PS5 stock: PlayStation console arrives at Amazon - but users struggle to buy it

Andrew Griffin
Friday 04 December 2020 08:12 GMT
Comments
PS5 Launch – Play Has No Limits
Leer en Español

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

The new PlayStation 5 briefly came back in stock at Amazon – before disappearing again.

Users have been struggling to buy the console since it came out in mid-November, and those issues are expected to continue into the new year. Sony has suggested the problems are mostly because of the fact that more people than usual are attempting to buy the new console this time around, as lockdowns and other trends have brought people back to gaming.

That rush for stock has meant that every listing of available consoles is immediately met by a flurry of excited buyers, and usually sells out straight away. That appeared to happen at Amazon on Thursday morning.

While the company’s listing for the digital version of the console showed as “in stock”, users who attempted to add it to their basket were shown a message indicating that it was not actually available, and they would have to wait.

The confusion is presumably a result of the fact that only limited numbers of the console were made available, and the sheer number of fans waiting to buy one mean that inevitably most people will be left frustrated.

Reports also suggest that numerous people are using automated systems or bots to buy the consoles as soon as they go live, and then selling them on at inflated prices.

All of those issues have led to chaos and upset around the launch of the PS5, with the console near-impossible to buy for the many people who want to get hold of one.

The issues came the same morning that the console appeared at Argos, but also sold out almost as quickly as it had arrived. Customers complained that they had their orders cancelled immediately.

Amazon has had other issues with the launch of the PS5. Customers complained that they had received a variety of other objects in the post instead of the PlayStations they ordered.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in