoarding. Many people with lots of disposable cash buying up the product then selling it online at highly marked up prices. They have to do this on the down low so you have to know where to look. Basically scalpers.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Simply put, they’re in high demand.

At this point in its life, the PS5 has sold more units than the PS4 had sold at the same time, and that was one of the highest selling consoles of all time. Production isn’t slow on the PS5, but rather, demand is high.

Devices that require a significant amount of microprocessors, such as a PS5, or graphics cards, etc., are limited by how fast those chips can be made. There are very few facilities capable of doing it, and the ones that can are all at capacity all the time. They take orders years in advance. You can’t just flip a switch and boost production on PS5s, because so many other things need time on those supply lines — even modern cars need a significant amount of microprocessors.

Anonymous 0 Comments

ELI5: How can you still be in the dark about there being a pandemic, chip shortage, shipping delays, labor shortages, etc etc etc, /u/MeetYourMarioMaker ?

Anonymous 0 Comments

1000 units of PS5 are produced. 100,000 ppl want them. This month, 1000 ppl got their PS5e and are happy. The other 90,000 ppl are not