While many players have been enjoying the newest generation of gaming on their PlayStation 5 consoles, many, many more have still yet to have a chance, and it is unlikely they will get one any time soon. Ever since pre-orders for the PS5 went live (overnight, roughly eight hours earlier than Sony said they would, and with little warning) it seems like PS5 consoles have been nearly impossible to come by, with multiple retail websites crashing immediately the moment orders become available.
Is it because the PS5 was so hyped that it is now impossible for players to get their hands on one? Partly. Sony spent nearly twice as much as Microsoft on marketing for their new gaming platform before launch, and the recent news that the PS5 sold nearly twice as much as the Xbox Series X clearly means this didn't hurt. The amount of PS5 hype wasn't just because of what Sony said, though - it was what they didn't say.
Both Sony and Microsoft waited a while to release images and details of their new consoles, but Sony waited longer. By not giving players any indication of what the PlayStation 5 looked like for such a long time, players hyped themselves up with user-made fan art and speculation. When the PS5 console design was finally revealed it wasn't what any players were expecting - in both good and bad ways - and that only added to the discussion surrounding its release. Even without all this self-made and company-added hype, though, there is another reason expectant players probably won't be finding a new PS5 available online in time for Christmas - robots.
Bots & Scalpers Are Stealing Your PS5s
It's hard enough to try and buy something online during the holidays under normal circumstances, but the online sales of the PS5 have been made much, much worse by the inclusion of scalpers and bots. PS5 scalpers use bots to quickly buy up all of a retail store's stock as soon as it goes live, and then they attempt to resell the PS5 consoles to players for incredibly high prices. While technically not an illegal thing to do in most countries, buying a PS5 from a scalper should be discouraged. These second-hand tricksters often do not offer warranties on their purchases, meaning there's no telling whether or not a PS5 will actually get delivered. The markup on PS5 consoles has also gotten to be ridiculously high over the past month, with many selling for $1,000 and above on sites like eBay. Since an official purchase of a PS5 console is, at most, $499 USD, these practices should not be supported.
Online storefronts haven't given players much information about when the next batch of PS5 console restocks are coming. Periodically PlayStation Direct, Walmart, and Best Buy add to their stock, but these updates happen sporadically and can be easy to miss. Many expectant players have found that, despite having alerts set, PS5 consoles will go on sale with no warning, making it nearly impossible to reach them before the scalpers and bots do. It's frustrating, especially when many people looking for a PS5 have children who are hoping to get the new console as a holiday gift.
Between the massive amount of marketing from Sony, the self-hype players gave themselves over the past year, and the prevalence of bots and PS5 scalpers, it's no wonder players are having a hard time getting their hands on a PlayStation 5 console. With few outlets offering in-store purchases due to safety regulations, buying a PS5 online is still the best way to find a console - but it is unlikely the process will get any easier any time soon.