- Sony apologized for the PS5 preorder chaos, saying that “preorders could have been a lot smoother.”
- Sony promised it would release more PS5 consoles for preorder over the coming days, but it will be up to retailers to share more details.
- Many questions remain about PS5, as it’s unclear whether all preorders will ship on November 12, or how much PS5 stock will be available in physical stores.
Sony revealed the PlayStation 5 prices and release date during its Wednesday’s press event that focused on PS5 gaming. After the event was over, Sony said preorders would start on Thursday, without explaining what stores are participating in this first round of online orders, or what time preorders start. Some of the big retailers then decided to kick off PS5 preorders on Wednesday afternoon, and the initial stock ran out quickly. By Thursday morning, it was too late to find a PS5 console online. On Friday, Amazon emailed customers who locked in their preorders, warning that it can’t guarantee deliveries will arrive on launch date — that’s November 12th. This further underscored the unexpected PS5 preorder chaos and suggested Sony might not have enough stock to go around. The company took to Twitter on Saturday to apologize for the PS5 preorder mess and promise that more stock will soon be available.
“Let’s be honest: PS5 preorders could have been a lot smoother. We truly apologize for that,” Sony said, which is a step in the right direction. However, Sony isn’t necessarily going to improve the preorder process.
The company said that it would release more PS5 consoles for preorders in the coming days, but it will be up to retailers to share more details. That’s great news, but you’ll still have to manually check for stock at retailers in the coming days, given Sony’s tweet. Sony will not offer any additional information about what stores will have more stock, and when the second round of preorders starts.
Sony doesn’t mention whether this new PS5 batch will ship on launch date or after November 12th. The company says that “more PS5s will be available through the end of the year,” without explaining what that means. With the console launching on November 12, we’d expect some stores to have PS5 stock at launch. But, from the looks of it, the PS5 will be sold out in physical stores as well.
A report last week claimed that Sony has been facing yield issues with the PS5 processor that forced it to cut the PS5 production for the current fiscal year that ends in March. That story said Sony would manufacture around 11 million PS5 units during the period, four million fewer consoles than initially planned. Sony went on record to deny the report. The company never said how many PS5 versions it will have ready to ship by Christmas, which is the busiest shopping season of the year.
While some people will skip on a PS5 purchase this year on account of the economic hardships that followed the coronavirus pandemic, others might not be able to get their hands on one because there won’t be enough stock to go around.
Microsoft will start Xbox Series X and Series S preorders on September 22nd, and the company already took advantage of the PS5 online sales mess to mock Sony. Microsoft offered buyers a lot more preorder details than Sony. Like Sony, Microsoft never said how much Xbox stock would have to go around during preorders and at launch.
