This is an incredibly exciting time to be a gamer. The Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S launched around the world yesterday (November 10th). Meanwhile, the PlayStation 5 is set to launch in the US and Japan tomorrow (November 12th), while the UK and Europe get their hands on it at the slightly later date of November 19th.
Unsurprisingly, gamers everywhere already have plans to ditch work when the PS5 launches in their country so that they can spend all day with their new purchases. This is according to a recent Reddit survey, that found the vast majority of PlayStation fans will either use annual leave or pull a good old-fashioned sickie to spend some quality time with the next-gen hardware.
Sadly I've used up all of my holiday days for this year. I also definitely won't be pulling a sickie... but only because my editor/boss reads what I write and if I'm mysteriously ill on November 19th now, I'm done for. Still, those of you that can? Go for it!
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While the results of a Reddit survey are hardly comprehensive, a separate study carried out by executives.co.uk found that 66.5% of fans are taking the PS5 launch off, although just 2% admitted that it would be a sick day rather than annual leave. I can almost guarantee the amount of people actually taking a sick day will be much higher than that, however.
Because the PS5 arrives on a Thursday in all territories, a lot of gamers have also expressed their intention to simply wait a day and book off the Friday after launch. That means they don't get launch day with the console, yes, but it does mean they get an uninterrupted three-day weekend playing Demon's Souls and Spider-Man: Miles Morales. Not too shabby at all.
On a slightly more worrying note, a few on the Reddit thread wrote that they're not taking the day off just so they can play the console - it's more that they're terrified of the idea of a delivery driver simply leaving their £500 sat outside their house all day. I dunno how things are where you live, but there's no way that wouldn't get pinched around my neck of the woods.
Finally, there are those who are waiting until they're absolutely sure that their PS5 will arrive on launch day as planned before phoning in sick. Various retailers around the world have already failed to deliver Xbox Series X/S consoles, and some are already reporting cancelled PS5 orders, so it seems some are just trying to be wary and not waste a perfectly good day off on a console that might never come.
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For the most part, however, it looks like the next-gen launch is going pretty smoothly. Let's all hope that the console fairies are able to deliver over the next few weeks, and then most of the people who ordered a PS5 get one on time.
Featured Image Credit: SonyTopics: PlayStation 5, News