Sony has discussed its hopes for sales figures in the next year for the PlayStation 5 in an earnings call, but has also been relatively frank about the challenges that will continue to limit the widespread availability of the console.

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Having just disclosed that it's sold 4.5 million consoles so far, Sony's chief financial officer Hiroki Totoki said that it hopes to sell more than 14.8 in the next fiscal year, which starts in April.

That figure might seem a little precise, but it's how many the PS4 sold in the same period of its life cycle, so that's the bar Sony's hoping to clear. 

It's rightly spotted that there's more than a little demand for the console, so thinks that exceeding the already excellent performance of its last console generation's first full year would be a success. However, as anyone who has tried to actually buy a PS5 knows, there's still a shortage in stores.

Totoki said this is partly down to the global shortage in semiconductors, which is also affecting Xbox's Series X and S consoles, and warned that this is likely to continue to be an issue throughout 2021. That makes for slightly grim reading for those who haven't secured a console yet.

While you'd hope it'll get steadily a little easier, as more keen buyers have already procured their own, the fact that stock is still likely to be trickling in does suggest that the PS5 isn't exactly going to plentiful any time soon.