Sony
- Sony's next-generation PlayStation 5 game console is scheduled to launch this holiday season.
- Despite reports of increased production, Sony warned this week that only a "limited quantity" of PS5 consoles will be available via pre-order at launch.
- As such, the Japanese electronics giant is instituting a lottery system. By signing up with your PlayStation Network account, you're entered for a chance to pre-order the new console.
- Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
When the PlayStation 5 launches this holiday season, it may be hard to find.
"There will be a limited quantity of PS5 consoles available for pre-order," Sony announced on Wednesday night.
The company has instituted a lottery system for customers interested in pre-ordering the console: Enter your PlayStation Network ID on this page, and hope for the best.
"We will be inviting some of our existing consumers to be one of the first to pre-order one from PlayStation," the company said. Using "previous interests and PlayStation activities," the company will determine who is able to pre-order the PlayStation 5.
The console can also be pre-ordered from at least one major video game retailer: GameStop. A rep for the world's largest video game retailer confirmed it will offer PlayStation 5 pre-orders in an email on Thursday morning.
Production of next-gen game consoles from Sony and Microsoft has been ongoing for months, with both the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X consoles scheduled to launch this coming holiday season.
Sony reportedly doubled its production request for the upcoming console: Manufacturers are said to be producing 10 million PlayStation 5 consoles by March 2021, a 100% increase over previously reported production numbers. That increase is said to be a measure of heightened consumer demand for video games as the coronavirus pandemic keeps people around the world stuck indoors.
Despite that production increase, supply of the console during the coming holiday season remains constrained.
Sony has yet to announced the PlayStation 5's release date or price. The console was first unveiled in mid June.
It comes in two versions: There's a "standard" PlayStation 5, with an Ultra HD Blu-ray disc drive, and a "Digital Edition" without a disc drive, the company said in a press release.
Design-wise, the two PS5 consoles are very similar.
As seen above, the digital edition is symmetrical, while the standard edition has a bump where the disc drive is located.
It's unclear what the price difference will be between the two versions, but the functional difference is evident: The "digital model" is unable to read discs, while the standard model can. In practice, that means that the Digital Edition is only able to play downloaded ("digital") games.
Sony representatives did not respond to a request for comment.
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See Also:
- Sony's PlayStation 5 is coming this holiday season — here's what you should know before you preorder
- Before Apple yanked 'Fortnite' from the App Store, Epic asked Apple to put its own digital game store on iPhones and iPads
- Microsoft just joined Epic Games’ fight against Apple, with an Xbox leader arguing that banning the ‘Fortnite’ maker would hurt gamers and video game creators
SEE ALSO: Sony's PlayStation 5 is coming this holiday season — here's what you should know before you preorder
