Playstation 5 [PS5] [Release November 12 2020]

[PSman1700]

So we're right at the 18-month point for the PS5 launch and you still can't buy them.

I've stopped looking, monitoring trackers and Twitter accounts.

A year from now, we may be hearing about PS5 Pro being released.

Then we can start the cycle again.

And its not going to be better next year either, or the year there-after if predictions are to be believed. This console generation, with all its good intends and all was a draw i think, and a good reason to not just invest in physical boxes anymore (like gamepass and PSnow services are quite nice to have right now i think), and the extension into the pc market.
There will most likely not be a PS5 Pro, but if then it should be here in under 18 months at the last. I dunno but, generations are just getting more and more boring hardware.wise anyway, leaps are the smallest ever and game development takes long and longer.

 

[iroboto]

So we're right at the 18-month point for the PS5 launch and you still can't buy them.

I've stopped looking, monitoring trackers and Twitter accounts.

A year from now, we may be hearing about PS5 Pro being released.

Then we can start the cycle again.

yea that's fairly disappointing to hear. Curious to hear your thoughts on whether the experience would have been better if they only allowed stores to sell them, or to fight over it online with scalpers?
I only spent 2 hrs lining up in stores for both pre-orders, the experience was entirely painless.

 

[wco81]

Well I never had problems getting consoles around launch going to the stores. Never lined up overnight but once I did go to a store around 5 AM and was able to get a PS3 I believe.

Online is a good idea in theory but I don't know, they let scalpers keep buying more and more and there were enough people willing to pay double or more to these scalpers.

They should have allowed people to order and then work out that list maybe, so everyone gets a chance to buy. Instead, any time they had an allocation, it was a competition to add it in the cart and hope to complete the transaction. So it reset every time and people go through it a half dozen times, probably give up.

Maybe the stores with brick and mortar should have just let you order for retail pickup. That might have made it more difficult for scalpers, if they could order for retail pickup at certain stores at different times. That is, you find stores near you will have allocation and then you order. But if you're nearby stores aren't getting allocations at a given time, there's no reason for you to try to buy online at that time.

 

[orangpelupa]

Finger crossed for the psvr2 bundle.

Or scalpers will still buy them and the market will be flooded with "unbundled" psvr2 and PS5...

 

[swaaye]

I used to preorder consoles. I did that for N64 and Wii. Is that even a thing anymore?

I remember when I went to get Wii it was also a rush to get Tickle Me Elmo. Oh boy.

 

[iroboto]

Well I never had problems getting consoles around launch going to the stores. Never lined up overnight but once I did go to a store around 5 AM and was able to get a PS3 I believe.

Online is a good idea in theory but I don't know, they let scalpers keep buying more and more and there were enough people willing to pay double or more to these scalpers.

They should have allowed people to order and then work out that list maybe, so everyone gets a chance to buy. Instead, any time they had an allocation, it was a competition to add it in the cart and hope to complete the transaction. So it reset every time and people go through it a half dozen times, probably give up.

Maybe the stores with brick and mortar should have just let you order for retail pickup. That might have made it more difficult for scalpers, if they could order for retail pickup at certain stores at different times. That is, you find stores near you will have allocation and then you order. But if you're nearby stores aren't getting allocations at a given time, there's no reason for you to try to buy online at that time.

I suspect covid played a role here in remember it just beginning so all sorts of weird rules were being applied. I had a feeling that the longer covid went the likelihood the malls would shut down. So I just went for it. Correctly so, the malls were shut down by the time consoles were released; but the stores honoured everything and we waited outside the mall at specific times and they came outside and brought us into the store. And then we’re escorted out.

 

[Pete]

I believe I saw on Twitter that CEX (video game store?) in the UK is paying like £930 for the (presumably £569 512GB model) Steam Deck that they then resell for £1100. That's for a "console" that was theoretically limited to legit customers. How can you fight that? I wouldn't even call that scalping, just market madness.

 

[PSman1700]

Im seeing PS5’s on the used market for around 800usd (and up) and thinking ’wow thats cheap’ due to them going for 1200 and up a month or two ago.
Thats upfront. The worst part is the expensive games and peripherals + subscriptions if you want any online experiences.
Then when youre in youre greeted with cross-gen.

 

[Arwin]

Or you just sign up and wait or regularly visit brick and mortar stores … I signed up for a PS5 the day after preorders started and got mine in February … last year. And I paid 399 for the digital edition.

And booh on the cross gen comment. This console feels very next gen to me.

Not as next-gen as an Oculus Quest 2 though.

See, for me controls, load times, immersion and VR count more than just graphics. The wow factor of graphics is always the first thing that wanes after a while.

