As if buying a PS5 wasn't already hard enough, it is about to get even harder

Bloomberg reports that Sony had internally projected assembling 16 million PS5s between April 2021 and March 2022 This figure has now reportedly been reduced to 15 million units

This is not a significant decrease, as Sony had publicly stated that it would sell 148 million PS5 consoles during the current fiscal year However, it is indicative of a larger problem facing the high-tech industry, with several well-known companies cutting production or sales targets as a result of ongoing supply chain problems

Apple has already been forced to cut production of the iPhone 13 despite significantly higher demand for its latest model Similarly, Nintendo was forced to cut its Switch sales forecast by 15 million units, and Valve was forced to delay its Steam Deck portable game console by two months All due to component shortages

According to Bloomberg, Sony has been plagued by logistical problems and component shortages While most of the ongoing chip shortage is a lack of production capacity, Sony is also being affected by "uneven" vaccine distribution in the countries where its suppliers produce components

Sadly, it looks like inventory will be quite difficult to come by in the foreseeable future Sony is apparently projecting PS5 sales of 226 million units in FY2022, but the company's manufacturing partners are concerned that they may have difficulty meeting this goal

Those still hoping to win the PS5 restocking game will no doubt be disappointed or frustrated by this news As of this writing, there are eBay listings offering prices well above the MSRP of the PS5, including auctions with dozens of bids

Unfortunately, not all blame lies with Sony and the parts shortage; the PS5 has been hard to find since its release last year, with duffers using bots to buy up inventory before legitimate buyers can get their hands on it

And so far, online retailers have done a pretty lousy job of making it fair for everyone They seem to be doing very little with regard to the duffer problem, or with regard to situations such as Wal-Mart's recent restocking, where technical problems or glitches prevent users from actually completing their orders

In other words, until retailers get their act together, it doesn't matter how much inventory Sony can produce The luck-based lottery system has helped, but it is far from being universally implemented