Hey gang,

Like many of you, I want a new console. Either the PS5 or the Xbox, both actually look fab, but I guess I'm deeper into the Playstation "Eco-System", so I'll make the thread about that.

How long do you think it'll be until we can just go out and buy one? I understand that we're in the COVID times, but I honestly think the fact that, 3 months down the line, you still can't buy the flagship product of one of the biggest gaming companies in the world is absolutely insane. I heard that the "Scalper" problem isn't actually that big an issue, despite the fact I'm sure it's a part of it.

I just get a little exasperated that you cannot buy a PS5 or an Xbox for love nor money at the moment.

This depends what you mean by "just buy one." I think they're getting slightly easier to snag all the time if you watch the Wario64 Twitter and such (in full disclosure I was able to get a Series X from the Microsoft store at launch and a PS5 a few weeks ago from a Gamestop bundle) so I would guess that within a couple months anyone who really wants one and is willing to put in some time to watch for those things will have one.

If you mean literally just walk into any store (or go on Amazon or whatever) and buy one whenever you feel like it...I'd guess April at the earliest and July at the latest. April was the initial prediction from both companies but we're creeping up on it and they both vanish immediately still so unless there's a massive shipment coming in I have my doubts. By July I'd imagine that supply chains will be better anyway (as more of the world is vaccinated) and whatever ramp ups in production they've aimed for will be done.

The Xbox will be available earlier than the PS5 because demand is lower, especially outside the United States.

I will note that despite the fact that this is nutty covid time...this is hardly unprecedented. Consoles are often hard to get around launch. I think the Wii wasn't readily available for like a year or 2. I remember that the Switch was also not easy to get at launch (though not as hard as the PS5.) There were also Switch AND PS4 shortages in 2020, which is what's really crazy to me. The PS4 Pro was basically impossible to find for a chunk of time last year.

I will say that as someone who owns both the new consoles...they're neat but you're not missing out on much. The software really isn't there yet. The reduced load times probably make it worth it to upgrade, but honestly I've been swapping between 9th and 8th gen games and I don't even notice a difference. Does Destruction AllStars look better than Yakuza 0? Maybe a little. Is it something that would impact your enjoyment of the game? No.

And while the Dualsense is cool in theory, there's like 1 game that properly integrates it at this point. And it's a 5 hour platinum. So while I understand how frustrating it is not to be able to get these things (and I spent way too much time rolling the dice trying to get a PS5 when I honestly should have just waited) you're not really missing out at this point.

I'm definitely glad I didn't go the scalper route (not that I was tempted) and the only reason I'm not regretful about the Gamestop bundle is because it came with games I wanted to buy anyway.

I currently have a bet going with some coworkers about which one I’m gonna be able to get my hands on first: a PS5 or a vaccine. Vaccine currently looking more likely.

AMD (which is making the chips for all the new consoles this gen) said they expect shortages to last until 2nd half 2021.

On top of that, the demand for PS5 seems to be crazy.. far more demand than PS4, from what I remember. Good luck.

I think it's going to have to be at least a second wave of post-ramp ups. I think you're still going to see your bot scalpers buying up as many of these things as they can on the first wave. Which you hope leads to them buying way more then they can sell, they lose a bunch of money in turn, and give up on it after that.

I’m thinking September maybe, as a time when you can walk into any big box retailer and pick one up from a shelf.

August/September is my bet.

Well it would be nice to be able to get one for my birthday in May since it's looking like vaccines are not going to roll out fast enough for me to travel to see my family by then, but I'm not optimistic. I wouldn't be shocked if it was 2022 before you can just walk into a WalMart and grab one off the shelf.

No sooner than July.

If by "just buy one" you mean buying one on a whim like you're in Target picking up some football cream and ah what the hell let's cruise over to electronics and grab a PS5, then I always thought summer. I want to revise that to early fall.

Years...

I don't expect to get one until 2024, at least... but I was never an early adopter.

Well, if you guessed early that 2022 I think you will be have been wrong.

I think Sony would literally have to dump 5 million units on the market in September and another 1 million more in October/November for the system to appear on shelves. Even if they dumped enough stocks to satisfy demand for September, scalpers would still gobble up stocks trying to cash in. There literally has to be TOO MANY systems sitting on end caps of electronics stores before scalpers will give up.

I would buy a unit now, but I have to buy one online because of where I live - there are no local stores. So, I either get it from Amazon or Best Buy or it never happens.

