You Can Buy A PS5 Soon, Store Restock Date Imminent
After months of being difficult to find, it looks as though several retailers will soon have new PS5 stock available as soon as today.
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The PlayStation 5 was released almost two months ago in North America on November 12, 2020, yet the system is still incredibly hard for consumers to get their hands on. Even with the PS5 only remaining in stock in online stores for a few minutes at a time, and with bots and scalpers often picking up most of the available stock, Sony announced that the PS5 is the largest launch in PlayStation history, outselling the PS4, which sold 2.1 million units in a little over two weeks. But with the holiday over and a new year begun, it seems like the PS5 might finally be getting a major restock.
There are many Twitter accounts that have popped up in the last few months to help consumers know when systems drop on various websites. Amongst those is @DualSensor, who is saying that retailers might have new stock of the PS5 as early as today. However, @DualSensor does mention that it could take until next week on the 12th and 14th.
While this hasn’t been confirmed by any retailers, stores have been handling the release of the PS5 in varying ways. Most stores have said the PS5 will only be online, and won’t be available for purchase in stores, although there have been claims of people finding them on shelves. Stores like Walmart have often announced when they will have new stock, but this has allowed for bots to simply be more prepared for the onslaught of new customers. In their print ad, GameStop announced that each store would have at least two digital and two disc drive PS5s at each store on Black Friday, leading to massive lines and massive disappointments to people that didn’t arrive early enough.
But more frequently, stores have been dropping their PS5 stock by surprise, leaving Twitter accounts like @DualSensor and @Wario64 to struggle to keep their followers up-to-date on new stock news. Best Buy, Amazon, and Target have all leaned towards surprise drops of PS5 stock, releasing the systems at no set time, making word-of-mouth an important part of trying to find a new system. Even PlayStation’s official online store has leaned towards the surprise drop, although their online waiting room has been more orderly than the mayhem of a Walmart or Target drop.
As if the regular PS5 wasn’t hard enough to find, tomorrow will see the launch of a limited edition PS2-themed PS5 at 3 p.m. EST by retailer SUP3R5 for the PS2’s 20th anniversary. The system is $649 – $150 more than the standard disc drive PS5 – and only 304 of the consoles will be released. If you really want a challenge, good luck trying to get this limited edition of an already hard-to-find console.
Yet with the holidays over and as people start to have more success finding the PS5, it is likely more PS5 stock will be available throughout the beginning of the year. But for now, it seems like only those who are quick enough online are going to be able to get hold of a new PS5.
