- Some Walmart customers may have received PS5 price discount alerts via email, advertising incredible price-matching deals.
- Those emails were probably sent by mistake, as there are no official deals on PS5 hardware or games at this time.
- The two PS5 models remain out of stock at Walmart and other retailers after selling out quickly a few days ago.
The PS5 sold out even before preorders were supposed to start last week; that’s how disorganized the launch event was. Some retailers jumped the gun and allowed buyers to preorder the PS5 and PS5 Digital Edition on Wednesday, right after Sony’s virtual press event. The available stock sold immediately, and many of the gamers who attempted to place their orders on Thursday, which was the original plan, were unable to secure a PS5.
Amazon then contacted buyers to tell them their PS5 unit might not ship by November 12th, when the console launches in physical stores in North America. Sony promptly apologized for the preorder mess, saying that more stock would be available for preorder soon without providing any specifics. With all that in mind, the PS5 preorder drama is hardly over. It looks like Walmart has been emailing customers about PS5 price drops that discounted the console by as much as $377. Don’t get too excited, however, as there’s no way anyone will honor them.
According to GameSpot, several staffers have received email alerts that promoted price drops due to a “competitive price match.” The discounts ranged from $50 to $377, and some of the warnings appeared for other PS5 accessories like the DualSense controller as well as games like the Demon’s Souls remake.
Anyone seeing similar emails should temper their excitement, as there’s no way anyone is ready to drop the price of the PS5 and its accessories just yet. It will happen in the more distant future, but don’t expect any discounts this holiday season, especially for products that are mostly sold out. Walmart will fix the price-matching error, and it’s unlikely it will honor any preorders that took advantage of the price drop, assuming anyone could order a PS5 from the retailer.
A quick check on Walmart.com shows that both consoles are out of stock. You can’t get your order in even if those price match alerts were genuine. The only discount you can expect comes from Sony, and it’s in the form of a console that lacks a Blu-Ray disc drive. The $399 PS5 Digital Edition has the same specs as the $499 PS5.
As GameSpot reports, this isn’t Walmart’s first PS5 mishap. The retailer started PS5 preorders earlier than it was supposed to and then planned to host in-person preorders at retail stores. Walmart had to cancel those plans, realizing that hosting an in-person event for a highly anticipated product is a bad idea during a pandemic.
Separately, Microsoft started taking Xbox Series X and Series S preorders on Tuesday in several markets worldwide, and both consoles will be available to order from Walmart as well.
