Many physical and online retailers like GameStop and Target have been struggling to keep up with the high demand for the new wave of home entertainment. A good deal of gamers may already know this global shortage is nothing new, as since PS5 pre-orders sold out immediately in India within a matter of seconds, the demand for consoles has shown absolutely no sign of diminishing. With that said, if customers are patient and quick enough, that isn’t to say that the console is unavailable everywhere.
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PlayStation 5 consoles have flown off store shelves worldwide, with the Xbox Series X following suit. Best Buy has attempted to satisfy the lucky few who can make it to the specific locations throughout the US, plus Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C., where the consoles have been made available. However, this comes with one significant catch, with both platforms only being restocked in a “limited quantity.”
In short, regardless of system preference, potential consumers are still expected to navigate the harsh mismatch between current supply and demand if they want to own either console. Fortunately, many retailers have chosen to use a store-by-store inventory system, which means that individual locations can list its Xbox Series X stock as soon as it comes. In theory, this should give patient customers a leg up on resellers since they won’t be able to time the releases.
For digital customers, there is a ray of hope as Sony and Microsoft are developing efforts to make it simpler to obtain next-generation consoles. For example, the PS5 is reportedly getting a hardware redesign that will adjust the internal hardware but not change its physical appearance. The new hardware would feature a bespoke AMD CPU that might be less expensive to create, making it easier to produce more PS5s.
PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X are available now.
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