CEO Andrew House told Reuters that for the second year running Sony is going to be quite “inventory challenged.”

He added: "I'm not going to say you won't be able to find a PlayStation 4. I think it's going to be kind of hand to mouth in terms of that market."

This is not the case in the US where sales have been in line with expectations and the large Xbox One discounts offered by rival Microsoft have made the market “tougher” for Sony. There are tons available in Japan where the entire home console market remains “challenged.”

It will be a couple of months before inventory returns to normal. Sony is probably happy that it did as well as it did, but the thought is that it could have done a lot better.