PlayStation Japan has revealed that the number of allocated PlayStation 5 pre-order units has hit its limit. The upshot of this is that there are no further reservations planned at this time, and according to PlayStation, there will be no PS5 consoles available to purchase in stores on launch day.
The company apologised for the inconvenience, but stated that the decision for no in-store sales is to protect customers and retailers during the ongoing pandemic.
"Due to the high interest and many orders from users, the launch is sold out by the reserved amount," PlayStation Japan explained in a blog post. "While there are still concerns about the spread of the coronavirus, we do not plan to hold events or sell PS5 at stores on the day of PS5 release in order to ensure the safety of customers, retailers, and staff."
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While it initially looked as if this would just be the case in Japan, PlayStation has since clarified in a tweet that "All PS5 console sales on launch day, November 12 or November 19 depending on your region, will be online-only. No units will be available in-store for purchase"
It shouldn't come as a huge surprise that the PS5 is already become a hard-to-obtain item. Earlier this month Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan told Reuters that "the demand as expressed by the level of pre-order has been very, very considerable". He went on to reveal that Sony shifted as many PS5 consoles in the first 12 hours of pre-orders in the US as PS4 consoles sold via pre-order in its first 12 weeks.
With this good news came a warning that "it may well be that not everybody who wants to buy a PS5 on launch day will be able to find one". He added that the firm's "working as hard as it can" to make sure as many people can get a console, but we're clearly seeing the effects of pre-order success already coming to life in Japan. Still, anything that keeps people safe during a pandemic is something I can get on board with.
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The PlayStation 5 launches next week on November 12th in Japan, the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico and South Korea. The rest of the world will get their hands on the next-gen Sony console a week later, on November 19th, although there have been some reports that those of us in Europe might get it at the same time as the rest of the world in light of renewed lockdowns.
German retailer Media Markt recently started getting in touch with customers to let them know they'll start shipping consoles from November 12th - a full week earlier than the currently planned European release date, and the same day it launches in the US and Japan. While this would obviously be a fantastic surprise and much-needed dose of good news for many of us, it's probably best not to get too excited just yet. We'll have to wait and see what we see.
Topics: PlayStation 5, Next-Gen, News
