After a hectic preorder season, Sony today announced that there will be no PlayStation 5 consoles available for walk-in purchases at retail stores on the console’s launch date. The company shared the news via a tweet and blog post and is strongly discouraging eager gamers from lining up outside stores. If you do, it’ll be for nothing. “All day-of launch sales will be conducted through the online stores of our retail partners,” Sony’s Sid Shuman wrote in the blog post.
“No units will be available in-store for purchase on launch day (November 12th or November 19th, depending on your region) — please don’t plan on camping out or lining up at your local retailer on launch day in hopes of finding a PS5 console for purchase. Be safe, stay home, and place your order online,” he added.
Note that this does not impact orders placed for in-store pickup. If you’ve already preordered a PlayStation 5 with Best Buy, GameStop, Target, or another retailer and have been confirmed for launch day pickup, you’ll still be getting your new console without issue. But this is Sony taking steps to prevent unnecessary lines at retailers around the globe as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to stretch on.
Retailers, including Target in the US, have already been trying to get this online-only message across to consumers. Walmart plans to have four different windows of launch-day PlayStation 5 sales at 12PM, 3PM, 6PM, and 9PM. Just last night, Amazon — after a long period of uncertainty — began updating PS5 preorders with estimated delivery dates. Many of them (including the Digital Edition PS5) are on target to hit the November 12th launch.
Sony’s announcement today technically only applies to the first day of sales, but it’s unlikely you’ll have an easy time finding a PS5 on the shelves at major retailers anytime soon.
