Sony and Nintendo executives are not optimistic. The shortage of components continues and will impact the production of their flagship models throughout the year. At issue: the restrictions in China due to Covid-19, with in particular radical containment measures.
Sony downsizes
Thus, Sony has just announced that the sales forecasts for the PlayStation 5 have been revised downwards: 18 million units instead of 22.6 million for the financial year ending in March 2023. The manufacturer had already was forced to revise its ambitions downwards for the financial year which ended in March 2022: 11.5 million PlayStation 5 were sold instead of the 14.8 million units planned. And Sony CFO Hiroki Totoki says:
“It would likely affect our production if the pandemic situation in China worsens, or if the lockdown expands further. »
The only good news for Sony is that all the PS5s produced are sold, as well as large quantities of video games. In addition, the manufacturer has other sources of income such as its cinema studios, its record company and its electronic devices.
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Big N is pessimistic
On the Nintendo side, CEO Shuntaro Furukawa is pessimistic and indicates that at this point there is no end in sight to the shortage of semiconductors. Sales of its Switch are down due to production issues. Nintendo forecasts a best-case scenario of selling 21 million units this fiscal year, up from 23 million last year and 28.75 million the year before.
This is all the more critical for the manufacturer as the Switches are its main source of income. Thus, Nintendo’s net profit would fall for the current fiscal year to 340 billion yen ($2.6 billion), compared to 478 billion yen in the previous fiscal year, a drop of 29%.
Currently, PlayStation 5s are still very hard to find in France, but it’s still easy to get hold of a portable Switch console, whether it’s the standard model or the newer OLED model. Note that Microsoft is also affected by the shortage of components for its Xbox Series X, which is also very difficult to obtain.
Source : wall street journal