UK's Biggest Video Game Retailer Experiencing Unprecedented Demand for a PlayStation Console

Rolla

Rolla

Banned
Lines up with what I heard at my local GAME store manager yesterday. They had reached a point where they couldn't actually take my money without the go ahead from HQ.



Edit

Pushsquare has an article up

 
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Previous console launches have been in high demand and sold out. This would set a precedent.

Dear Game.co.uk:

SUal2CJ.jpg
 
gradient said:
Previous console launches have been in high demand and sold out. This would set a precedent.

Dear Game.co.uk:
Click to expand...

I spoke about this yesterday on gaf. I went to my local game store. I know the manager well and he wasn't allowed to take my money. Orders from HQ, from a company known to be unscrupulous in it's pursuit of a £, couldn't take my money. He told me the demand was unlike anything he's ever seen. And he's a GAME store lifer.

This feels different to the PS4 launch. Every UK online store that has preorders goes down within minutes. Sometimes seconds. EU gamers are saying the exact same thing.

It's looking like momentum in motion
 
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As much as we're up in arms over the crossgen nonsense, slight price increases and lack of BC, it just goes to show that even as enthusiasts, the detractors are a tiny minority.

Sony, regardless of what some may think/wish to believe, have absolutely perfectly managed the marketing, pricing, hype and expectations of the general public so far with the PS5.

It's going to be a damned monster, and I don't doubt it will lead to another generation dominating the industry.
 
Stilton Disco said:
As much as we're up in arms over the crossgen nonsense, slight price increases and lack of BC, it just goes to show that even as enthusiasts, the detractors are a tiny minority.

Sony, regardless of what some may think/wish to believe, have absolutely perfectly managed the marketing, pricing, hype and expectations of the general public so far with the PS5.

It's going to be a damned monster, and I don't doubt it will lead to another generation dominating the industry.
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Its tracking way higher than ps4 preorder . So yeah
 
BlueXImpulse said:
Incredible. Sony will dominate this holiday period easily. I do not expect Xboxes to sell out.
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I asked about this in store yesterday. And obviously this is just anecdotal evidence. And I stress anecdotal because I'm not trying to be attacked or accused of bias. That aside, the manager told me that the series X isn't seeing anywhere close to the interest of the XBOX One in terms of pre orders.

Again, obviously that's just his store. But if that is a fact that's replicated, it doesn't bode well.
 
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Rolla said:
I asked about this in store yesterday. And obviously this is just anecdotal evidence. And I stress anecdotal because I'm not trying to be attacked or accused of bias. That aside, the manager told me that the series X isn't seeing anywhere close to the interest of the XBOX One in terms of pre orders.

Again, obviously that's just his store. But if that is a fact that's replicated, it doesn't bode well.
Click to expand...

I can believe that. I think a lot of Xbox players will move over to Playstation because they can use their Xbox One for Games Pass just fine.
 
Rolla said:
I asked about this in store yesterday. And obviously this is just anecdotal evidence. And I stress anecdotal because I'm not trying to be attacked or accused of bias. That aside, the manager told me that the series X isn't seeing anywhere close to the interest of the XBOX One in terms of pre orders.

Again, obviously that's just his store. But if that is a fact that's replicated, it doesn't bode well.
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Series X preorder? Where can I do those?

R3axi0n said:
GAME isn't the UK's biggest video game retailer.
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The biggest special purpose video game retailer
Other than that, only Tesco is bigger
 
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prinz_valium said:
You said interest in terms of preorders
How does one measure that?
Unless you have a notify email list, you don't have at an offline store.
So people asking about preorders?
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My guess would be people entering the store and openly talking about the console? Coupled with the fact that he's been with the company for decades?

If you find issue with the conversation, how it played out, or what it suggests. Please also note that I myself stated that this in anecdotal evidence / retail musings. We'll see how things play out, fully, in just a few days.
 
Rolla said:
I spoke about this yesterday on gaf. I went to my local game store. I know the manager well and he wasn't allowed to take my money. Orders from HQ, from a company known to be unscrupulous in it's pursuit of a £, couldn't take my money. He told me the demand was unlike anything he's ever seen. And he's a GAME store lifer.

This feels different to the PS4 launch. Every UK online store that has preorders goes down within minutes. Sometimes seconds. EU gamers are saying the exact same thing.

It's looking like momentum in motion
Click to expand...

I've no doubt that the PS5 is in high demand, not disputing that at all.

It's just that Game's statement is either blowing smoke in order to try and get people into it's stores at a time when it's really hurting for businesss, or points to a retailer that is so inept in it's field that it somehow failed to anticipate, what is at this point, a pretty common occurrence in the market

My money is on the former, but given their history and the state they've got themselves in I wouldn't be surprised if it was the latter.
 
It's going to be tough to get one, I can see it being like when the old iPhones came out and you'd see queues round the corner.
 
Yeah they only had a few left when I got there at 8.30Am the day after the event...

Same and store Ive been going to since before PS3 and he said the demand is way more than PS4 / X1 / PS3/ 360 etc. He said its crazy
 
Rolla said:
I spoke about this yesterday on gaf. I went to my local game store. I know the manager well and he wasn't allowed to take my money. Orders from HQ, from a company known to be unscrupulous in it's pursuit of a £, couldn't take my money. He told me the demand was unlike anything he's ever seen. And he's a GAME store lifer.