 

[wco81]

I don't believe any of the US chains took preorders.

Maybe Gamestop but I have to take a long shower after I visit one of their stores.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Or you just sign up and wait or regularly visit brick and mortar stores … I signed up for a PS5 the day after preorders started and got mine in February … last year. And I paid 399 for the digital edition.

That's how it was in the Netherlands. Not like that elsewhere. In the UK it was first come, first served for the longest time. Some stores then added waiting lists or lotteries for 'chance to buy', not uncommonly for massive forced bundles. GAME had the bloody cheek to force a poxy GAME t-shirt on their PS5 buyers for additional profits.

It's a scientific, unequivocal fact that many people were (and are) going to miss out, nothing to do with retail policies and everything to do with not enough being made to satisfy demand. That issue was only compounded with opportunistic scalpers exploiting the situation, but chances are if every store had a simple sign-up process, wc081 would still be without. And even if he landed his, there'd be millions of people wanting a PS5 not having one yet because there just aren't enough in the world to provide one to everyone who wants one. This might even extend to future hardware simply because of the way the market is now, larger and with more people willing/wanting to buy early rather than jump in mid-gen.

For me, I was fortunate to get selected via Sony's Buy direct option, which is only operating in a few locations and only recently came into effect. But I had given up on the stupid wait for a stock drop, jump onto the website within seconds of the notification, sit in a queue for 40 minutes, find out they've sold out pattern ages ago as too much bother.

 

[Picao84]

I got mine yesterday on my local GAME. It seems they have regular stock coming, albeit in small quantities (5 each time), and not that many buyers. Probably because it's such a small town.

 

[PSman1700]

That's how it was in the Netherlands. Not like that elsewhere.

Indeed weird, as in Sweden it wasn't as in the Netherlands either. The same warehouse (mediamarket) we have but ok. I personally just had luck with the lottery program from Sony themselfs.

See, for me controls, load times, immersion and VR count more than just graphics.

For me it's graphics first and foremost, but yeah, then i understand.

 

[Cynicalking]

I got preorders from both Sony Direct and Amazon. Ended up not using the Sony preorder any got it via Amazon on launch day. (Well, my freight forwarder did, I got it a week later )

 

[Arwin]

I got mine yesterday on my local GAME. It seems they have regular stock coming, albeit in small quantities (5 each time), and not that many buyers. Probably because it's such a small town.

This strategy I was referring to. That’s the most likely way to get it soonest here, find a smaller shop, in my case could be across the border in Belgium, ask when they normally get deliveries and then show up.

Obviously not a route available to all, but a coworker who wants to play GT7 heard this generally works reliably so he’s going to try this.

And yeah, preorders didn’t work as they used to do this gen. Main problem isn’t the higher demand though - it’s still the chip shortages. Otherwise trust me that Sony would have made more, they would want to break their own records and increase their software sales platform.

 

[JPT]

There are problems in the world that affects our hobby, not much anybody can do about it, until underlying issues have been fixed.
I had a vendor CEO complain to me the other day about chinese factories closing down for 14 days every so often randomly(feels random, due to zero covid tolerance thingy), which causes lots of delay.
Its not much to do about it unless we get rid of Covid...

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Its not much to do about it unless we get rid of Covid...

Or move manufacturing to other parts of the world for a more balanced, stable, resistant economy/society...

 

[PSman1700]

Its not much to do about it unless we get rid of Covid...

I think it's not just covid, althrough the largest contributor perhaps. I can imagine there's other factors too. Anyhow it was probably the worst time to release a new console (2020). Not much anyone could have done about that anyway, have the PS4 untill 2027 or so would be abit boring too

 

[Globalisateur]

I got mine yesterday on my local GAME. It seems they have regular stock coming, albeit in small quantities (5 each time), and not that many buyers. Probably because it's such a small town.

I think at this point this is a very good strategy. I did that (pre-order in a real store) and also followed a twitter alert, the latter eventually worked for me but the store pre-order actually worked too. 2 weeks after I received my PS5 the guy called me to tell me my PS5 pre-order was available! What surprised me is that that store is like a really small operation by one guy who mostly sells vg oldies and used games.

 

[swaaye]

I got one direct from Sony's web store back in early 2021. They had/have the randomized queue on restock day.

It doesn't get all that much use though. I've completed RE8, Sinking City PS5, Metro Exodus Enhanced and Deathloop. The PS4 upgrade patches are neat but I can't get myself into significantly replaying anything there. Hopefully PSVR2 has a substantial library. I suppose PS5 Pro will be what one will want for that though lol