Sony wants the PS5 to exceed 14.8 million sales in the second year of the PS4 – but the scarcity of parts could prevent it

Sony plans to sell more than 14.8 million PlayStation 5 units during its second fiscal year on sale, from April 2021 to March 2022. This is more than the hugely successful PS4 launched in its second financial year – but that goal could be affected by a global semiconductor shortage. In a briefing after Sony’s Q3 FY2020 gains (transcribed by The Motley Fool), a Sony spokesman noted the company’s hopes of selling more than the numbers of second year sales of PS4. “For [the] next fiscal year, we believe there will be strong demand to continue. The second year of PS4 launch [hit] 14.8 million, we would like to exceed that level of PS4 when it comes to PS5 “, said the spokesman.

The statement came in response to a question about the PS5’s smaller stock being a consequence of the global semiconductor shortages, which inhibited how many consoles can be made – and can continue to do so. “However, we have to look at the global scarcity of semiconductors,” continued the spokesman. “When we try to increase our capacity, we face difficulties because of this global situation.” As we reported in late January, AMD is forecasting a chip shortage by the first half of 2021, caused in part by the lack of semiconductors entering the market. AMD chips help boost the PS5, which means there may be a side effect for Sony and the production of more PlayStation 5 units.

In the short term, Sony said it is on track to meet its sales target of 7.6 million units by March 31, 2020, but notes that it has not been able to meet customers’ “high level of demand”, that hopes to continue in the next fiscal year. Sony’s earnings also revealed that the company had sold 4.5 million PS5s in December 2020, matching the launch of the PS4.

In other PlayStation 5 news, a recent system update fixed the PS4 disk installation bug that affected users. If you were lucky enough to get a PS5, check out our list of the best PS5 games, and if you need help with that, see all of our PS5 instruction guides.

Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.