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Sony says PlayStation 5 launch not delayed by coronavirus — at least, not yet

Aaron Mamiit
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Amid the global disruptions caused by the spread of the new coronavirus, officially known as COVID-19, Sony claims that the planned launch of the PlayStation 5 later this year remains on track.

In a statement on the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the company’s operations, Sony said that it expects “no material impact” for its gaming and network services segment for the current fiscal year.

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Additionally, a spokeswoman for Sony told Bloomberg that the company does not see “any notable impact” from the disruptions caused by the coronavirus on the release of the PlayStation 5.

Sony reported various shutdowns for its offices and manufacturing plants across the world. The company also said that its business has been affected by travel restrictions, which has prevented engineers from Japan moving to other countries to help with new product launches and provide instructions on manufacturing processes.

With the end of the COVID-19 pandemic not yet in sight, it remains to be seen if shutdowns and restrictions mandated by national governments will indeed have no effect on the PlayStation 5’s launch. While it may be true that the console will still be released on schedule, production shutdowns may result in a lower number of units available upon launch, leading to supply shortages while manufacturing capacities recover and work to catch up to the demand.

Sony, however, flagged possible delays in the production schedules for games being developed by first-party studios and partner studios, particularly in the United States and Europe. There have been no definite delays announced so far though, with The Last of Us Part 2 still expected to roll out in May and Ghost of Tsushima in June.

PlayStation 5 still on track for 2020 holidays

Sony has not yet revealed a specific release date for the PlayStation 5, but it has confirmed that the console will launch in time for the 2020 holiday season to go head-to-head with the Xbox Series X.

PlayStation 5 lead system architect Mark Cerny recently discussed the console’s architecture in a presentation, which included details regarding its solid-state drive, processing power, and graphics processing unit. Cerny also talked about the PlayStation 5’s backward compatibility feature, which was later clarified to eventually work for most PlayStation 4 games.

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