Sony PlayStation 5 sales surge in US as supply woes ease

SONY Group led a big jump in video-game hardware sales in the US last month, in the latest sign of improving PlayStation 5 (PS5) supply.

The Tokyo-based entertainment giant drove a 45 per cent spurt in US games hardware sales to US$1.3 billion in November, according to the NPD Group. Back home in Japan, the company’s in-demand console can now be purchased with fewer preconditions from retailers, while second-hand outlets are offering less to resellers. Domestic market tracker Famitsu has also registered an uptick in PS5 sales.

“Strong hardware performance in the month of November was due primarily to a significant increase in PlayStation 5 volume when compared to a year ago,” said NPD analyst Mat Piscatella. “PlayStation 5 was November’s best-selling hardware platform in both unit and dollar sales, while Nintendo Switch ranked 2nd across both measures.”

Sony said in early November that shortages of PlayStation 5 consoles are easing as Covid-related chip and logistics snarls end. The company is assembling machines at a faster rate than it had planned and will make more towards the year-end shopping season, chief financial officer Hiroki Totoki said at its most recent earnings call.

Supply of the PS5 has chronically lagged demand since its launch two years ago, and only now is its availability normalising. Some Japanese retailers are now processing orders and purchases of the console without requiring a store-issued credit card. Noah Shop, one of the country’s bigger electronics resellers, has reduced the amount it offers for second-hand PS5 models to 72,000 yen (S$709). The retail price for the console starts at 49,478 yen in Japan when purchased new. BLOOMBERG