Walmart has announced that it will hold four PS5 restock events in November. If you've been waiting for an opportunity to get Sony's latest console in the sales during the Black Friday deals event then this will be your best chance yet.
It all starts today, November 17, with the first PS5 restock at 12pm ET.
A caveat: this will be exclusively available to Walmart Plus members, so you'll need to be signed up for the retailer's paid subscription service in order to take part. That means you can either choose to get a one-month Walmart Plus membership for $12.95, or commit to a whole year for $98. Signing up also gets you access to all Walmart Black Friday deals early, as well as other perks such as free delivery, fuel discounts and a Paramount Plus subscription.
A second Walmart Plus-only PS5 restock will then take place on Monday, November 21 at 12pm ET. This will then open up to all from 7pm ET on the same day.
For those who don't want to pay for a Walmart Plus membership, you can wait until Wednesday, November 23 at 12pm ET. That's when the third PS5 restock will be held online and it will be open to all customers.
Lastly, on Black Friday itself, November 25, the PS5 will be available in-store at Walmart. You'll have to go out and pick one up in person, as this stock won't be available online.
PS5 restocks over Black Friday at Walmart
- Thursday, November 17 at 12pm ET (Walmart Plus members only)
- Monday, November 21 at 12pm ET (Walmart Plus members only - from 7pm ET for all)
- Wednesday, November 23 at 12pm ET (for all customers)
- Friday, November 25 (in-store only)
In the announcement, Walmart also confirmed which PS5 consoles and bundles would be available to buy during each restock.
You'll have a total of four options to choose from, including both the PS5 and PS5 Digital Edition, as well as God of War Ragnarok bundles featuring both consoles. As always, there will be limited stock of the Digital Edition so you'll have to move fast in order to get the cheaper console, which doesn't have a disc drive.
Here's where you'll find all available consoles during the online PS5 restocks at Walmart:
Walmart PS5 consoles and bundles
Walmart PS5 restock – our top tips
It's been a long time since Walmart gave us such a big heads-up on an upcoming PS5 restock. That's a huge help, though, as you can get prepared ahead of time to give yourself the best chance of bagging a PS5.
Here are some of our top tips, based on our experience with countless PS5 restocks at Walmart in the past.
First, if you're going for the Walmart Plus exclusive sale, double-check that your membership is all set up and active well ahead of time. Attempting to sign up on the day will be a challenge, as the stress on the site increases and you may miss the opportunity to buy a console. And you should make sure to log in to your account before the restock time, as this removes another hurdle that could slow you down.
Second, as the time approaches, make sure the store page of the PS5 console or bundle you want is open, so you can refresh it a couple of minutes before the restock time. Walmart sometimes opens up a queue system just before consoles go live, so you'll want to secure your spot as quickly as possible to increase your chances.
Lastly, if you can, an underused trick is to pay using PayPal, as this will take you off Walmart's busy payment servers and decrease the chance of running into errors during the all-important processing stage. Traffic should be less than the peak, but it's still an extra way to give you the best opportunity to buy a PS5 if demand soars back to those levels again. We wouldn't want you to get right to the end and fail at the final step.
Following the advice above should maximize your chances of securing a PS5 during Black Friday. Whatever happens, we'll continue sharing more PS5 restock news on our dedicated hub and across TechRadar in the days ahead, in case any other retailers have the console available to buy.
For those who do come away with a PS5, do take a look at any extras you might like to pair with your new console in the latest PS5 Black Friday deals.
We also have more specific guides on where to find some PS5 game deals to get the best prices on the latest releases, a cheap PS5 controller if you want to get on some multiplayer action from day one, and the best PS5 SSD deals to expand the storage space in your console for less.
