How the hunt for a PlayStation 5 became a full-time job

PS5 stock issues have inspired community spirit in an unexpected way, writes Eleanor Jones

The PlayStation 5 has been incredibly difficult to buy since it launched in November 2020 (Getty)

How do you solve a problem like the PlayStation 5? The answer to this question is, quite simply, that you can’t, as the IndyBest team know all too well – we’ve been liveblogging the sporadic stock of Sony’s elusive console since May.

Purchasing a PS5 has been a challenge since its landmark launch a year ago. The supply chain issue is largely due to a global shortage in semiconductors, a problem that has impacted a number of other products, from smartphones to electric cars (as well as the rival Xbox series X console, which is similarly impossible to spot in the wild).

This week, a new report from Bloomberg suggested that the PS5 shortages are set to get even worse, meaning it could be even harder to add one to your basket – the worst possible news for hopeful parents (and adults) who were hoping to track one down before Christmas.

However, while the stress of the shopping experience is undeniable, the competitive hunt for a PS5 has also fostered a strange sense of community, with those who have been successful in their mission sharing increasingly weird and wonderful methods for making sure others are first in line when more stock drops.

There are numerous tracking alerts, Discord servers and Twitter rumours to follow, and dozens of tricks for each retailer to magic the item into your basket before others beat you to it.

Some solutions are as simple as creating a user account and adding the item to your wishlist in advance, but others are as complicated as essentially reworking a retailer’s code to give yourself the best possible chance of victory (more on this in the AO post in our ultimate PS5 guide).

The newly reported reduction in production will likely accelerate what is already one of the most intense and long-term shopping surges we’ve ever encountered even further.

But as someone who usually sits firmly outside of the world of gaming, save a teenage addiction to The Sims, it’s been fascinating, and often heartening, to watch its more dedicated members support each other and celebrate each other’s wins.

Our IndyBest tech writers get frequent thank you messages via social media from those they’ve helped to secure a console by collating drops and hacks on our liveblog, and we’ve revelled in their excitement too. Sometimes BT will give customers a code for priority buying, and if a member of the team doesn’t need theirs, we give it away.

I’m not trying to sell shortages as a perk, but I do believe that the goodness that can come out of a negative is always worth observing, no matter how surprising its source. And if you are still optimistic that a PS5 console will be yours someday soon, may the odds be ever in your favour (and I’d suggest you have our liveblog bookmarked).

Yours,

Eleanor Jones

Executive editor, IndyBest