PlayStation apologises for PS5 pre-order confusion and promises more stock

PlayStation has apologised for the PS5’s pre-order confusion this week and promised to release more consoles to retailers.

Multiple retailers sold out of PlayStation 5 pre-orders just hours after launch details were announced on Wednesday, despite Sony telling fans that pre-sales for the console would begin starting the day after.

Retailers including Target, Walmart, Gamestop, Game UK and Best Buy went live with their PS5 pre-orders ahead of schedule, with most quickly selling out of stock.

Spokespeople for Game and Walmart told VGC they would soon have more PlayStation 5 consoles available for pre-order via their physical stores. But otherwise many customers have been left frustrated at having been unable to prepare for pre-orders opening.

“Let’s be honest: PS5 preorders could have been a lot smoother. We truly apologize for that,” PlayStation said in a Twitter post on Saturday.

“Over the next few days, we will release more PS5 consoles for preorder – retailers will share more details. And more PS5s will be available through the end of the year.”

Sony has sent out invites to those who were invited to pre-order PlayStation 5 directly from PlayStation, although invited customers were not able to purchase the console until Friday.

In July, PlayStation’s worldwide marketing head Eric Lempel claimed the platform holder would give consumers fair notice before pre-orders went live.

“So I think it’s safe to say, we’ll let you know when pre-orders will happen,” he said. “It’s not going to happen with a minute’s notice.

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PlayStation confirms its PlayStation 5 games will cost up to $70 / £70

While some smaller or family titles will cost less

“We’re going to at some point let you know when you can pre-order a PlayStation 5 so please don’t feel like you have to go run and line up anywhere until you receive official notice on how that will work.”

Daniel Ahmad, senior analyst at Niko Partners, told VGC he expects supply issues for both PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X this year.

“While production is ramping up and component scarcity is less of an issue than before, we believe that logistics issues will be a barrier for both platform holders to overcome this holiday, with the impact from Covid-19 leading to long shipping times and shortages on store shelves during the launch period.

“We expect Sony and Microsoft to utilise air shipments, which will cost more, to meet demand this year.”