The Wuhan coronavirus outbreak in China could impact manufacturing and shipment of the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, scheduled to release late this year. The viral outbreak has largely impacted mainland China and its manufacturing sector. A PS5 coronavirus delay could mean pushing back the release date entirely, or could simply lead to a limited supply of the PlayStation 5 at launch. Sony hasn’t landed on a specific date just yet, only citing “holiday 2020” for the PS5 release.
A note from the Jeffries Group financial service company expanded on the potential delay:
The video game sector is currently manufacturing, or beginning to, a once-in-several-years’ product generation change for the 2020 holiday season. If [company] shutdowns exceed a month or so, game schedules will be delayed. New consoles may likewise suffer supply issues from a prolonged disruption, ahead of their Fall 2020 planned launches.
Will There be a PS5 Coronavirus Delay?
This far ahead of launch, it’s tough to say just how the current outbreak will impact production of next-gen consoles. China is the main manufacturer of the vast majority of electronic goods, including the internal components like the rumored Samsung SSD that the PS5 will use. It’s already been reported that the coronavirus outbreak will likely affect the production schedule of the next iPhone as Foxconn (the main manufacturer for the iPhone) begins quarantining its workers.
While it’s not expected that next-gen consoles are on assembly lines just yet, company shutdowns due to the virus outbreak could create a ripple effect moving into future planning and production. This ripple could extend to supply shortages for next-gen consoles.
The Jeffries Group went on to say that around “30-50% of art creation in Western games is done in China,” and close to 100% of the hardware production happens in the country. This means that not only could consoles end up delayed, but the games themselves set to launch with the consoles could similarly be impacted.
Nintendo has already announced shipment delays for the Switch due to the coronavirus, as well as a delay on the port of The Outer Worlds to the platform.
There are now over 600 confirmed coronavirus deaths, a vast majority localized to mainland China. More than 31,000 people have been reported as infected. China is still struggling to contain the outbreak within the country, though only around 200 cases have been reported outside of China.
It was previously reported that trade tensions between the US and China could see the PS5 price increase to account for inflated tariffs. Sony hasn’t yet landed on a final price for the console just yet, waiting to see what Microsoft comes to the table with. It could also be watching how economic factors will impact the PS5’s margins.
[Source: Business Insider]
