PS5 Narrowly Escapes Another Major Delay
When it comes to getting the latest and greatest PlayStation console, Sony gaming fans have already had a rough go of things. The PlayStation 5 was sold out almost immediately upon release in November 2020, and when there have been restocks, scalpers have managed to make an astonishing amount of money by reselling consoles. Over the last several days, a problem arose concerning a cargo ship stuck in Suez Canal, which nearly made for another massive PS5 delay, among other issues.
On March 23, a 224,000-ton container ship called Ever Given ran ashore during a particularly nasty dust storm. The massive ship blocked the Suez Canal, leading to huge detours and delays.
According to The New York Times, "shipping analysts estimated [that] the colossal traffic jam was holding up nearly $10 billion in trade every day." As explained by Sea Intelligence's Alan Murphy, "All global retail trade moves in containers, or 90 percent of it. So everything is impacted. Name any brand name, and they will be stuck on one of those vessels."
It turns out that one of those brand names that might have been impacted by Ever Given's accident is Sony. Specifically, an article from Business Insider has pointed out that the already-fragile supply chains for many major tech companies have been strained even further.
One of the biggest factors holding back the production of PlayStation 5 consoles is a shortage of semiconductors, which are used by everyone from console makers to car manufacturers. There were signs that the tech industry was finally starting to make up for this shortage and would be shipping them out, but Ever Given's accident threw a wrench into any sense of normalcy regarding shipping times.
There is a bit of good news, however. Since Ever Given beached itself, crews have been working around the clock to get it free. Considering its massive size, this has been no easy feat. However, as of Monday, March 29, Ever Given has been refloated and sent back on its intended course. Business Insider had speculated that the shipping containers on Ever Given would have to be removed and rerouted if the ship had stayed beached for much longer. This could have caused even further supply delays as companies scrambled to ship Ever Given's cargo a second time. It also could have put other product shipments on the back burner, including semiconductors that are usually shipped by air.
Hopefully this means that Sony and many other companies won't have quite as many setbacks as originally feared. Even so, any delay is a difficult setback, even for major corporations like Sony. Business Insider warns of a "ripple effect" from this incident, which has disrupted the flow of goods from manufacturer to retailer to customer. Because of this, Ever Given's week-long staycation may yet have unforeseen consequences for the gaming industry, especially if this accident leads to restructures in how goods are transported by sea.