- It’s been more than five months since the launch of the PlayStation 5, and it’s still very difficult to buy.
- Despite regular inventory, PS5 consoles sell instantly through Sony and big chains.
- The supply of the console is not expected to meet early in the fall, Sony said.
- Visit the Insider Business Department for more stories.
When the PlayStation 5 was launched in the fall of 2020, it was almost impossible to find it.
Five months later, with just a few days of spring, Sony’s most popular gaming console remains as elusive as ever.
Although there has been frequent re-supply, demand for the PS5 increases supply significantly. And when the stock comes back to life, people are flooding digital store windows in a frenzy to maybe, hopefully, eventually get a PlayStation 5.
They disappoint disappointment.
During a three-hour PS5 refill marathon that Walmart battled out at ten-minute intervals on Thursday, Insider repeatedly encountered errors or accidents while trying to buy the console. The item could not be added to the cart, otherwise the site would have hung while trying, or it simply did nothing after clicking on an entry.
Every time, even if the site technically ‘works’, the result is the same: the stock is sold out immediately.
A reload of the PS5 was made available at 3pm. By 15:01 the stock was empty.
Walmart
These issues have been repeated by other people who have tried to buy the new console.
“I was able to add the PS5 to my cart, get to the payment method, and it says the item is out of stock,” said one Twitter user.
“None of it works,” said another Twitter user. ‘I keep trying and it [doesn’t] I want to get it in the wagon. ‘
The same bugs and almost immediate sales continued for ten minutes between the three hours of PS5 stock in Walmart’s online store.
Aside from the technical issues retailers are experiencing, and the overwhelming consumer demand for Sony’s latest PlayStation console, many are still being whipped up by resellers – some using bots to eliminate human buyers.
A quick look at resale sites like StockX shows why: retailers are offering the PS5 around $ 730 starting this week – just shy of a 50% surcharge above the $ 500 retail price of a PlayStation 5 model with a Blu-ray disk drive. Both versions of the PlayStation 5 are on sale on eBay for $ 700 and up.
The best results for PlayStation 5 consoles in the “Buy It Now” section of eBay.
eBay
Unfortunately, it does not sound like Sony can catch up with the question anytime soon.
In late February, PlayStation boss Jim Ryan warned during several interviews about an ongoing supply issue that would continue through the second half of 2021.
‘By the time we get to the second half [of the year]”You will indeed see really decent numbers,” PlayStation boss Jim Ryan told the Financial Times in February. “Although the company was ‘relentless in trying to increase production,’ he said, obstacles the company’s hands.
The global shortage of microchips and the ongoing global pandemic, for example, affect Sony’s ability to produce more PS5s, but Ryan said the supply situation will hopefully start to improve quickly.
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