Sony has revealed it is considering manufacturing PlayStation 5 consoles in the US as a result of tariffs.
During an earnings call following the release of its full-year financials, Sony president and COO Hiroki Totoki told investors that manufacturing hardware in the US “needs to be considered going forward.”
However, he noted that the firm wasn’t in “such a critical situation” for this decision to be implemented immediately.
“Consoles […] of course, can be produced locally,” Totoki said (as transcribed by Seeking Alpha). “I think that would be an efficient strategy. But PS5’s are being manufactured in many areas, whether that’s going to be manufactured in the US or not.”
Sony CFO Lin Tao noted that PlayStation hardware is produced in four countries, with a “high ratio” of manufacturing in China though “the supply chain has been diversified.”
Tao also said Sony has a three month stockpile of PS5 hardware for distribution in the US.
“It’s not just China, there are other countries in which it is being produced and manufactured,” she said. “As for inventory, the details change from day-to-day but [there is an] inventory of three months [for] distribution.”
Totoki said Sony is anticipating 50 million unit sales for PS5 consoles this fiscal year.
“It’s not that we have a very strong intention because there are a lot of tariffs and uncertain issues around the environment,” he explained. “So rather than looking at the unit sales, we want to look at the entire market and try to have a flexible approach to shipment.”
As for potential price rises, Tao said Sony is looking “at the market trend” and that it may “pass on the price and also shipment allocation” to consumers.
Looking at its full-year financials, Totoki said its Game & Network Services division “is doing extremely well”, having reported a 9% increase in net sales to ¥4.6 trillion ($31.5 billion) and 43% rise in operating income to ¥414.8 billion ($2.8 billion).
Totoki said Sony is expecting “stable growth and profits” in its network and studio businesses due to growth of the number of monthly active users, per user spend, and its upcoming slate of first-party titles.
“Ghost of Yōtei, Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, and Marathon have already been announced, so we have major multiple titles for the fiscal year,” Totoki noted.
Regarding its narrative-driven single player titles, Totoki said it expects the games to bring in fans and newcomers due to both being sequels to established franchises.
As for Marathon, which launches this September, Totoki said that Sony might “see a little bit of risk” with Bungie’s extraction shooter due to it being a “new genre”. Though he believed it was “reasonable to be incorporated” in its forecast.
“We also have quite promising lineups of third-party titles,” he added. “So we are expecting solid numbers in terms of consumption in the install base of the console and MAU. We believe this is reasonable.”
Totoki also confirmed that Grand Theft Auto 6, which has been delayed to May 2026, was not included in its forecast for third-party titles.
