PS5 restock roadmap stretches Sony's biggest console launch
By this point, it's pretty clear that a lot of people want a PlayStation 5 (or an Xbox Series X for that matter) but there aren't enough consoles to go around. The PS5 stock situation has been pretty dire since launch day – which was November 12th here in North America and November 19th in Europe – and it doesn't show any sign of getting better soon. Still, Sony indicated today that more stock is on the way, and it'll be here before the end of the year.
Of course, the expectation is that retailers will have some kind PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X stock for Black Friday, as it's the biggest shopping day of the year (at least here in the US). In a tweet published today, Sony confirmed that "more PS5 inventory will be coming to retailers before the end of the year," but it's unclear if Sony is referring to Black Friday stock or restocks that are planned for after Thanksgiving weekend. Sadly, we don't get any specific dates or retailers either, as Sony instead directs prospective buyers to "stay in touch" with their local retailers.
We want to thank gamers everywhere for making the PS5 launch our biggest console launch ever. Demand for PS5 is unprecedented, so we wanted to confirm that more PS5 inventory will be coming to retailers before the end of the year – please stay in touch with your local retailers.
— PlayStation (@PlayStation) November 25, 2020
In that tweet, Sony also confirmed that the PlayStation 5 has officially become its biggest console launch of all time, which is a pretty big deal given the success of Sony's other consoles – notably the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 2. Obviously, gaming has only been growing in popularity as time goes on, but Sony can also likely thank the pandemic for keeping people at home and driving interest in these new consoles.
On the other side of that coin, the pandemic can also be probably be blamed for the stock shortages we're seeing for both PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X at the moment. While stock shortages are a common sight after console launches, the pandemic and its negative effects on manufacturing and distribution are almost certainly making those problems worse, and could mean that stock shortages last much longer than usual.
We'll see what happens from here, but hopefully there are multiple restocks planned before the end of the year. Maybe Sony can give us a better idea of when PS5 stock will be available after Black Friday, but barring that, we'll just have to keep a close eye on retailers to see when they open up orders for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X.