Retailers are reporting that available stock of Sony's digital edition Playstation 5 is even lower than expected. Following last week's PS5 showcase, both the standard $499 USD and disc-less $399 USD models of the next-gen console were made available for pre-order.
Although Sony said that pre-orders would start the day after its recent showcase, retailers began making them available within hours of the event's end. Both models sold out quickly at retailers everywhere, crashing websites in the process, and prompting an apology from Sony. Demand for the console is so great, even corporate goliath Amazon may not be able to fulfill all its PS5 orders on day one.
However, lost in all the console chaos was the ratio of available standard PS5s to digital-only models. Sony hasn't said how many standard PS5s versus digital-only editions will be produced, but a report by Eurogamer has revealed that the number skews drastically in favor of the high-end $499 model. Several anonymous sources from various retailers told the publication that they received far more of the the standard model, with some saying that their stock was 75 to 80 percent standard PS5s. Eurogamer also cited a similar report by Ars Technica, which found that several GameStop locations in the U.S. faced a similar disparity, with available stocks ranging between 13 and 33 percent digital editions. As Eurogamer points out, PlayStation has never stated (or even implied) that the digital-only models would be harder to come by, yet it appears that only about a quarter of the units produced will be digital.
Game sales are trending more and more toward digital purchases, so forgoing a disc-drive that may not even be used to save $100 is a more appealing option for many. Knowing this, it is curious why Sony would have their production leaning so heavily towards the standard model, and not make it known. Looking at Microsoft, the Xbox Series S is the cheapest next-gen console out there, and the company has been very open about what the lower priced console will and will not be capable of. Of course, Microsoft also has a different approach this generation, opting to take a loss on hardware sales in favor of simply getting more people into its ecosystem, and onto Xbox Game Pass.
Perhaps this is not where Sony's focus is with the PlayStation 5, as the CEO of PlayStation has already publicly said that he believes consoles like the Xbox Series S will not perform well on the market due to its less powerful hardware. Sony's approach could be focused on making sure its first-party titles run as smoothly as possible, and relying on its next-gen exclusives to make the case for the console like God of War and Horizon Zero Dawn did this generation.
Source: Eurogamer