Supplies of the Playstation 5 and high-end PC graphics cards will continue to be short for at least the first part of 2023, it seems.
Just days before Christmas, and the annual game of trying to find a games console in stock is proving to be no more fun than it was last year. In particular, since the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X both launched just over 12 months ago, trying to track either down in an actual shop has been akin to managing to a get a straight answer from a member of the gover… nope, no politics. But you see where this is going.
Even before the pandemic came along, there was a problem bubbling with regards to the supply of certain semiconductors that sit at the heart of assorted pieces of consumer electronics. Cryptocurrency mining, for instance, had eaten up supplies of top end graphics cards, the kind that extreme PC gamers had otherwise been snapping up. This in turn had been driving up prices, and increasing scarcity for certain top end components.
Even before the pandemic, there was a problem bubbling with regards to the supply of certain semiconductors
But then, of course, along came the pox, and supplies were suddenly a whole lot thinner. It’s a problem that blighted the launch of the consoles, and caused frustrations when it was predicted last year that supply problems would continue to haunt 2022. Turns out those predictions were entirely correct too, and now we’re being told that similar issues are striking 2023.
The CEO of semiconductor giant Intel is Pat Gelsinger. Apart from having a terrific karaoke name, he’s confirmed that even though manufacturers are trying to cope with rising demand, they’re lagging behind. “The overall semiconductor shortage is quite significant and the semiconductor industry was growing about 5% per year before COVID”, he told a news conference, giving an update on the state of things.
An ironic message perhaps. It appears play does have some limits, owing to the supply of semiconductors. Photo by Alex Davidson.
He added that Covid’s impact led to supply chains going “negative”, just as demand “exploded to 20% year-on-year”.
He cautioned “that exploding demand has persisted”, and that as a result of this, supply shortages will be a headline until well into next year. You can read more on his cheery news conference here.
This shortage will in turn thus hit the gaming market again, and there’s a sporting chance that it’ll be as tricky to get hold of a PlayStation 5 in six months as it is now. Laughably, Sony is launching variants of the console in different colours at the start of 2022, so now you can look at varying iterations of a machine it’s still all-but-impossible to buy.
It’ll be as tricky to get hold of a PlayStation 5 in six months as it is now
That said, the PlayStation 5 has gone on to become the fastest-selling console of all time, so somebody out there is getting them. But the message is clear: high end games consoles, and high end graphics cards for PCs, are not going to be in bountiful supply for some time to come.
Same time next year?
