PS5 could change its internal design to keep up with demand

PS5 Digital Edition — (Image credit: Sony)

The PS5 might have to be redesigned to keep up with demand, Sony's CFO has hinted.

As first spotted by T3, the comment came as part of Sony's annual earnings report, where the subject of PS5 stock came up. "The shortage of semiconductors is one factor, but there are other factors that will impact on the production volume," said CFO Hiroki Totoki, before adding that Sony has the means to cope, saying "for example, we could find maybe a secondary resource, or by changing the design."

It's a pretty big statement from Totoki, and gives a look at just how strained the demand of semiconductor parts are for Sony's next-gen console. The lack of semiconductor parts needed to produce the PS5 is nothing new, after all, as manufacturer AMD previously revealed that they expected "some tightness" in the coming few months due to semiconductor shortages.

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Of course, Totoki isn't talking about a massive overhaul of the PS5 here. Rather than talking about fundamentally changing the design of the console on a noticeable level, the CFO is instead theorizing about changing the internal schematics of the console itself to better suit manufacturing. Here's hoping there's an increase in semiconductor parts in the not-too-distant future.

Stock of all three next-gen consoles from Sony and Microsoft has been relatively hard to come by for months now. In the UK and US in particular, scalpers have repeatedly claimed thousands upon thousands of units of the PS5, Xbox Series X, and Xbox Series S, with one UK retailer even cancelling 1,000 orders placed by scalpers, after over 60,000 consoles were purchased by scalpers in the final month of 2020. UK politicians are still aiming to take action over scalpers, but for many it's been several months of trying to place an order for a next-gen console with no success.

Hirun Cryer is a freelance reporter and writer with Gamesradar+ based out of U.K. After earning a degree in American History specializing in journalism, cinema, literature, and history, he stepped into the games writing world, with a focus on shooters, indie games, and RPGs, and has since been the recipient of the MCV 30 Under 30 award for 2021. In his spare time he freelances with other outlets around the industry, practices Japanese, and enjoys contemporary manga and anime.