Having previously told investors that the current PS5 inventory situation would not improve until 2022, Sony is now muddying the waters by claiming that it hopes to ease the current PS5 inventory shortage by late 2021.

Jim Ryan, head of Sony Interactive Entertainment, told Wired: "We are doing everything we can to remedy that situation. We expect production to ramp up over the summer and into the second half of this year, and we are hopeful that the balance between supply and demand will return to normal during that period."

This clearly contradicts comments made by Hiroki Totoki, Sony's CFO, at a company presentation last month. He said, "I don't see demand settling down this year, and even if we secure more PlayStation 5 devices and produce more units next year, supply will not be able to keep up with demand."

Of course, since Ryan's latest comments were made to the domestic media, this is probably a sign that PlayStation wants to be more optimistic, at least in public. Behind (mostly) closed doors, the company is probably not so bullish about its ability to meet the overwhelming demand for its seemingly unabated system.

PS5 is suffering from inventory problems for essentially the same reason that all popular high-tech products are in short supply. This shortage of critical components is affecting not only game consoles like the PS5 and Xbox Series X, but also the production of electric cars and medical devices.

Sony has previously discussed the possibility of redesigning the PS5 to avoid this problem, with production of a revised PS5 hardware model expected to begin in 2022. Of course, if Ryan's comments come to fruition and Sony is able to return to normalcy, drastic measures such as hardware improvements may not be necessary.

In any case, it is unlikely that the PS5 will be available in stores this year without problems. We expect the PS5 restocking disaster to last at least a little longer, especially as we approach the holiday season, when demand is expected to increase further.

If you are still trying to secure a PS5 yourself, you need to be proactive. Additionally, be sure to bookmark our PS5 Restocking Guide. It is updated daily with the latest inventory information. It should make the thankless task of actually buying a PS5 a little less daunting.