Sony to limit PlayStation 5 launch stock to 5-6m due to higher MSRP

Sony will lower PlayStation 5 supply in 2020 to test consumer demand against a higher price tag.

@DeekeTweak

Published Apr 16, 2020 3:46 AM CDT
Updated Nov 3, 2020 11:44 AM CST

15 minutes & 25 seconds read time

Due to higher costs, Sony expects to sell less PlayStation 5 units at launch. As a result, Sony will restrict PS5 supply in an effort to test demand, sources tell Bloomberg.

Sony to limit PlayStation 5 launch stock to 5-6m due to higher MSRP 14

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According to Bloomberg, Sony will manufacture and ship 5-6 million PlayStation 5 consoles worldwide from launch until the fiscal year's end in March 2021. Higher production costs have raised the overall system's MSRP, and Sony isn't yet confident consumers will bite. Some internal estimates price the PS5 as high as $549.

Sony's production numbers align with analyst predictions of 6 million PS5 system sales in the same period. Conversely, the PlayStation 4 managed to sell 7.5 million consoles from launch in its five-month launch period. If Sony only makes 5 million PS5s available, the console will sell 50% less than the PS4 did at launch.

If Sony ships 6 million PS5s, the next-gen console will have sold 25% less than the PS4 in the period.

Sony to limit PlayStation 5 launch stock to 5-6m due to higher MSRP 35

Sony's PlayStation 5 console should be priced as premium enthusiast-grade hardware. Projections pinpoint the system at a $499 MSRP due to the specs involved, which include a high-end 7nm AMD SoC with an 8-core 3.5GHz Zen 2 CPU, a Navi RDNA 2 GPU clocked at 2.23GHz, 16GB of GDDR6 memory, and an ultra-fast 825GB SSD that hits 5.5GB/sec speeds. Sony has adjusted its internal sales projections to reflect the higher price.

The console's price tag is driven up by more expensive components. Sony and Microsoft are spending an estimated $250 on just the GDDR6 memory and PCIe 4.0 SSD flash storage alone, which could be roughly half of each system's respective consumer price tag. The PS5's SSD is also heavily customized with special additions like a 12-channel memory controller and I/O block decompression.

The PlayStation 5 costs roughly $450 to manufacture.

The PS5 will also use a more robust cooling solution, one that the system architect promised would make fans "quite happy."

As of right now, sources say COVID-19 has yet to interrupt PS5 production. But that could change as work-from-home orders are interrupting high-level corporate decision making and marketing plans for the next-gen console.

Sony is expected to reveal the PlayStation 5's internals and overall hardware in a deep-dive teardown in the coming months.

Check below for more info on everything we know about the PlayStation 5 so far:

PlayStation 5 specs and details:

Custom SoC with second-gen Navi GPU, Zen 2 CPU
8-Core, 16-thread Zen 2 CPU at 3.5GHz
Navi 2X GPU with 36 CUs on RDNA 2 at 2.23GHz
Ultra-fast 825GB SSD with up to 9GB/sec speeds
Support for 4K 120 Hz TVs
Ray-tracing enabled
8K output support (for gaming)
Plays PS4 games, BC is on a title-to-title basis
Separate games that ship on BD-XL Blu-ray discs
New controller with extensive haptic and tactile feedback

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Sony to limit PlayStation 5 launch stock to 5-6m due to higher MSRP

Sony will lower PlayStation 5 supply in 2020 to test consumer demand against a higher price tag.

PlayStation 5 specs and details:

PlayStation 5 Coverage:

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