Just about everyone in the games industry is aware of the massive stock shortages affecting the manufacturing of PlayStation 5 consoles around the world, all of which has been spurred on by a number of global factors.
As a result, shoppers both online and offline have been scurrying for almost 12 months to get their hands on Sony's newest games machine. While it hasn't stopped the PS5 from selling more than 10 million units in record time, it's put a lot of frustration on consumers trying to pick one up. This no doubt is only going to get more competitive as we head into Black Friday and then the Christmas holidays.
Naturally, one of the most common reasons for the shortages has been attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic, however, another is now being put down to cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin. That's according to Chris Mut, the CEO of games hardware manufacturer Nerdytec, who shared his thoughts on the current state of PS5 stock and chip shortages.
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"PlayStation 5, computers, new cars: many electrical goods have been barely available for months or are significantly more expensive. The main cause: a global shortage of microchips because the semiconductors are missing, production comes to a standstill - and with it sales," Mut tells T3.
"An important reason for the high demand for chips can apparently also be cryptocurrencies such as bitcoins. The production of digital currencies - so-called mining - requires high computing power," he explains as one of the reasons for the cause. Mut also notes bottlenecks among suppliers for the chip industry during the COVID pandemic as another source of the issue.
"The demand for microchips has exceeded supply in some areas," he continues. "The result: manufacturers of electronic devices have to cut back or stop production and sales at times, which is the reason for the shortage of chips. The increased demand became apparent in the last few years. Among other things, international delivery problems and drastic changes in the COVID crisis, as well as some political decisions, are further exacerbating the bottleneck."
As a result of all of this, the Nerdytec CEO believes the chip shortage will take "at least a few more months" to rectify. This is more promising than comments made by Sony and Microsoft earlier this year, with representatives for both believing it would be well into 2022 before demand is met. Regardless of this, it still is possible to pick up a PS5 console if you know where to go. You can start by heading over to the official T3 PS5 restock tracker.
