Getting a PS5 has become impossibly difficult for some customers. The console has been selling out since pre-orders were offered, and usually disappears from any carrier within seconds of being posted. In a continuation of this pattern, Walmart recently received a shipment of PS5 consoles, but disappointed customers found that it sold out in mere seconds.
Twitter user Wario64 took to Twitter to announce that the PS5 was in stock at Walmart online. Within seconds, the reply section appended to the initial tweet was filled with both success stories and frustrating defeat. While it seems that a few lucky customers were able to get their hands on the console, by and large, fans were dealt another crushing blow and Walmart sold out of systems almost instantaneously. Unfortunately, this is a growing pattern. At the start of the year, Target received a similar shipment, and it, too, sold out in a flash.
Even two months ago, when Sony's official store, PlayStation Direct, got a shipment of PS5s, it sold out in a grand total of 34 minutes. Understandably frustrated once again, many fans took to Twitter to voice their complaints or to make light of the laughable undersupply of PS5 consoles. The initial tweet was made at exactly 12:00 PM with countless tweets appearing during the same timestamp stating that the system was already sold out.
Unfortunately, dejected fans are faced with the reality of either waiting an inordinate period of time to get their hands on a console, or to pay absurdly high resale prices on eBay and the like. Amid the chaos, many Twitter users began to try to explain the woeful undersupply of the PS5, reminding disgruntled customers that there is a global chip shortage. For those unaware, while the PS5 and Xbox both run on AMD hardware, the production of these chips is done by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company. In the face of a global pandemic and rampant demand—especially from cryptocurrency miners—TSMC is struggling to keep up.
Obviously, because of this interconnectedness, the Xbox Series X is equally as difficult for fans to obtain. Just yesterday, GameStop received stock of both consoles and, in the blink of an eye, they were gone. To make matters worse, there is no clear end in sight for the chip shortage, suggesting that many would-be customers will have to wait until as late as next year before they get their hands on a system.