Sony and PlayStation boss Jim Ryan has suggested that PS5 stock issues will ease over the second half of 2021.

"We’re working as hard as we can to ameliorate that situation," Ryan said, speaking to Wired.

"We see production ramping up over the summer and certainly into the second half of the year, and we would hope to see some sort of return to normality in terms of the balance between supply and demand during that period."

The comments follow a similar sentiment from Ryan made in February, when they suggested the situation would improve with each passing month in 2021 - particularly in the second half of the year.

However, this jives with a more recent assessment from Sony's CFO Hiroki Totoki, who claimed Sony can't keep up with demand - and that the issues will extend into 2022. 

"Even if we secure a lot more devices and produce many more units of the PlayStation 5 next year, our supply wouldn’t be able to catch up with demand," Totoki said.

What will actually happen with regard to stock and supply, of course, is unknown, but it's probably fair to say that the conflicting comments don't paint the most promising picture for PlayStation fans still trying to hunt down their chosen next-gen console. 

Totoki has also been on the record stating that Sony is exploring plenty of different avenues to help ease the likes of the global chip shortage, such as sourcing secondary suppliers or potentially providing a redesigned PS5, which reports suggest will occur in 2022.

All in all, it's probably best to take Ryan's comments at face value at this stage. The PS5 stock shortages don't appear to be going away any time soon, but best guesses indicate that pressure will ease as the year progresses.

The extent to which these stock levels improve, naturally, is the multi-million-dollar question.