Gaming

Sony CEO claims 'absolutely everything is sold' in PS5 inventory

In an interview with a Russian news outlet, increasing supply is now the chief concern.

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After months of anticipation, the PlayStation 5 is finally out in stores... or, rather, it was out in stores. We don't know if you heard, but it's sort of a hot item this holiday season. Now, it's next to impossible to get your belated hands on the next-gen console without shelling out ridiculous amounts of extra cash to predatory resellers. Realistically, it's gonna be a hot item for the conceivable future, too. Don't believe us? Take it from the mouth of Sony Interactive Entertainment's CEO, Jim Ryan.

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'Absolutely everything is sold' — According to Ryan during an interview with the Russian news site, TASS, the PlayStation 5's sales numbers are far outpacing the company's ability to produce them. "Everything is sold. Absolutely everything is sold,” he said, "...I’ve spent much of the last year trying to be sure that we can generate enough demand for the product. And now in terms of my executive bandwidth I’m spending a lot more time on trying to increase supply to meet that demand.”

No clear timeline on fully restocking — Although, Ryan didn't appear to give any indication on Sony's timeline for catching up to market demand (or what to do about those allegedly stolen consoles in the UK) apart from a very limited restock for Black Friday, he did let slip a few bits of additional information that will no doubt prove important factors for the PlayStation brand in the coming years: namely, what Microsoft's aggressive acquisition of game studios like Zenimax/Bethesda could mean for Sony. When asked if that particular sale could affect the availability of series like The Elder Scrolls and Fallout on the PlayStation, Ryan admitted, "That’s a decision that is out of our hands, we’ll wait and see what happens. I look forward to learning about that."

The console wars are far from over — It's not exactly the news many hoped to hear, but also not wholly surprising. "We just take a different approach. Our emphasis has been to focus on really steady, slow, but constant organic growth of our studios, selectively bolstered by acquisitions," he said, which is a polite, corporate way of saying they've almost certainly got some tricks up their sleeves down the line to make Xbox adherents jealous, too.

In the meantime, those out there lucky enough to already have their mitts on the massive (although not as massive as initially intended) console are taking full advantage of the PS5's extremely white exterior by customizing the hell out of them. We doubt there are any plans for that kind of color scheme to officially hit shelves in the future, though.