PlayStation 5 Fully Stocked For The Holidays, Aims For Record Sales, Says Sony Executive

Sony Group Corp's SONY PlayStation 5 is set to achieve its ambitious sales target of 25 million units for the year, overcoming past supply chain disruptions.

Eric Lempel, Sony's head of business operations, confirmed in an exclusive interview with CNBC that this holiday season marks the first time the PlayStation 5 is fully stocked globally.

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Lempel acknowledged the challenges Sony faced since the PS5's launch in 2020, stating: "We launched back in 2020. We suffered from the same supply chain issues that everybody was dealing with. Unfortunately, we weren't able to deliver PS5 to every consumer that wanted one."

Lempel also expressed confidence in reaching the 25 million unit shipment goal for 2023, making it a historic year for PlayStation. He expects "record-breaking sales" driven by robust demand for exclusive titles like Marvel's Spider-Man 2.

Sony's PS5 has already outperformed Microsoft Corporation's MSFT Xbox Series X in terms of demand, and Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard has raised competition concerns.

Lempel addressed the issue by emphasizing that Sony is actively seeking partnerships and expanding its first-party game catalog without solely relying on acquisitions. He said, "We have a number of ways of looking at this. In terms of great content, that's where we're focused."

He also highlighted the approach of working with external providers and developers before considering acquisitions, using Insomniac Games as an example. Lempel explained, "We're always looking to work with new partners, whether that's somebody as an external provider ... or working with a developer along the way and then acquiring them later."

PlayStation Plus Prices Rise: Lempel Explains The Move

Moreover, Lempel defended the decision to raise the prices of all its PlayStation Plus 12-month subscriptions globally by approximately 30%.

The price increase, implemented in September, affected all three tiers of subscriptions: PlayStation Plus Essential, PlayStation Plus Extra and PlayStation Plus Premium.

"Like practically everything else in the world, we have to look at our pricing and we have to adjust to market conditions," the executive said.

He added, "I’m happy to say, unlike a lot of other subscription services out there, we haven’t touched the PlayStation Plus pricing for 85% of the world in many years. So, this was the first time we did something there."

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Image credits: Michael Vi on Shutterstock.