After years of almost nonstop scarcity, you can finally just go to Amazon and buy a PS5 or an Xbox Series X. No "request invitation" button. No inflated third-party pricing. You can just buy one.
This day has been a long time coming.
This console generation -- the PS5, Xbox Series X|S and, to a lesser extent, Nintendo Switch OLED -- has been an unusual one, to put it mildly. Finding current-gen consoles in stock, either in brick-and-mortar stores or online, has been far more difficult than usual. For the average consumer who doesn't follow Wario64 or IGN Deals on Twitter, finding these devices in stock was nearly impossible any point over the past two years.
Sony recently said the PS5 shortage is essentially over, and we’re finally seeing that bear out. Right now, you can order all of the latest game consoles at one retailer or another, and they will ship almost immediately. It’s about time.
Where to Buy Current-Gen Consoles
Naturally, there are a couple of caveats. For the PS5 disc edition, the only SKU that’s currently available is the one that comes with God of War: Ragnarok and costs $559. Back in the old days, game pack-ins came at no additional cost, but those days are over. (Thankfully, it’s a great game; see our 10/10 God of War Ragnarok review). And the PS5 Digital Edition isn’t as widely available as the disc version. It still requires you to request an invitation to order from Amazon, or it ships out in a week from Walmart.
Still, it’s a rare thing to see all models of all the current consoles available to purchase online without any major delays. Let’s hope it stays this way.
I suspect several factors are at play here. By all accounts, the chip shortages that kept these machines scarce before are finally easing up. It’s also likely that demand for these machines is slowing down, as usually happens in the first quarter of the year.
All of which is to say, if you’ve been looking for a new console over the past couple of years and have struggled to find it in stock, this is good news. Now the question is whether stock will stay this easy to find going forward. We can only hope.
Chris Reed is a deals expert and commerce editor for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @_chrislreed or on Mastodon @chrislreed.