Add CategoryPre-orders for the new PlayStation 5 console due out in November were quickly exhausted after going on sale on Thursday and the same thing could happen next week when Xbox orders open.
JB Hi-Fi, Harvey Norman, EB Games, Amazon and even manufacturer Sony had exhausted their allocated stock for the pre-orders within hours, which could be reserved with a deposit of just $50 at some retailers.
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“Pre-orders are temporarily suspended,” JB Hi-Fi’s listing for the console read on Friday morning.
“Due to overwhelming demand, we’ve had to hit pause on taking any more pre-orders.
“Don’t worry, as soon as we have more visibility on stock availability we will reopen pre-orders,” the retailer added.
Harvey Norman has reopened pre-orders for the next shipment which it expects in December.
EB Games has since reopened its pre-orders for the console but they won’t ship until 2021.
Amazon said it doesn’t know when or if the consoles will be back in stock.
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All this begs the question of whether you’ll be able to get a PS5 in stores on its November 12 launch day, or even before Christmas.
Earlier this week,Bloomberg reported Sony was cutting its manufacturing forecast by four million units due to problems producing the custom system-on-chip in the new console, citing people “familiar with the matter”.
Sony waited until after Bloomberg published that report to comment.
“We have not changed the production number for PlayStation 5 since the start of mass production,” the company told the publication after reportedly denying its initial request.
According to Bloomberg, Sony might only be able to produce 11 million of the consoles, and with Australia’s small market it’s unlikely too many of those are heading Down Under.
According to QUT business professor Gary Mortimer, the allocation exhaustion could be a deliberate tactic.
“Limited initial allocation creates FOMO (fear of missing out) and demand,” he told news.com.au.
“It also enables the manufacturer to estimate sales projections, hence reducing overproduction of consoles that sit in storerooms and avoiding obsolescence.”
It’s unknown how much stock retailers are setting aside to have available to shoppers on launch day.
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A good indicator for who will win the upcoming console war could come at 8am on Tuesday when Xbox opens pre-orders, ahead of its November 10 launch.
JB Hi-Fi, EB Games, Telstra, Harvey Norman and Big W are among the participating retailers.
PlayStation comfortably won the last round with the PS4 outselling the Xbox by a large margin, but the next Xbox is technically more powerful.
According to a poll of news.com.au readers however, most of you are planning on picking up Sony’s console. Whether or not you’ll be able to remains to be seen.