The problem of stocks hit the new generation of consoles even before its debut – considering that already when, in 2020, they were opened pre-orders had become difficult to find a PS5 or an Xbox Series X|S without jumping through hoops.
However, companies like Sony have promised that the situation will improve for 2023 and, in markets like the Japanese one, it was said that there would be abundant inventories already for the Christmas period and the end of the year. Indeed, witnesses on the spot confirm that this was the case.
As reported by the creator Genki, who updates on his profile on the progress of the industry in Japan, the shops now have many stocks of PS5, both standard and digital , even with different bundles that include the most requested games for the Sony home console.
PS5 stock is popping up all over Japan at the moment! It will be a BIG week for PS5 sales in this New Years sales period! It looks like Jim Ryan wasn’t lying! Lol #PS5 #PlayStation pic.twitter.com/ZeNecbGRHm
— Genki✨ (@Genki_JPN) December 30, 2022
As you can see in the images, both versions of PS5 are offered on the shelves, with the tags relating to the bundles indicating the presence of those with Gran Turismo 7 and with Horizon: Forbidden West (find the game on Amazon), for example – even if some proposals, you will notice, are sold-out, in the images.
Over the past few weeks, Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO and president Jim Ryan explained that he expected new stocks arriving for this period on the Japanese market, declaring that “we will be able to get PS5 stocks to users in Japan and Asia for the end-of-the-year shopping season and the beginning of the 2023». So, indeed, it was.
The numbers arriving from the market in the Land of the Rising Sun also confirm that there was particular expectation for these stocks: as reported by Famitsu, in fact, in the week from 19 as of last December 25, PS5 had placed another 59,000 units with its standard (thanks, Gematsu) and 9.4,000 units with Digital, only surrendering in front of the very high numbers of Switch (83,000 only with the OLED).
The news had circulated in recent days when the United States had also received similar reports, with many PS5s in stores just before Christmas.
The hope is that the problem of stocks will therefore be largely overcome: 2023 will be a year in which we will begin to leave cross-gen productions behind us and it will be important, for all fans to closely follow the evolutions of the medium, to put them in a position to find the new consoles, ruining the square for the hateful touts.
