SONY has admitted that it may have to redesign the PlayStation 5 in order to put an end to months-long stock shortages of the console.
The next-gen machine launched in November last year and has effectively been sold out ever since, in part due to a global scarcity of microchips.
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Despite record-breaking sales, Sony continues to struggle to keep up with demand and is considering drastic action to turn things around.
Sony’s Hiroki Totoki said during the Japanese company’s recent earnings call that one solution could be a console redesign, T3 reports.
Blaming a worldwide shortage of semiconductors – the chips that power everything from smartphones to gaming consoles – on the PS5’s restock woes, Totoki said Sony had two ways to bypass the issue.
She said the tech titan could find a secondary source of microchips, or “change the design” of the console.
Totoki, Sony’s Chief Financial Officer, did not elaborate on what that revamp might entail.
Presumably, engineers would be tasked with changing up the console’s guts so its production lines are less reliant on parts in short supply.
Adjusting the amount of silicon in the console, for instance, could help Sony mitigate the shortage of semi-conductors.
It’s unclear whether a redesign is something that Sony is seriously considering, or is simply something that’s not been ruled out.
Totoki said the company is hoping to surpass second year sales of 14.8million, which was the second year sales figure of the PS4.
In order to achieve that, it’ll have to ramp up production somehow, which is no easy task considering the global chip shortage could last years.
