Sony reportedly planning to slow down PlayStation 5 output in year one

While until now both of the major platform-holders have stood their ground in committing to the “Holiday 2020” released date initially planned, an anonymous insider at Sony has finally opened up a bit regarding how the continuing affects of COVID-19 is likely to impact PlayStation 5 production. Speaking exclusively to Bloomberg, the video game giant will apparently be making far fewer units than initially was planned – substantially less than how many PS4s and PS3s were previously made available at launch.

The report seemingly confirms that Sony’s initial plan had been to produce roughly 5 to 6 million units before the end of its first fiscal year (ending March 2021), when now this doesn’t look likely. The good news is that there aren’t any plans yet to delay the PS5 outright from its November-time launch window, but COVID-19 is arguably the biggest reason why neither PS5 or Xbox Series X has been given a solid dated release time.

Those watching the PS5 news closely will know that Sony did finally show some hardware in the form of the console’s new DualSense controller last week. But even that, Bloomberg’s sources suggest, was a move made in a fairly hurried fashion. The gamepad had been shared with several developers working with PS5 devkits and Sony wanted to get ahead of any potential leaks.

Game delays are of course also cropping up now due to the slowing down of production chains, with Last of Us II being put on hold “indefinitely” despite developer Naughty Dog confirming that the game is pretty much ready to go. There’s no inclination how the current crisis is affecting PS5 and Xbox Series X launch titles, but Sony has warned that it wouldn’t be surprised if some launch titles might not be there on day one.