Can’t buy a PS5? The Playstation shortage is over, says Sony exec

Two years after the console’s launch, the global PlayStation 5 shortage is officially over. Jim Ryan was the President of Sony Interactive Entertainment at Wednesday’s Consumer Electronics Show 2023.

“PS5 supply improved towards the end of last year,” Ryan said during a stage presentation in Las Vegas. “I’m happy to share that December was the biggest month ever for PS5 console sales, and that we’ve now sold more than 30 million units through to consumers worldwide.

“Everyone who wants a PS5 should have a much easier time finding one at retailers globally, starting from this point forward,” Ryan said.

With a pandemic in the world and severe supply chain problems worldwide, the PlayStation 5 was released on November 5, 2020. Over the past two decades, finding a used-in-the-box PS5 retail rather than one selling for exorbitant prices on the grey market has become a standard part of many’s daily life.

Last May, Sony told investors it had sold 19.3 million PlayStation 5 units, but the company said it was “very comfortable” projecting PS5 shipments of 18 million for the coming fiscal year, which ends this March.

In November 2013, the PlayStation 4 was launched. It sold over 30 million units in November 2015. So the PS5’s retail performance is roughly the same, even with the component shortages and other considerations factored in.

Where PS5’s sales figures might really matter, though, is in the number of subscribers to the revamped PlayStation Plus, which Sony said lost almost 2 million paying members as of November.