The PS5 is almost impossible to find. This was the case during the pre-bookings; this was the case at launch; and I guess that will be the case after Christmas as well. While inventories could stabilize as early as the end of January, chances are we’ll have to wait a few more months before you can waltz into any electronics store and pick up Sony’s latest console.
The good news is this you don’t really need a PS5 right now, at least if you have a PS4 or similar gaming system. However, while I still don’t recommend leaving everything for the PS5, the fact is that the PS4 is coming out, and console players will have to update it sooner or later. If now is not the right time to buy a PS5, when will it be?
Although each individual case will be slightly different, we can try to determine the “best” time to buy a PS5 based on three main factors: game selection, hardware and price. And, of course, if you really want a PS5, then the best time to buy “as soon as you find stock. ”
PS5 Game Selection: What Comes When
Everyone has a different threshold when it comes to “how many games does the system make valuable?” For some people, one system vendor is enough (that vendor is, say, Demon’s Souls); for others a dozen exclusive titles could be the threshold, because why upgrade differently?
I don’t think there is a right or wrong approach here, but I will say that my own rule is “three games that I can’t get on any other system”. Currently, the PS5 does not meet this criterion. It has only two truly exclusive titles – Astro’s Playroom and Demon’s Souls – and one of them technically came out on the PS3 more than a decade ago.
My own rule for buying a new console is that it needs “three games that I can’t get on any other system”. Currently, the PS5 does not meet this criterion.
Looking over the next few months, we should get Returnal, Deathloop and Ratchet & Clank: Rift, except in the first half of 2021. We have more nebulous release dates for other exclusives, such as God of War Ragnarok, Ghostwire: Tokyo and Final Fantasy XVI, but at least it is possible that they could come out in 2021.
Then there’s the issue of intergenerational games, like Assassin’s Creed Valhalla and Yakuza: Like a Dragon. While these games play quite well on the PS4, chances are high that intergenerational games will start to favor the next generation of consoles sooner rather than later. We’ve already started noticing this discrepancy with titles like Cyberpunk 2077, and the differences in performance are likely to become even more noticeable as time goes on.
Based on the exclusive PS5s we currently have, as well as the ones we should get in the next few months, it seems that March 2021 would be a time to start thinking seriously about buying; until June, there should be no real reason to keep it.
PS5 bugs and problems
One of the reasons I don’t recommend buying consoles at startup is because of hardware issues. They are not always present, but when they are, they are often extremely difficult to repair. Remember the Red Ring of Death for the Xbox 360 – or even more recently, a series of PS5s with restless lifestyle problems that cannot be fixed.
Even if the problem doesn’t break your system, early versions of the console are often not optimized. Consider the Nintendo Switch meager battery life on launch, or PS5 significant differences in fans and, consequently, fan noise.
These problems are smoothed out over time, although it’s hard to say exactly how long it might take – especially since new hardware problems could emerge as the months go by. Remember: the release of the Red Ring of Death did not deteriorate nearly two years after its first release.
So, should you wait a full two years before you buy a PS5 – by which time a minor and / or cheaper redesign could very well come about? Well, maybe – I’m not a big fan of the current look of the PS5. But it’s also worth recalling that the Red Ring was an anomaly among game consoles, and those systems are usually pretty solid.
My recommendation would be to give it six months to see if any additional issues arise and how Sony is addressing those issues. Although there is nothing instructive in this time frame, it is at least long enough to measure the actual performance of the system and see if something will occur. That would set the “ideal” time to buy the PS5 in May 2021 – just when its gaming library will become more powerful.
Price PS5: Will it go down?
If you’re postponing your PS5 purchase because you’re waiting for a price breakout, I have bad news: Consoles very rarely fall during the first year on the market. Maybe if you last until next Christmas, you can get some sort of discount package, but this would probably be a package game or an extra controller – not a difference in price.
As such, the standard PS5 is likely to remain at $ 500 in 2021, and the PS5 Digital Edition will remain at $ 400. (It is possible, of course, that the Digital Edition will prove much less popular than its disk-enabled counterpart, in which case Sony could further reduce the size of the smaller device. But at least for now, it is impossible to keep any stock model.)
While this is a somewhat mysterious answer, it’s also true: The price of the PS5 probably won’t change in 2021, so it shouldn’t really affect your decision one way or the other. If you want a more significant price break, you’ll have to wait until 2022 or later.
When to Buy a PS5: Outlook
Since price is not an issue, and the choice of games largely depends on personal taste, I would say the earliest time to buy a PS5 is March 2021 – and you can wait until May or June if you really want to head out into the country. Sure, you can try to find it before, but you can just drive to the wall dealing with mismatched supplies and greedy scalpers.
You can wait another year and see if the price drops. If 2022 starts up and you still can’t find the PS5, something terrible will go wrong.