PS5: Sony opens unusual direct pre-order process amid PlayStation chaos – but only for chosen people
Your support helps us to tell the story
This election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.
The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.
Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.
Sony is opening up pre-orders for the PlayStation 5 through its own website.
The opening of the process comes amid chaos as fans try to get their hands on Sony’s new console. Online shops have been forced offline and the PlayStation 5 sells out almost instantly whenever new stock is allocated.
The unusual process will see the company sell its consoles directly through its own US page.
But the option to do so will be limited to people who received an invitation, with the process shrouded in mystery and exclusivity.
Sony actually started the PS5 pre-order process some time ago, before the price and release date of the console had been revealed.
It invited users to submit a form including their PlayStation Network ID to be in with a chance to receive an invitation through the process. It did not say how it would select those to receive the invitation, but noted that the selection is “based on previous interests and PlayStation activities”.
Anyone who was chosen through that process should now have received an email with the full instructions, allowing them to take part in the process. People who signed up through the form but did not receive an email were not selected, Sony has said.
The invitations cannot be passed on or sold to anybody else, even if those people have already successfully bought consoles through other online shops.
Still, having that invitation does not actually guarantee a console. Sony noted that there will only be limited consoles and that they will be given out on a first-come-first-served basis when the pre-orders open.
The pre-orders will actually open at 10am pacific time, or 6pm in the UK.
Pre-orders for the PS5 opened this week, ahead of a release date in November.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments