Amazon has confirmed the PS5 will be available to buy in the UK November 19, which is the official release date on European soil.
Gamers who’d registered interest in purchasing the console have reported receiving emails from Amazon confirming the PS5 will be available to purchase from noon GMT on Thursday. Both the standard and digital edition consoles will be available on launch day, despite seriously limited pre-order stocks at retailers throughout the UK.
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The online retailer told email recipients “stock is limited” and said that estimated delivery dates may be subject to change, despite Amazon’s efforts to deliver the orders “as soon as possible.” You can see the email sent to Twitter user @OhNoNotAddy below.
Peeps in the UK, received this email from Amazon, more #PS5 stock coming at 12pm launch day pic.twitter.com/rfymbO5ail
— Oh No Not Addy – Next-Gen baby!!! (@OhNoNotAddy) November 16, 2020
Potential buyers in Italy and Spain also received emails from Amazon alerting them to availability on the same day, which will also raise hopes for many gamers on the continent.
Any stocks that are available from Amazon are likely to be extinguished within minutes, so gamers will have to move quickly and rely on a little bit of luck on Thursday in order to secure a PS5.
Amazon is the latest UK retailer to confirm availability. The high street chain GAME has also promised it will have some supplies on November 19, but given the UK government’s rules on “essential businesses” closing during lockdown, the company will only be taking online orders.
Whether Sony will be able to satisfy the initial demand for PS5 consoles seems unlikely. Earlier this week, Microsoft confirmed it would likely take until next summer before Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S stocks would be plentiful enough to meet the demand.
Xbox CFO Tom Stuart said: “I think we’ll continue to see supply shortages as we head into the post-holiday quarter, so Microsoft’s Q3, calendar Q1 [the period ending March 31, 2021]. And then when we get to [Microsoft’s Q4, April-June 2021], all of our supply chain continuing to go full speed heading into kind of the pre-summer months.”
“We’ll have supply cranking over the next, what, 4, 5, 6 months. And that’s when I expect to see really that demand profile start to be met, which will be really, really great.”