Here’s Why PS5 & Xbox Series X are Frequently Out of Stock

by Aqsa Ejaz
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You’ve probably heard by now that PS5 and Xbox Series X stock is worth its weight in gold. It often feels like you have a better shot at winning the lottery than securing a PS5 deal. What’s the reason for this? To get your hands on a new PlayStation, why is it so hard to find? Even while several causes are at play, many of them stem from the terrible year that 2020 was. The problem isn’t just your terrible luck. Don’t bother emailing your local PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X dealer about the upcoming drop because they don’t know either.

However, despite Sony selling more than 10 million PS5s since November last year, new PS5 and Xbox Series X releases continue to sell out within minutes of being released. Either they’re forced to take on competent scalpers employing bots when new stock is available, or they’re forced to pay inflated prices for the same scalpers on eBay.

Shortage of Consoles

Shortly, dealers had no idea when the shortage of the two consoles would ease. Games marketing manager Kevin Chandler couldn’t even anticipate when the next batch of games would be available for pre-order. However, we don’t know for sure if they’ll be accessible in time for Christmas. Scammers have turned to bots for an advantage when it comes to highly sought-after and difficult-to-find commodities.

The costs of PlayStation 5, Xbox One X, and Nintendo Switch OLED systems on third-party reseller sites like eBay will give you an idea (although some of these listings may be scams in their entirety). At the time, data engineer Michael Roll reported that between 10 and 15 percent of all PS5s sold in the United States had been resold, with scalpers making an estimated $43.2 million profit. Scalpers flaunt their massive harvest of PS5s and Xbox Series X consoles, which they are currently selling at an inflated price, further aggravating the situation for people trying to buy consoles legitimately. If you’re looking to buy a gaming console, the odds are stacked against you, which isn’t enjoyable.

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Memberships & Gamestops

Now, the membership offers some unique bonuses, but if you’re trying to obtain a better chance of getting a console, this membership is probably not the best option. Shopping bots were not addressed by Best Buy when asked about them by IGN. Be aware that GameStop bundles the Xbox Series and PS5 systems with additional goods that drive up their retail price, much like Best Buy. Although GameStop has also done restocks without needing a paid membership, customers can purchase specific bundles with a $14.99 GameStop Pro membership on a particular day or time with a heads-up, usually one day in advance of that. We asked GameStop to comment on how the company plans to deal with the Grinch-like behavior of shopping bots this holiday season, but we got no reply.

Walmart appears to have the best chances in terms of regular restocks, although the fills themselves seem to have trouble keeping up with botting activities. Restocks of the console are now occurring more often and at the exact times as previous restocks (on a few days). In recent weeks, Walmart+ members have been able to get their hands on fills by signing up for a free trial. Walmart is the only large store to be entirely open with its customers about publicly cracking down on bots.

Semiconductors are in limited supply as demand for gadgets rises as more people stay at home due to the coronavirus. This deficit is now affecting Xbox and PlayStation 5 production when the epidemic has intensified demand for both platforms.

Chip Shortage 

Nvidia and AMD-powered graphics cards and consoles are in low supply at electronics outlets. They’re selling for more than their initial price on Kijiji, eBay, and Facebook Marketplace, according to CTV News.” According to AMD, there will likely be a lack of console stock for the foreseeable future, a hardware engineering company that makes the CPUs and GPUs used in both platforms. Demand will outweigh supply, so some people may be unable to get their hands on the console when they want to, according to Piers Harding-Rolls, director of Ampere’s games research. New CEO Cristiano Amon is concerned about the chip scarcity because he needs to keep the company at the top of the mobile chip market while growing into new industries with 5G connectivity.

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Scalper’s Strategy

One of the most popular retailers in the United Kingdom has previously issued fresh goods between 1 am and 3 am. Several resellers have told that this is their primary target because of this practice. Therefore, the website won’t take long to load for scalpers because legitimate purchasers aren’t as competitive at that time. For example, scalpers utilise an “Add To Card” request to check Argos’ non-public basket API to see if a product is in stock. With this, customers can get real-time stock updates and have products added to their shopping carts without leaving their seats. It’s not known when more stock will be available. Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan told Reuters that his company had produced more PlayStations faster than they ever have before, which makes them delighted because of the current chip bottleneck.

Twitter Gaming Groups

It’s also a good idea to join gaming groups on Twitter, where you’ll find hundreds of other gamers discussing where and when the next-generation consoles went on sale. Having this information at your disposal may be beneficial, as it lets you know which businesses to keep an eye on and when. It’s possible to find someone willing to sell their next-generation console for a reasonable price if they’ve recently purchased a limited-edition model.

In addition to stock alert websites and Discord servers, there is also stock alert Twitter accounts that you may follow. Our favorite is Wario64, which often tweets about upcoming restocks hours before they go live and alerts his followers anytime a system or games are on sale.

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