Massive Issue Forces PlayStation 5 Sales to Pale in Comparison To the PlayStation 4

Sony has failed to live up to expectations in terms of sales with regard to its latest console when compared to the sales of PlayStation 4. In its recent earnings report, the company revealed that the present device did sell well in 2021, but couldn’t overtake its predecessor.

Industry insider Daniel Ahmad, on Twitter, shared the stats related to how well the PS5 sold last year. While showing a sales graph in his tweet, he wrote that there is a big reason for PS5 failing to beat PS4.

And yes, it’s nothing to do with less demand. In fact, it’s the opposite of that.

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PlayStation 5 vs PlayStation 4 sales comparison

As mentioned above, the latest console sold 17.3 million units by the end of 2021, as opposed to PS4’s 20.2 million units sold in the same timeframe. It’s important to note that PS5 couldn’t handle the increasing demands of consumers throughout 2021. And that’s because of the major chip shortage crisis which is still going on.

Simply put, the comparison between the two PlayStation consoles can’t be justified, considering the vastly different circumstances the consoles went through. Had it not been for the chip shortage, PS5 would have witnessed a better result, for sure. People want the newest device to play the best available games, but there are not enough units available.

Moreover, Sony also revealed during the earnings report that the issue of less supply for PS5 will continue to stretch in this year as well. This is sad news for potential PlayStation 5 buyers planning to purchase the device in 2022.

Here’s an excerpt, via VentureBeat, from the Sony Group Corporation’s earnings report:

“Sales are expected to be lower than the October forecast due to an expected decrease in PlayStation 5 hardware unit sales, primarily due to shortages in the supply of components, especially semiconductors.”

In terms of pure demand, PS5 saw higher numbers, or nearly equal, to its previous-gen counterpart. Thus, the only reason the present gen product couldn’t defeat PS4 is mostly due to supply issues.

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