Video gamers and investors alike have been concerned about the coronavirus delaying the release of this holiday season's game consoles. In an interview with Bloomberg on Friday, a Sony (SNE 0.47%) spokeswoman said that the company "doesn't see any notable impact" of the virus crisis on this crucial hardware release.
The official findings
PR agencies in Sony's orbit have made similar statements in recent weeks, but this is the first time the company itself has spoken on the matter of coronavirus delays.
The corporate message also goes hand in hand with comments made by GameStop (GME +2.69%) CEO George Sherman in Thursday evening's fourth-quarter earnings call.
"As for the impact on the new supply chain and manufacturing for the new consoles, we will continue to work with the console makers as the launch approaches, but as of now, we have no indication of any impact on the product launch or delivery date, which is expected in time for holiday 2020," Sherman said.
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It's nice to see both the console maker and a major vendor agree that the PlayStation 5 release is looking good so far. That being said, the coronavirus appears to have a long way to go in places like Japan and the United States. Did Sony's spokesperson sound off too soon? Only time will tell. Both Sony and GameStop could certainly use the financial adrenaline shot that a next-generation console launch can bring, and sooner is better. The coronavirus slammed the brakes on consumer spending at the worst possible time for consumer discretionary stocks like GameStop, which might not make it to the 2021 holiday season without help from the console-market refresh.
