This story is part of Holiday Gift Guide 2020, CNET’s gift picks with expert advice, reviews and recommendations for the latest tech gifts for you and your family.
Sony’s PlayStation 5 officially dropped in the US on Nov. 12, but thanks to presales and huge anticipation among the nation’s gamers, it sold out immediately. Along with the new Xbox and the not as new (but just as excellent) Nintendo Switch, game consoles are must-have gifts for the holiday season that will be among the hardest to get your hands on. The PS5 has two versions: a $400 digital-only version and a $500 model with Blu-ray. If you have good broadband and don’t have a need for optical discs — for Blu-ray movies, used games or old PS4 games — we recommend you go with the $400 one.
But if you haven’t already preordered a console, don’t expect to be able to walk into Best Buy and take one off the shelf. The launch was online-only, and we expect limited inventories through the rest of the year. But there’s at least one place that we know will have inventory, albeit limited. Walmart has been surprisingly transparent about when it’s going to have inventory. For example, we know that Walmart will have an online “availability window” for the sold-out Nintendo Switch Black Friday bundle on Wednesday, Nov. 25 at 4 p.m. PT (7 p.m. ET).
And just a couple of hours later, the PS5, the Xbox Series X and the Xbox Series S are scheduled to be available online for purchase as well. Specifically, the next wave of consoles will be for sale online at 6 p.m. PT (9 p.m. ET) on Nov. 25, the day before Thanksgiving. Best Buy and GameStop are also teasing the PS5 and Xbox for Black Friday week, but without the specifics that Walmart is mentioning.
Good luck with Walmart. And if you would like to spin the roulette wheel with any of the other retailers as well, we’ve pulled together a list of retailers that might restock the PS5 throughout the rest of the year.
Read more at GameSpot: Latest PS5 news and complete coverage
You can check out Amazon’s page for the $400 Digital Edition via the button below, or, if you’d rather, get in line for the PS5 with Blu-ray for $500.
Best Buy is offering the PS5 with Blu-ray for $500 as well as the $400 Digital Edition (which you can find by clicking the button below). The retailer is also offering a slew of accessories on its PS5 landing page.
You can get the $400 Digital Edition at Walmart by clicking the button below, or you can try to snag the pricier PS5 with Blu-ray for $500.
Target will be offering the PS5 with Blu-ray for $500 in addition to the PS5 Digital Edition, which you can find by clicking the button below.
OK, you’ve exhausted all of the online and brick-and-mortar retailers, and you’ve decided you’re willing to pay upwards of a $300 markup to get this puppy by Christmas. As your friend, we have to tell you: Don’t do it. But if you don’t want to listen to us, you might want to check out StockX, an eBay alternative that made its name in the secondary market for sneakers and designer clothing. Last time we checked, prices for the PS5 were hovering around $820.
First published earlier in the year. Updated with the latest news about the PS5.
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