This Is Why You Don't Have a PS5 or Series X
Why You Don’t Have a PS5 or Series X/S
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It’s been an extremely rocky launch for the new generation of consoles. And that’s without even considering the hardware problems, from odd noises to system errors and Dualsense drifting. The biggest question for many is just: why are these new systems so hard to find? Well, there are more reasons than just scummy eBay listings ... Welcome to MojoPlays, and this is Why You Don’t Have a PS5 or Series X/S! It’s easy to point fingers at resellers, and frankly, we wouldn’t blame you for resenting them. Many PS5 and Series X scalpers have listed their consoles well above double the retail price - and this during a pandemic where people are losing jobs and struggling for cash. Whereas some resellers are simple folk trying to cover bills, others are killing it by using bots to buy up hundreds of units. These automated programs monitor websites for stock and blast through checkout in milliseconds. Even websites with CAPTCHA systems already in place have found their methods compromised, and it’s resulted in consoles selling out within minutes. It’s understandable that so many feel frustrated with resellers, as this situation is one of the worst we’ve seen. Resellers have a history of scalping products to control markets, especially in the realm of video games. Even a year after the Wii launched in 2006, resellers were still buying up stores’ miniscule supplies. But the last time that I, personally, have seen a shortage this bad was back when amiibos were still new. With amiibos, it was just as unregulated. I actually used to be a reseller during the toys-to-life craze. From rare Power Discs for “Disney Infinity” to Nintendo’s amiibo toys, I had tried to pay my bills in college by practicing reselling, being active primarily in the amiibo market. Eventually, I managed to keep a steady enough flow of stock that I began expanding my business onto campus. However, things got slightly harder when stores began enforcing the “one-per-customer” policy. Because I didn’t want to be “that guy who bought half the stock”, I began limiting myself. I did notice, though, that the “one-per-customer” policy was not enforced properly. In practice, the “one-per-customer” policy doesn’t actually mean that you, as a person, are limited to a single unit. You can buy as many as you’d like, but you have to go to the back of the line and purchase each unit separately, giving everyone a chance. Online stores have done something similar, forcing resellers to buy multiple units across separate purchases. However, there’s nothing to combat resellers using multiple bots simultaneously, allowing them to accrue numerous units with little resistance. At the time of writing, the United Kingdom government is currently reviewing a bill to combat abusive resellers, but we’ll see how far that goes. As much as we can gripe about resellers making it almost damn near-impossible to enter the next generation of consoles, there is more to the problem, and it stems into production of the units themselves. Both PS5 and Series X/S use processors produced by AMD, known as the Ryzen 5000 series. Yeah, two competitive companies are conducting business with the same third-party. The problem is that AMD makes products for not just Sony and Microsoft but for dozens of other clients. To make matters worse, AMD creates their products from materials supplied by TSMC who, itself, is suffering from a supply shortage required to make AMD’s products. “So,” you ask, “why don’t they get their processors from someone else?” Well, it isn’t that simple given how quickly consoles are being bought up. Unreasonably high demand can make supply insanely hard to maintain. AMD is supposedly looking to outsource production to companies like Samsung to fulfill orders more quickly. Unfortunately, only time will tell if they actually move forward with this and if it will produce the same results as the units currently being made. AMD has stated that the shortage will last into the middle of 2021. Of course, there is one obvious cause of the shortage that we’ve only briefly touched upon: the pandemic. Several countries have had to close non-essential businesses, and/or impose restrictions on workplace capacities. This has affected the productivity of many businesses and led to a number of layoffs across every industry. With fewer workers in factories, it’s almost impossible to keep up with the unprecedented demand. We’ve seen the effects in other areas of the games industry too, as more and more titles are being delayed. Indeed, 2020 could not have been a worse time to launch a console. This was what stirred concern about the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S before launch. Other business decisions have led to larger questions about priorities. Weeks before launch, Burger King got their own stash of a thousand PS5’s to use for a massive giveaway. Microsoft would do something similar with Taco Bell, but only supply a modest 20 Series X consoles. And let’s not forget the outlets and influencers who would get their own consoles to help drive hype for a product that no one was going to be able to buy. In hindsight, the PS5 and Series X/S should have simply been delayed. While these consoles are flying off the shelves, they have been in a way that feels disingenuous. Did these consoles REALLY need to launch before the end of 2020? Why couldn’t they have been delayed to 2021? Why manufacture the hype for the product when the supply was so low? Why not use the downtime to bulk up the stock before making a massive launch? Was it necessary to launch during a global crisis, or worse, a holiday season in the middle of a global crisis? Is there anything that can be done to mitigate the problems cropped up by resellers? So far, the only question we can answer is why you may not have a Ps5 or Series X/S - and may not get one for a while to come!
