PS5 will be $449 claims analyst, as production cut by 4 million amidst stock shortage fears

PS5 console — For once a pre-order may actually be necessary (pic: Sony)

A new report suggests Sony will undercut the price of the Xbox Series X, which could lead to a UK price tag as low as £400.

Almost all consoles sell out at launch – even the Wii U did back in the day – so the PlayStation 5 was always going to be difficult to get hold of this year. But it seems stock may be even more limited than previously assumed.

According to a Bloomberg report only around 11 million PlayStation 5 consoles will be produced this year, 4 million less than was previously planned, following problems with the console’s custom system-on-chip design.

Bloomberg’s sources claim that production yields on the system-on-chip are as low as 50%. That’s common the more complex a new design is but it means Sony will not be able to produce as many consoles this year as they originally intended.

In the past companies have dealt with limited stock by launching new consoles only in a few key countries at a time but Sony’s initial plan is to launch worldwide in all major territories.

However, the issue may not be as serious as it sounds, as fellow analyst Daniel Ahmad points out that initial PlayStation 5 production was higher than the PlayStation 4 when it was first released and the production problems have merely brought it down to that level.

Given Sony is using more expensive air freight to get consoles delivered to retailers this year the launch will probably be relatively unaffected, and instead there’s likely to be a blip in supply later next year.

Sony has still yet to say when the PlayStation 5 will be released or how much it will cost, but according to Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Masahiro Wakasugi the standard model will be $449 (£348) and the All Digital Edition around $400 (£310).

$449 is cheaper than the $499 announced for the Xbox Series X, which in the UK will cost £449. That implies that, if accurate, the UK price of the PlayStation 5 is likely to be around £400 to £425.

Sony has a new PlayStation 5 showcase scheduled for Wednesday night and while it’s widely assumed that’s when they’ll officially announce their plans, they haven’t confirmed anything about the contents of the event.

Here’s the best way to think of the above.

PS5 first six month production initially much higher than PS4.

Now due to yield issues PS5 production is slightly higher than PS4.

So there will still be more supply than PS4 launch, but the real question is how high is demand?

— Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) September 15, 2020