There have been high expectations among the gaming community ever since next-gen consoles were announced. But Sony and Microsoft have been unable to meet supply demands in India, say reports.
Bengaluru: After months of waiting for the launch of Sony’s new range of gaming console, PlayStation 5, Rishab Shankar, an avid gamer, was left empty handed as he could not get an order placed anywhere. This happened due to high demand and not enough supply of the consoles.
“I was waiting for the pre-order date desperately but was disappointed when I could not get my order in.” said Rishab.
While Sony’s consoles were released worldwide in November 2020, they went up for pre-orders in India on January 12, 2021. Within minutes they went out of stock without any confirmation about re-stocking. Since the consoles’ first shipment to the people who pre-ordered them, Sony has not re-stocked the PS5 in India.
“Sony has made no confirmations regarding the supply of the PS5’s. They were supposed to re-stock in March, but there’s no specific date that has been told to us,” said Rashiq, owner of Games The Shop in Malleshwaram, Bengaluru.
Pradeep Kumar, sales head of Sony Center in Indranagar said, “There has been no confirmation regarding the restocking of PS5. Customers constantly call to enquire; all we say is it is out of stock.”
The console gaming community has been voicing their displeasure over Sony not restocking PS5’s as well. #Restockps5india has been trending in India because of confirmation from Sony’s side.
In an interview, PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan said Sony is “very sorry” that more people haven’t been able to buy PlayStation 5 consoles, despite Sony having sold 4.5 million machines worldwide through the end of December. Current semiconductor chip shortage is also affecting Sony’s ability to re-stock their latest console.
Sony India has also asked its distribution partners not to accept further orders for the PS5 and has also asked them not to make any promises or commitments regarding the re-stocking and delivery of the PS5. Data from the Department of Commerce shows that Sony imported less than 4,000 PlayStation 5 units in India in December 2020. The numbers are very similar to the launch quantity of the PS4 in 2014 in India.
Microsoft’s consoles are also facing a similar problem. Mike Spencer, Microsoft’s head of investor relations, also said that the supply of Microsoft’s latest consoles, Xbox Series X and S is likely to be an issue all through June.
PlayStation India boss Prosenjit Ghosh at an ongoing India Gaming Conference and Show 2021, revealed that 2020 was the best year for the PS4 in India. He also said that gamers in India want better pricing when it comes to PS5. Furthermore, he mentioned that PlayStation has a “90 percent-plus market share when it comes to console gaming in India”.
There is still no confirmation from Sony about the re-stocking of their consoles, and until there is, gamers like Rishab must wait to get their hands on it and do what they love the most, and that is console gaming.