This feels different to the PS4 launch. Every UK online store that has preorders goes down within minutes. Sometimes seconds. EU gamers are saying the exact same thing.

It's looking like momentum in motion
Click to expand...
Incredible AND they reportedly doubled production.
 
Stilton Disco said:
As much as we're up in arms over the crossgen nonsense, slight price increases and lack of BC, it just goes to show that even as enthusiasts, the detractors are a tiny minority.
Click to expand...

People who care about this stuff enough to vent online are exactly the same people who buy it in droves. Especially during launch period.
 
Of course the ps5 will sell more this holiday and will sell more overall.

There is no question. The question will be how competitive will Microsoft be.

I think we'd all like to see a much close race. It benefits everyone.
 
gradient said:
I've no doubt that the PS5 is in high demand, not disputing that at all.

It's just that Game's statement is either blowing smoke in order to try and get people into it's stores at a time when it's really hurting for businesss, or points to a retailer that is so inept in it's field that it somehow failed to anticipate, what is at this point, a pretty common occurrence in the market

My money is on the former, but given their history and the state they've got themselves in I wouldn't be surprised if it was the latter.
Click to expand...

Without any doubt game is an unscrupulous retailer. I mentioned unscrupulous earlier. Their incompetence is legendary. That aside, there is also legal jargon for retailers that stops them from taking money at a certain point when they know supply isn't able to keep up with demand. Even just from a PR stand point.

The fact that his orders from head office was to suspend pre orders. Despite me having the £450 ready to go was what gave me pause for thought.

This and France selling out of stock Nationally...



Points to a scalpers dream scenario in November.
 
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Rolla said:
My guess would be people entering the store and openly talking about the console? Coupled with the fact that he's been with the company for decades?

If you find issue with the conversation, how it played out, or what it suggests. Please also note that I myself stated that this in anecdotal evidence / retail musings. We'll see how things play out, fully, in just a few days.
Click to expand...
Or its just PS fanboy BS? right?
 
Rolla said:
I spoke about this yesterday on gaf. I went to my local game store. I know the manager well and he wasn't allowed to take my money. Orders from HQ, from a company known to be unscrupulous in it's pursuit of a £, couldn't take my money. He told me the demand was unlike anything he's ever seen. And he's a GAME store lifer.

This feels different to the PS4 launch. Every UK online store that has preorders goes down within minutes. Sometimes seconds. EU gamers are saying the exact same thing.

It's looking like momentum in motion
Click to expand...

Yeah it is madness.

Here at Finland my experiences:

Retailer 1, big company that sells internet/phone connections + lot of phones and other stuff: yesterday I refreshed their site every 5-10 minutes, then after one refresh I saw PS5DE but standard were sold out, on forums they said it took less than a minute to sell them out

Retailer 2, biggest electronics store chain. Said preorders start today at 10:00, started to F5 at 9:55, then saw the "order now"-button activated, clicked one to the basket, took 20-30s to choose payment+shipping = item is sold out, cant order it. Others said they got theirs by clicking stuff randomly, sold out less than minute

retailer 3, second biggest electronics store chain. Said that today they take orders, no time. Refreshed their page like a maniac after retailer 2 failed. Saw PS5s to be active, ordered 2 standard editions. few minutes later: sold out

retailer 4, big/one of biggest company that sells phones and connections + also consoles/tvs etc. Checked their site at 12:00, pre-orders started, ordered 1 from them. around 12:02 maybe they were sold out.

Not many bigger ones left, rest have taken orders for months / year with place holder price.

tl;dr most retailers sold out here in less than a minute and all didnt even tell when it they will start to take pre-orders


PS4 were sold out too but I think it took more like hours or maybe even a day? and were difficult/impossible to find in first 2-3 months.

So maybe ps5 will be even harder to find.

Also retailer 1 representative told on forums that they could not get any xbox series x or s on launch, first batch is expected earliers at january 2021.

So it looks like xbox have lower amount of units or they focus on their main areas and dont care about countries with 80% of ps4 gamers
 
MasterCornholio said:
No idea but the demand is sky high for the system. If you haven't pre-ordered already you probably won't get one at launch.
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No denyint that, it will be insanely popular but i'm reckoning due to Covid and other things that all companies in the coming year will face stock and production issues.
 
Stilton Disco said:
As much as we're up in arms over the crossgen nonsense, slight price increases and lack of BC, it just goes to show that even as enthusiasts, the detractors are a tiny minority.

Sony, regardless of what some may think/wish to believe, have absolutely perfectly managed the marketing, pricing, hype and expectations of the general public so far with the PS5.

It's going to be a damned monster, and I don't doubt it will lead to another generation dominating the industry.
Click to expand...

It's weird to me that videogame podcasters and media don't like to just admit this about the Playstation brand. They seem to admit it when it comes to the Switch. Nintendo is killing it with that system and they say that. But they push doubt on the PS5 and Sony all of a sudden saying they are anti-consumer. It's odd.
 
LeftThumbstick said:
No denyint that, it will be insanely popular but i'm reckoning due to Covid and other things that all companies in the coming year will face stock and production issues.
Click to expand...

Microsoft said there will be enough to go around but that was at the start of this pandemic. I'm guessing it's going to be an issue for both unless the demand isn't there.
 
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