The mood among the Playstation fans is seething: It is currently not possible to pre-order the 5th generation. Is there a PR trick behind it?
Big turmoil in the Playstation community: After the hasty announcement by Sony that the 5th generation of the popular game console will come onto the market in Germany on November 19th and the subsequent possibility of pre-ordering from numerous providers, there is almost sheer horror : The Playstation 5 seems to be sold out, it is currently no longer available as a pre-order from all major providers such as Amazon, Saturn or Media Markt.
So maybe there are simply too few devices? Sony has already contradicted such rumors several times. Despite the Corona crisis, there are no production bottlenecks, mass production is in full swing. So is it just a communication problem and there will be enough opportunities to pre-order again in the next few weeks? The Japanese company may also have deliberately created some confusion in the story surrounding the release of its new console.
Is scarcity just artificially generated?
Large technology manufacturers such as Apple are repeatedly accused of the tried and tested marketing trick of "artificial scarcity". One understands the trick of keeping one's offer artificially below demand in order to be able to charge a higher price or to attract a lot of media attention. At least the latter was achieved by Sony with the hasty announcement of the release date and the subsequent "sold out" reports from the media.
But many experts in relevant forums urge calm: There is still plenty of time until November 19th and it is to be expected that Amazon and Co. will allow new pre-orders in the next few days and weeks. So there is still great hope that every Playstation fan will also be holding a device in their hands when the launch date. By Christmas business at the latest, it is expected that enough consoles will be on the market so that there will be no rude awakening under the Christmas tree.