An analyst has claimed that PlayStation 5 US imports have greatly increased over the past few months.
Taking to Twitter, known MST Financial analyst David Gibson has said that import data appears to suggest that Sony Interactive has been increasing its imports in the US over the last couple of months with imports for September 2022 having increased by 400% Year on Year. Going by the chart that the analyst shared, Sony imported roughly 1.5million kgs in September 2021, whereas imports last month surpassed 7 million kgs. In august 2022, Sony imported nearly 5 million kgs into the US. Quite an increase in US imports, especially compared to last year.
“Lots of reports of improved PS5 supply in the past few months, but no data until now”, Gibson tweeted. “Import data into the US confirms that Sony Interactive (PlayStation) shipments in Sept were +400% YoY. Yes you read that right. Some of that will go into inventory for GoW launch for sure.”
The analyst also shared some charts for Xbox and Nintendo shipment, although the latter might not be too representative as Nintendo is transporting by air instead of sea freight.
So Nintendo? Not so good it appears with Sept -59% YoY BUT company is ramping production and is using airfreight (this data is sea freight), hence may not be as bad as shown #NintendoSwitch pic.twitter.com/X7OYWTSIxK
— David Gibson (@gibbogame) October 11, 2022
From the looks of it, Sony is gearing up for the holiday season and the launch of God of War Ragnarok next month.
Ever since the launch of the PS5 back in November 2020, there have been supply constraints due to demand exceeding the supply. Last year, Sony already warned that shortages were expected to extend into 2022. Luckily, PS5 supply has somewhat improved over the past few months - something that was already being expected by third parties.
Recently, PlayStation boss Jim Ryan announced a major price increase for the PS5 in most countries (except the US) due to the global economic environment.
“We’re seeing high global inflation rates, as well as adverse currency trends, impacting consumers and creating pressure on many industries", Ryan wrote. "Based on these challenging economic conditions, SIE has made the difficult decision to increase the recommended retail price (RRP) of PlayStation 5 in select markets across Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA), Asia-Pacific (APAC), Latin America (LATAM), as well as Canada. There will be no price increase in the United States.”
