Due to supply chain problems it will still be a challenge to get a Sony PlayStation this Christmas, even though the gaming console has been out on the market for the past two years.Girts Ragelis/iStock
“Why does finding a PS5 feel like winning the lottery?”
“Finding a leprechaun is way easier than finding a brand new PS5 at this point.”
“It’s been almost two years, how is the PS5 still sold out everywhere? Just gonna try and get an Xbox Series at this point.”
Japanese multinational Sony Corp. debuted the PlayStation 5 gaming console in November, 2020. Nearly two years later, messages like the ones above still pop up regularly on social media sites like Twitter, where there are entire accounts dedicated to tracking available shipments and sales of the hardware.
“They come in, and they sell out relatively quickly,” says Martin Caines, a category officer with Best Buy Canada. Stock has been so tight since the PlayStation 5 was released that the tech retailer “has had to put all kinds of measures in place to ensure that customers are actually getting PS5s, instead of bots.”
Part of the challenge has been supply-chain issues, especially hiccups in transportation. That was a major reason the Nintendo Switch was hard to find during the peak of the pandemic, when cult-favourite game Animal Crossing dominated the scene. But add to that the production slowdowns in computer chips from China, which also rely on stores of neon from war-ravaged Ukraine, and you have a severely strangled pipeline to get the product on shelves.
Now, there are alternative marketplaces like eBay or Kijiji, where you can often find the gaming consoles of your choice, but “expect to pay more,” warns tech columnist and author Marc Saltzman. “If it’s worth it to you to have [your console], just know that you’re going to be paying well above the sticker price.” Saltzman says for those close to the border, they might also have luck trying a U.S. retailer, but that’s not guaranteed.
Despite the challenges of getting your hands on a console, the PlayStation is still the most widely sold game console in Canada, and by a large margin. The most recent release, the PS5, has two versions: the original, which can play physical copies of games, or the digital version, which only supports game downloads or streaming. The other two major consoles, Nintendo Co.’s Switch and Microsoft Corp.’s Xbox, fluctuate in the rankings, with Nintendo selling more physical units and Xbox bringing in more revenue.
Choosing the right console this holiday season
Aside from availability, how do you know which console is for you? First, think about who is going to use it. If you want portability, games with a wider age range, and familiar characters like Mario and Pokemon, the Nintendo Switch is a great fit.
If you have older gamers who want sharper graphics and multiplayer options, you’re looking at either the PlayStation or the Xbox. But choose carefully – many popular games are exclusive to one system or the other. If you want to play any of the Uncharted or Spiderman series, The Last of Us or God of War, that’s all PlayStation.
The Xbox historically hasn’t been able to compete with exclusive releases, save for the Halo franchise, but with Microsoft’s recent acquisitions of game makers like Bethesda and Activision Blizzard, that will soon change.
Both consoles also offer a subscription-based streaming service, which gives access to hundreds of game titles for a monthly fee.
“Microsoft has really approached the playing field thinking, ‘What are the IPs that people are drawn to? What are the big games that have staying power? What can we bring under our umbrella?’ " explains video game correspondent Ajay Fry. “Sony, because they’re the big dog in the console world, they don’t need to innovate so much. They just need to continue providing the same service that the gamers who have loved them for years expect from them.”
However, even as game availability becomes more segmented, gamers themselves are becoming a bit more flexible in their gaming preferences. Like the Twitter user who picked up an Xbox while waiting for a PlayStation, gamers are more willing to flit between systems depending on the whims of the day.
“It’s nice to see that people are breaking out of their camps,” Fry says. “We’re all gamers, we all want to play. Hopefully, we all find the right places to do that.”
In the future, those places could include mobile gaming, too. “I think the big shift in the video game space over the next couple of years will be the introduction of a greater variety of mobile gaming options,” Fry predicts. Certainly, the success of the Nintendo Switch and the Valve Corp.’s Steam Deck, which allows PC gamers to take their games on the go, hasn’t gone unnoticed by game developers.
Of course, shelling out hundreds or thousands of dollars for multiple gaming consoles isn’t an option for many people. While the hardware should last years, these are heavy investments to make upfront. That’s why Caines suggests choosing wisely, keeping an eye on social media announcements, and doing your shopping early.
“We’ve tried to secure the inventory early, in November,” Caines reveals. “There will be [consoles] in December, but we know the majority will come in early this year.”