Sony is finally launching the PlayStation 5 in India and it went for pre-orders on January 12. But neither the company nor the retailers could assess the possible demand for the console which sold out in a matter of minutes.
Those that could not grab one, were hopeful of getting it during a second round of pre-orders. Sony itself put out a statement that seemed favorable for this. It wrote, "PS5 has met with unprecedented enthusiasm by PlayStation fans in India, resulting in a stockout during the pre-order period. Keeping the current situation in mind, we kindly urge all customers to keep their health and safety first and refrain from visiting any retail store to pre-order a PS5. Please stay in touch with retailers for the next pre-order phase."
But a twitter handle that reports news of the PS5 has confirmed with Sony that there won't be a second round of pre-orders. Sony apparently said in a new statement, "We are not planning pre-order for PS5 before 2nd February. Please stay in touch with retailers for future pre-order updates."
This was verified by IGN India who received the same reply from Sony when confirming the statement. This means potential buyers those still have not secured a pre-order will have to wait until February 2 to check for new stocks.
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The story of PS5 pre-order in India
Keeping with the demand that was seen internationally, the PS5 consoles in India were out of stock at all retailers within a matter of minutes. On Amazon it only lasted about a few seconds before becoming unavailable.
The previous PS4 console had around 4,500 units at launch and lasted about a few weeks before going out of stock. According to reports by IGN, Sony apparently had similar numbers this time as well for the PS5.
Sony commented on the situation saying, "PS5 has met with unprecedented enthusiasm by PlayStation fans in India, resulting in a stockout during the pre-order period. Keeping the current situation in mind, we kindly urge all customers to keep their health and safety first and refrain from visiting any retail store to pre-order a PS5. Please stay in touch with retailers for the next pre-order phase."
According to reports, sources familiar with Sony's plans believe that 12,000 to 15,000 units would have been appropriate for a pan-India launch. While there were some genuine buyers of the PS5 console, scalers got their hands on units as well. Some of these are already up on OLX for higher prices. It remains to be seen how the restocking of consoles take place in India.
