Sony Has The PS5 Situation Under Control
The coronavirus outbreak is having quite an impact on the gaming industry. It's understandable, then, that gamers would be concerned about the next console generation, which is meant to launch later this year. Well, for Sony die-hards who have questions about the state of the PlayStation 5, you may be in luck.
Sony has issued a statement on its official website to give customers an update on how things are going for the company and its upcoming projects. Sony begins the note by extending well wishes and condolences to everyone affected by the spread of COVID-19. Then, the company lays out its mission statement: "The Sony Group is primarily focused on ensuring the safety of its employees and their families, as well as its customers and other stakeholders, in addition to preventing the further spread of the virus. Sony is also striving to answer the needs of society and its customers to the best of its ability, and to minimize the impact of the virus on its business."
In other words, Sony plans to be careful and take care of its people, but it also wants to make sure that fans and customers know what steps the company is taking to make it all happen. Sony follows this by breaking down the effects of the outbreak on each of the company's divisions.
When it comes to the Games & Network segment of Sony businesses, the company seems to be very optimistic about its current timetable staying relatively the same. According to the note, "Sony estimates that there will be no material impact on this business for the current fiscal year. Although no issues have emerged so far, Sony is carefully monitoring the risk of delays in production schedules for game software titles at both its first-party studios and partner studios, primarily in Europe and the U.S."
This update from Sony also comes not long after the official PlayStation 5 website was updated with some new info. According to the site, the system is still supposedly launching "holiday 2020." So that's encouraging, right? It's highly unlikely that Sony would double down on that release window if there were still any major doubts.
The mention of "production schedules for game software titles" is interesting, though. At least Sony seems to acknowledge that some aspects of its plans for 2020 aren't entirely in their control. This note doesn't mean that some highly-anticipated games won't be delayed (like the PlayStation exclusive The Last of Us Part 2), but we at least know that Sony is hoping to keep the release of the console itself on its projected path.
According to a report from GamesIndustry.biz, embattled retailer GameStop doesn't expect to see any kind of delays in new console shipments. This includes the shipments and releases of both the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X. This update came as part of a conference call discussing the company's earnings. During this call, GameStop CEO George Sherman explained to investors that they'd received no indication from either Microsoft or Sony that the new console releases would be impacted by the coronavirus outbreak.
Sherman also reportedly assured investors that there had been "minimal" impacts on any of their product shipments. This is unsurprising, considering the fact that the company refused to close for public safety precautions until earlier this week. Even then, some of those closures were enforced by local law enforcement. This was not a decision that GameStop came to lightly, so Sherman is likely to be very protective when it comes to discussing the company's future.
It should also be noted that Sherman acknowledged how unpredictable the outbreak still is at this point. According to GamesIndustry.biz, Sherman expects the first few quarters of the year to be difficult. However, he also thinks the company will see an improvement when the new consoles launch during the holiday season.
In other words, while things may look to be on track for GameStop in regards to the PlayStation 5, there's always the chance that an unforeseen shakeup could occur. It seems that GameStop is trying to cover all of its bases, but is staying relatively positive.
Despite this warning, it should come as a relief to gamers that the new console launches seem to be moving forward with relatively few snags, at least for the time being. Still, that leaves us with more than a few questions, especially if the PlayStation 5 is still supposedly on its way this year. We still haven't gotten a clear look at this console, let alone a price point, and the release is theoretically mere months away.