The PS5 shortage – and how to beat it on Black Friday?

The Japanese giant’s next-gen console has been in short supply since launching over a year ago, to the point that simply getting hold of PS5 stock at the usual retail price is a Black Friday ‘deal’ in itself. .

And why is PS5 stock in such short supply.

With half the world plunged into lockdown, and millions asked to work from home, demand for all games consoles – and especially Sony’s first new PlayStation for seven years – sky-rocketed.

In May 2021, Sony privately warned analysts that PlayStation 5 shortages would continue until 2022: "I don’t think demand is calming down this year and even if we secure a lot more devices and produce many more units of the PlayStation 5 next year, our supply wouldn’t be able to catch up with demand," said a gloomy Hiroki Totoki, the company's Chief Financial Officer

He also assured customers that Sony is "laser-focussed" on shipping as many console units as possible, but, truth is, the company expects to produce one million fewer consoles – 15 million, rather than 16 million – in the financial year ending March 2022

Combine good intel with the secrets below, and you should be able to scoop Sony’s 4K console in the Black Friday sales