Console sales aren’t declining as swiftly as they once did.
Writing articles praising the fact that difficult-to-find technology is becoming more accessible to purchase at retail prices has given me great satisfaction during the pandemic. The Xbox Series S and Nintendo Switch OLED came first, followed by the Series X and nearly all Nvidia and AMD GPUs a few months later. The PS5 will shortly join the group, and we’re quite close to saying that.
The $549.99 console package that contains the PS5 with a disc drive and Horizon Forbidden West is still available around 19 hours after we reported that Sony had started another one of its formerly uncommon (but now significantly more frequent) PS5 restocks. There is still product sitting around, even after everyone has had a chance to rush through the line and make a purchase. You could definitely go take a nap right now, then return and purchase one later.
Many people (including many of us at The Verge) are rediscovering that kind of luxury: purchasing a device whenever the thought occurs to you. And it’s fantastic. I think we’re all ready to move on from those early days when we had the enormous burden of informing readers when they had seconds—not minutes—to score a console.
Sony was still having trouble getting PS5s on store shelves in February (the PS4 had sold more in its lifespan at that post-launch mark). The PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X had substantially higher year-over-year sales in July 2022 than in July 2021, according to recent sales statistics from the NPD Group, indicating that consoles have become much more accessible.
US NPD HW – PlayStation 5 led the market in hardware spending during both July and 2022 year to date, while Switch sold the most units in both time periods.
— Mat Piscatella (@MatPiscatella) August 19, 2022
I’m hesitant to declare the PS5 to be “simple” to purchase just yet because, if it were, retailers like Amazon, Best Buy, and others would have it in stock and available for immediate shipping. Currently, you may ask for an invite to buy one from Amazon, but it only counts for half because you have to wait to see if you get the invite. You may also complete this form to be entered to win an invitation from Sony to purchase a PS5.
I think that’s an indication that the stock situation won’t be as critical a problem for the 2022 holiday season as it was last year given that the PS5 refill is currently continuing long into the next day.
