It's no surprise that the PlayStation 5 is proving very popular and therefore pre-order stock has disappeared quickly. However, what is surprising is the ratio of PS5 to PS5 Digital Edition consoles Sony is making available.
As Eurogamer reports, sources within the retail industry in the UK (and US according to Ars Technica), have confirmed that the Digital Edition stock allocation they received from Sony is only between 13 and 33 percent. Therefore, on average, only 25 percent of pre-order stock is for the cheaper Digital Edition of the console.
It shouldn't be too surprising that the Digital Edition is so popular. It's $100 cheaper than the standard PS5, but just as powerful. As to why Sony would make so much more of the PS5 available, Eurogamer speculates it's down to how much Sony may be losing on each console sale. Removing the optical drive doesn't save Sony $100, but the cheaper console likely sells at a greater loss than the PS5. By limiting stock, it not only limits loss, it pushes consumers desperate to secure a PS5 to buy the more expensive model.
Sony isn't commenting on the stock ratios, with Sony Interactive Entertainment president and CEO Jim Ryan recently telling Japanese publication AV Watch that, "The ratio between the Digital Edition and the disc drive model is currently something we cannot disclose at this time ... we've never produced two different console models at the same time before so deciding on the right number and the right ratio is very hard to know. We are doing our best to predict demand."
It could just be that Sony didn't know how popular the Digital Edition would be and vastly underestimated pre-orders. Ryan also told AV Watch that Sony plans to produce enough of each model type to meet demand. If that's true then the next round of stock appearing for pre-order will include a much greater percentage of Digital Edition models. Ars Technica does pose an interesting question, though: are retailers requesting Digital Edition stock? There's little incentive to do so considering it won't lead to any physical game sales in the future.
Further Reading
- PlayStation 5 Isn't Backward Compatible With PS1, PS2, or PS3 Games
- Xbox Series X vs. PlayStation 5: What We Know So Far
- Sony PlayStation 5: Release Date, Price, News, and More
- Nintendo Quietly Discontinues All 3DS Models
- More in Gaming Systems