PS5 shortages are expected to extend into next year due to high levels of demand, Sony’s Chief Financial Officer, Hiroki Totoki has said.

　　Last month we already reported that shortages for Sony’s next-gen console aren’t expected to end this year, but according to Sony, shortages might even extend into 2022. At least, that’s what Sony’s Chief Financial Officer told investors following the company’s most recent financial earnings.

　　“As I said earlier, we’re aiming for more sales volume than the PS4 [during year 2]”, Totoki already told investors last month. “But can we drastically increase the supply? No, that’s not likely. The shortage of semiconductors is one factor, but there are other factors that will impact on the production volume. So, at present, we’d like to aim at [beating] second year sales of 14.8 million, which was the second year of PS4.”

　　In its most recent earnings report, Sony reported that PS5 sales have surpassed 7.8 million units, thereby outpacing initial PS4 sales with launches of both consoles aligned over the same time period. An impressive feat considering the ongoing supply problems. Sony has said that it aims to produce more PS5 consoles to meet demand, but as now pointed out by Sony’s CFO, the company probably still won’t be able to meet demand.

　　“I don’t think demand is calming down this year and even if we secure a lot more devices and produce many more units of the PlayStation 5 next year, our supply wouldn’t be able to catch up with demand,” Sony’s CFO apparently secretly told investors (as now reported by Bloomberg).

　　The executive assured an analyst that, despite that it seems that stay-at-home demand is leveling off, demand for Sony’s next-gen console isn’t expected to drop off easily.

　　“We have sold more than 100 million units of the PlayStation 4 and considering our market share and reputation, I can’t imagine demand dropping easily,” Totoki said.

　　The PlayStation 5 is available globally now. Sony released its console back in November of last year.