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Since the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S went on sale last fall, Best Buy hasn’t sold next-gen consoles at its brick-and-mortar locations, citing safety concerns around covid-19. That changed on Wednesday, when the big box retailer said it would sell a limited supply at stores across the country today. Predictably, the whole thing has been A Lot.
For the past ten months, it’s been nearly impossible to get your hands on an Xbox Series X/S or a PS5, despite both outpacing sales records of their predecessor consoles. Typically, when stock for the Xbox Series X/S or the PS5 becomes available, it does so digitally, either via third-party retailers—Walmart, Target, and, if you pay for the premium membership, GameStop—or direct buys from Microsoft and Sony. There’s usually almost no heads up for such availability. And when listings do go live, they go away in the blink of an eye, with products scooped up by bots, scalpers, and digital shoppers who are one with the Matrix.
Best Buy bucked that trend by—and I know this might sound unbelievable, given the tactics of the past year—actually giving a heads up. As reported by IGN, Best Buy said it would offer limited supplies of next-gen consoles at 300 locations around the country: at least one store in every state, plus Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C.
The ploy resulted in people camping out overnight, in lines that stretch around stores, all in the efforts to play next-gen games like Returnal and Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart (or, let’s be real, a backward-compatible version of Grand Theft Auto V). Take a look at this line, recorded by popular Call of Duty YouTuber TmarTn, at a Best Buy at the MIllenia Mall in Orlando:
8:30am at the Millenia Best Buy in Orlando, store opens in 1.5 hours
— TmarTn (@TmarTn) September 23, 2021
At least 250 people in line wrapped all the way around the building waiting for the PS5 / Xbox Series X restock
? pic.twitter.com/OTDPtgedQ1
Read the full article on Kotaku