Considering that TSMC recently suggested that they plan to increase their prices for chip manufacturing due to the continued chip shortage, I can easily see this still being an issue throughout all of 2022 too. You can’t just spin up a big new foundry in less than 2 or 3 years

Chip shortages are ravaging consumer electronic, appliance, and automotive markets right now. Every OEM can't possibly buy enough from chip makers. I know from professional experience that automotive companies are literally shutting down manufacturing plants for weeks because they don't have chips for cars. I wouldn't expect things to get better before at least mid next year.

My earlier speculation of September seems a bit optimistic now.

Okay, after over a year, I revises my projection to February 2024.

So, not this year; and not next year at all. You will never see an end-cap stacked PS5 ever in its lifetime. Those holiday pictures of conbsoles just stacked up for Black Friday will never occur. Never. Even if there was 'the stock' to place out for display; this past year of "smash & grab" hiests will make retailer reculsant to show high end items on teh floor. Trust is gone.

Expect scalpers to extend their stranglehold on these products unless legislation actually passes to combat this or... 2024 hits (great guesses above). Scalpers have bots with known success there's no way they'll give that up especially if they're sitting on existing stock in their spare bedroom.

With the PS5 now being more than a year old, the concept of buying one seems less enticing. I still have my preorder in, and I have to believe that it's getting closer, but I'm not so sure if I would go and pick it up if it became available tomorrow. The inevitable PS5 Pro is getting closer.

Where I'm from the scalpers asking price isn't much higher that what they're supposed to cost, and you potentially lose out on the warranty. Have to wonder how long are they going to keep doing that for a somewhat marginal profit, running the risk that they'll end up with units that they'll eventually have to sell at a loss.

I am on a stock alert website that sends me emails and I've basically never seen the PS5 available but the Series X has come up a few times. I've missed it each time. I was Xbox 360 --> PS4, and that this point I don't care which one I choose next. I will never buy something from a scalper and I'm not willing to invest too much time in trying to track stuff down. Hopefully at some point before the end of 2022, if stuff can be in stock for at least 20-30 minutes I can order one.

I would be interested to see how many of either console has been sold/how many they're able to produce. At some point even if the supply chain is still hampering production efforts, enough millions will be sold to make the scalper market no longer interested.

@brendan: Emails seems too slow for how quick the drops are. I joined a telegram for stock updates and it wasn't too difficult to get a PS5 that way. You gotta be in a position to drop whatever you're doing when one drops though cause those windows are tight.

Agreed. I have been contacted by Sony and Amazon TWICE, both saying I could order from them. Yet, both time I was hours too late.

And, I agree with you @apewins, the longer I cannot get one the less interested I have become. It a lose/lose for gaming, because it not like I will buy a Xbox or Switch istead. THis currenet retail climate is just souring me of everything. Sure, if I get a changce to buy a PS5 I will, but it won't be the same for a long time.

There is one brite side to not being able to buy a PS5, at lats by the tiem I cna get oen there will be a choice of SSDs to buy. I will not accpt anything less than 4 TB, because my PS4 has 2TB. Why would I want LESS storage on my ps5 - that is a step back? I want a PS5 at MSRP and I want a NVMe drive that works well with PS5 that is 4TB.

I've had a PS5 since about 3 days after launch. I have had minimal issues with storage. I moved the 4TB external drive I was using on my launch PS4 to my PS5. It holds all my PS4 games as well as the PS5 games I'm not currently playing. When SSDs get reasonable in price (assuming that happens before the PS6), I'll pick one up. I'm in zero rush to do so though.

@monkeyking1969: A step back in storage, a major jump in speed over a mechanical HDD. A drive that size with the PS5 specs is ~$900 by itself right now. I don't think there was ever a retail unit that came with 2TB, even with the cheap mechanical drives of the last generation. You are going to be buying a PS7 or a Series XXX, and still probably at the tail end of that console generation if you are waiting for a stock unit with 4TB for MSRP. Like Ginormous said, get an external and swap games back and forth between drives. And make it an SSD if you want it to be fast, but even an old 2.5 SSD at 4TB is about as much as these new consoles still.

I hear you about the price. But, yeah, I would sepnd more for the 4 TB drive.

I hate being fiddley with external drives. After a while something happend to exteranl drives The drive slips off the table, the the USB on one side or the other wears out, or just the lower duty cycle or read/write of SSDs catch up with your data. Also, I don't feel like moving games from the slow drive to th fast drive.

It is worth an extra "$400 or "$500" over and above the price of a smaller compliant drive in the NVMe slot of the PS5. I'll to spend the money in 2023 or 2024 to get a bigger NVMe with my PS5, even if the drives are still $895.95. Just my druthers.