Sony denies production issues with PS5 release

By Jon Silman Updated September 15, 2020

Sony has denied that it’s dealing with issues tied to the manufacturing of its upcoming PlayStation 5 console, refuting a recent story by Bloomberg.

“While we do not release details related to manufacturing, the information provided by Bloomberg is false,” a Sony spokesperson told Digital Trends. “We have not changed the production number for PlayStation 5 since the start of mass production.”

Bloomberg reported that Sony cut PS5 production numbers to 11 million, down from 15 million. The news outlet said that the company was dealing with production issues tied to its system-on-chip for the console, which is custom-made.

There was also reportedly an issue with production yields, a metric that is used to figure out how many of the produced units are good to ship versus defective ones. Those yields were reportedly at 50%, which is below average. That number was improving, however, and Bloomberg said that the low-yield numbers were “only an estimate and could be revised again before the end of the fiscal year in March 2021.”

The supposed production snag wasn’t expected to impact the sales of the system during its initial months of release but would instead become more pronounced in 2021 based on demand and how Sony handled its production yields.

Sony’s shares dipped 2.4% on the news, Bloomberg said, to the lowest level since July.

While Sony has yet to reveal a price or actual release date for its upcoming console, it’s hosting a showcase for the system on September 16, where the company is expected to announce those details. Pre-orders for the new console started last month.

The stakes are high for Sony because rival Microsoft is releasing a new console of its own, the Xbox Series X and Series S. Those will release on November 10. The Series X will cost $500, and the Series S will cost $300.

The new consoles will usher in the next generation of console gaming, with the PS5 offering 8K gaming and 4K gaming at 120Hz through an eight-core AMD Zen 2 CPU, 825GB of SSD storage, and a custom AMD RDNA 2-based GPU. Altogether, the system is capable of producing 10.28 teraflops of power, which almost doubles the power of the PS4 Pro, at 4.2 teraflops.

Topics

Gaming

How to preorder Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 and the limited edition PS5

Venom on the streets of New York in Marvel's Spider-Man 2.

Are you ready to suit up and swing back into action as both Peter and Miles in Spider-Man 2 coming on October 20? Venom, Kraven, and many more villains are sure to be plotting plenty of obstacles for our web-swinging heroes, however, all you need to worry about is getting your hands on the game itself. Thankfully, you don't need a spider-sense to find out all the details on pre-ordering the sequel to one of the PS4's best exclusives. Here's how you can pre-order Spider-Man 2, as well as all the details about the available editions so you can show your love for the wall-crawler.
Where can I preorder Spider-Man 2?

Being a PlayStation 5 exclusive, the easiest way to preorder Spider-Man 2 would be to go through the official PlayStation store, though you can find it through all the major outlets as well. If you're looking to go for the most expensive Collector's Edition, then that is only available through PlayStation Direct.
Spider-Man 2 Standard Edition

Gaming

The best traits to level first in Remnant 2

Three characters shoot at a boss in Remnant 2.

Much of Remnant 2's leveling process is based around increasing the ranks of traits that you'll discover throughout your journe. This will give you plenty of opportunities to build a character that best matches your playstyle. In the game's opening hours, however, each character will begin with just a few traits that can be leveled, and your equally limited trait points can make deciding which of those you want to invest in somewhat of a challenge. In this guide, we'll give you our opinion on which of these are best to focus on for optimizing the early part of your adventure. Here are the best traits to level first in Remnant 2
Best traits to level first in Remnant 2
When beginning the game with a new character, you'll have only five traits – one archetype trait exclusive to the archetype you've chosen and four core traits that every character begins with. Your archetype trait will level automatically as you play with that archetype, so you don't need to do anything with that trait. Instead, let's take a look at the four other core traits and discuss which ones are best to invest in.
Vigor
Vigor improves your overall health, which means you can take more damage before dying. This is likely the most important trait to pump points into, especially when first setting out into the dangerous world of Remnant 2. Enemies hit hard (especially bosses) and you have limited healing options during these opening hours, so you'll need every bit of extra health you can get. It wouldn't hurt to prioritize this trait until you get it to level 10, actually, as you'll be able to get plenty more points as the game progresses, and being able to take a few more hits against the game's first few bosses is immensely helpful. This is even more true for Challengers in team compositions where they'll be tanking and spending a lot of time in melee range.
Endurance
Endurance improves your overall stamina, which will allow you to run and roll more during combat. This is a great option to level up if you're playing a character that is focused on melee, as it will allow you to run more when you get surrounded or roll out of the way of enemy attacks without worrying as much about your stamina meter. For primarily ranged players, though, it's a bit less useful, so you're probably better putting those points elsewhere early on. As with Vigor, though, Challengers will likely benefit most from the trait due to their tendency to be a group's close-quarters combat specialist.
Spirit
Spirit improves your weapon mod power generation. This helps you to earn the ability to use your weapon mods more often in combat, meaning that its usefulness is entirely dependent on how useful your weapon mods are to your build. At the beginning of the game, your weapon mods will be most helpful during boss battles, and you're likely to end them before generating a second use of your mod anyways. Because of this, Spirit is likely better saved for leveling later on so that you can focus on survivability first. Gunslingers, however, are likely to see this as a good option in group settings because they're designed to be a DPS powerhouse.
Expertise
Expertise improves the cooldown speed of your archetype skills. This will aid you in using these skills more frequently, which can be a help against bosses and packs of deadly foes. However, like with Spirit, the usefulness of this trait in the initial few hours of the game is limited due to the already long cooldowns and the speed at which many bosses are likely to fall anyways. While Vigor should still be a priority for most classes, Expertise can be a particularly worthwhile trait for Medics who are playing with a group, as it's vital to keep their healing capabilities available as much as possible.

Gaming

PS Plus adds 2021’s ‘Game of the Year’ but loses Stray in July

The main cat from Stray looking into the foreground with cyberpunk buildings behind him

Sony confirmed the next batch of games coming to and leaving its PlayStation Plus Extra and PlayStation Plus Premium game catalogs. There are lots of great new additions, with The Game Awards' 2021 Game of the Year, It Takes Two, headlining the batch, while two Twisted Metal games also arrive ahead of its Peacock TV show. That said, PlayStation Plus' catalog will lose Stray, the viral cat game from July 2022, which was the first day one release on PlayStation Plus Extra.

Here's a complete list of PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium games coming to the service on July 18.