Sony PS5 production getting hit by covid-19 lockdown, talks about the launch time frame

Sony has been building a lot of hype around its upcoming gaming console, the PS5 or PlayStation 5. The Japanese tech firm has even gone ahead and confirmed that the launch of PS5 is scheduled for later this year. But in its latest financial statement for the fiscal year ending on March 31,2020, Sony has confirmed that it is indeed facing some ‘challenges’ with the production of the console.

Under the ‘Games and Network Services’ Sony states that Covid-19 lockdown, which has led to employees working from home and restrictions on international travel, is impacting the production of PS5. But the firm still believes that the console will reach on time in the market.

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“Regarding the launch of PlayStation 5, although factors such as employees working from home and restrictions on international travel have presented some challenges in regards to part of the testing process and the qualification of production lines, development is progressing with the launch of the console scheduled for the 2020 holiday season,” says Sony.

It however, adds that there is no major challenge faced in the game software development pipeline for Sony’s own first-party studios or its partners’ studios. So, one can also expect Sony-exclusive titles to arrive on time as well.

For PS4 sales, Sony says that the sales figures of the console decreased 333.3 billion-yen (14%) year-on-year to 1 trillion 977.6 billion yen (a 12% decrease on a constant currency basis). That is because of the decrease in PlayStation 4 hardware sales and game software sales, as well as the impact of foreign exchange rates. On the other hand, the operating income decreased 72.7 billion yen year-on-year to 238.4 billion yen.