PS5: How to increase your chances of getting a PlayStation 5 amid Sony pre-order problems
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Your support makes all the difference.The PS5 has opened for pre-orders. And then, largely, shut again.
After a showcase event held this week, Sony finally announced when the console would go on sale and how much it would cost. Then it announced that pre-orders would open very soon after, with many starting on Wednesday morning.
Almost immediately, nearly every retailer offering the console ran out of pre-orders. Some retailers’ websites even went down as they struggled to cope with the numbers of people attempting to buy the PlayStation 5.
Ever since then, gamers have been locked in a frustrating process of hearing about a retailer that is offering the new console, heading there, and finding out that it has actually sold out in the meantime.
A variety of tools exist to make that easier. They will not guarantee that you will get a console – there appear to be far more people attempting to do so than there are PS5s available – but they will help, or at least make it less frustrating.
For the most part, the console is sold out in the US, UK and elsewhere. That means that trawling through the various websites is going to be a frustrating process.
But it may be worth doing so. Many retailers are offering the option to “register interest”, which will mean that you’ll be informed as soon as more stock is available.
Beyond that, it is just a matter of hoping that stock appears and that you are as quick to it as possible.
That’s made easier by using a tracking website. The Stock Informer website – which runs both a UK and US version – is helpful for tracking which sites may still have stock.
Such sites also allow users to sign up for push notifications and alerts, which should allow you to see when they become available as soon as possible.
The @Wario64 account on Twitter, particularly, has proven especially good at finding the consoles when they go on sale. That is particularly limited to the US, though it may be worth following from elsewhere, and it tweets about a variety of gaming deals in addition to the PlayStation 5.
Those accounts can be tracked by following them in the traditional way, but it might also be useful to set up a devoted list of any other useful accounts. Twitter also allows users to switch on push notifications, to receive an alert as soon as a new post appears.
Even if you are unsuccessful despite all these tips and your best efforts, it is not time to give up hope. Most likely, the consoles will keep becoming available up until release day – and, after that, supply is likely to be more forthcoming, and so it may be possible to buy a console soon after it comes out even if not straight away.
It’s also important not to resort to resellers on eBay or other websites where people are already attempting to sell their successfully pre-ordered PlayStations. It may be possible to get a PS5 this way – thought there will be no way to know for sure until it actually arrives – but even if it is, it encourages the behaviour, and means that it will be more difficult for other people to buy them, as well as increasing prices.
This will apply too when the console actually arrives. There will almost certainly be people who have successfully ordered the console attempting to offload them on release date – but buying them will mean paying high prices, as well as encouraging behaviour that limits supply.
In a similar spirit, it is worth being careful and sceptical about any offers you see online. As with any highly desired product, criminals are likely to use the PlayStation 5 as a way of luring in people to various scams – and so it is good to be critical of any offers, and ensure that the consoles are only bought through legitimate websites and stores.
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