Christmas is already starting to look cheery for gamers — that is if Sony and Valve live up to their big announcements.
Most notably, Sony has said it is increasing production of its hard-to-find PlayStation 5 consoles and bringing more supply to stores for the holiday shopping season. Valve’s Steam Deck has also been in high demand since reservations went live last year, and now the company has announced that if you have a reservation you will finally get your Steam Deck by the end of 2022.
Both companies seem to be resolving supply chain hassles in a bid to increase sales, especially during the lucrative sales period at the end of the year.
Sony's gearing up for a high-demand holiday season
During Sony’s earnings call this quarter, the company said it still plans to meet its forecast of 18 million units sold this year. After lockdowns were lifted in Shanghai, a major components production hub, Sony believes it can now accelerate production and sell many of those units around the booming holiday sales period.
Sony has promised more PS5s in the past, but with constrained supplies and new units selling out instantly, the company could not deliver on its promise. This time the company CFO Hiroki Totoki said that "we want to produce more units as soon as possible," which is a positive sign that PS5 production could really ramp up in the next quarter.
One major reason Sony is now pushing for this is that both software sales and player engagement have dropped year-on-year, according to their latest earnings report. Gaming skyrocketed during the pandemic, but now more people are returning to work and school, so this doesn’t come as a big surprise.
Sony wants to increase user engagement in the second half of the year, "primarily by increasing the supply of (PS5) hardware and promoting the new PlayStation Plus service" according to its earnings statement.
Like Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass, PlayStation Plus is Sony’s game subscription service. It is currently available for a free trial in the UK, but otherwise costs somewhere between $5 and $18 per month. PlayStation Plus combines Sony’s two other separate online services into one and is Sony’s way of increasing user engagement while giving users access to games and other perks.
Valve’s Steam Deck will ship by the end of this year
In a blog post, Valve claims that all current Steam Deck reservations will be in customers’ hands by the end of this year. Not just current reservations, either; Valve says that even if you make a new reservation now, you will get your Steam Deck by the end of the year.
Valve also claims to have cleared up supply chain shortfalls that it was experiencing, stating that "we’re continuing to ramp up production, so we’re able to produce more Decks faster than ever before."
Great news: Everyone who currently has a reservation can get their Steam Deck by the end of this year! We’ve cleared up supply chain issues, a bunch of folks got moved up to Q3, and all other reservations are now in Q4. More details here:https://t.co/Xj2yEHqpKZ pic.twitter.com/floa2xZelKJuly 29, 2022
Of late, Valve has started ramping up production of Steam Deck, even saying recently that it would start "doubling" the amount of units it ships out to customers per week.
The portable PC allows you to play PC games on-the-go and has been in very high demand since launch. Valve has released many updates for the Steam Deck in recent months and it's so impressive it won Best Gaming Innovation in our Tom’s Guide Awards 2022.
With supply chain disruptions finally out of the way, Sony and Valve are gearing up for the holiday boom this year. At long last, it looks like some relief from shipping delays is in sight for both the PS5 and Steam Deck.
