Sony forced to cut PS5 production by 4 million due to yield problems - report [Update]
Sony has denied reports that it's facing manufacturing issues with the PS5's chip.
Update: Sony has reached out to Games Industry to say that it has not made any reductions to PS5's production capacity since mass production began.
"While we do not release details related to manufacturing, the information provided by Bloomberg is false," said Sony in a statement. "We have not changed the production number for PlayStation 5 since the start of mass production."
Original story: Sony has run into production troubles with the PlayStation 5's custom SoC (system on chip), essentially the brain of every console. According to a Bloomberg report, the company is seeing yields as low as 50%.
As a result, Sony has now reduced its production forecast by 4 million units. The new target is now down to 11 million units (from 15 million) to be manufactured by the end of March 2021 (end of fiscal). Bloomberg's sources sate that while yields are improving, they're not where they need to be.
You may recall that Sony upped its PS5 production capacity just last July, in anticipation of predicted high demand for PS5 this holiday and into the first quarter of next year.
As the report points out, this could create stock shortages if demand is as high as Sony expects it to be. Yield problems, of course, are nothing new, and are a reality of modern chip manufacturing. That said, those figures need to be stable for Sony to be able to accurately predict production capacity.
We expect PS5 price and pre-order date to be revealed soon, likely at this week's PS5 Showcase. Until then, we've prepared a handy PS5 pre-order guide rounding up the specs, where to pre-order when they do open, and more.