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On Thursday, Sony put its PlayStation 5 Pro alongside its 30th Anniversary editions of the PlayStation 5 slim, DualSense Edge Controller, and PS5 Pro bundle up for preorder. Within the first hour, all the sleek, gray renditions of the PS5 and its accessories were gone. If you were one of the first 12,300 people to nab a limited PS5, congratulations. For everybody else, you’re out of luck. The only ones who seem to be happy with the situation are the scalpers.
U.S.-based preorders for the special-edition consoles went live mid-morning on Thursday, but by that time UK preorders already came and went. Multiple overnight reports noted that scalpers had already put the 30th Anniversary PlayStation 5 Pro up for sale for several thousand dollars. One listing had it going for $10,000. The day after U.S. sales went live then immediately died, there are now eBay bidding wars for “presale confirmed” limited edition PS5 Pro edging upwards of $3,700. Gizmodo found one “Buy it Now” PS5 Pro bundle going for $35,000.
The full PlayStation 5 Pro 30th Anniversary Bundle costs $1,000. It’s now selling for upwards of $3,000 on eBay. © Image: Sony Interactive Entertainment The 30th Anniversary accessories and controllers are also going for hundreds more than their base price. A special edition PlayStation Portal is being sold for $100 more than the regular version. A special edition DualSense controller is going for close to $200 (up from a base price of $80). To add insult to injury, the store page for the 30th Anniversary Edition is still up, even though there’s no more availability to speak of.
Sony tried to hamper the scalpers by requiring new buyers to sign in with their PlayStation account, but the hundreds of eBay listings for PS5 Pro bundles indicate Sony’s anti-scalper efforts failed. It’s unclear if Sony didn’t expect as much demand for their limited edition console, but on the day of sale, Gizmodo and others in line found their place in line had “paused” despite signing on just 15 minutes after the page went live. Others said their wait time jumped from 14 minutes to more than 30 for no clear reason. This was compounded by Sony’s lack of clear messaging beforehand about what time preorders would start and how customers could get in line.
The base price of the PlayStation 5 Pro – 30th Anniversary Limited Edition Bundle was $1,000. That’s already steep and is more than most are willing to spend on a single console. And yet, some who preordered early are selling a base PS5 Pro console—which goes for $700 normally—for upwards of $1,000 on eBay. As of writing, the PlayStation Direct listing for the upcoming console still shows there are more available for preorder.
© Image: Sony Interactive Entertainment There’s an open question whether any other official retailers will have 30th Anniversary consoles available. Sony has said the 30th Anniversary Pro bundle, plus the limited Portal and DualSense Edge, would be “exclusive” to PlayStation Direct for all regions where it is available. Otherwise, other retailers should also have access to the special edition non-Pro PlayStation 5 and regular DualSense. Sites like GameStop show the special DualSense controller is currently “not available.” Gizmodo reached out to GameStop and others for further clarification if they will have additional consoles available at later times. We will update this post if we hear more.
This situation is more deja vu for anybody who lived through the 2020 PS5 launch debacle. Back then, Sony was dealing with massive supply chain shortages that led to scalpers charging massively inflated prices for the console. The company claimed it learned its lesson, but then it decided to create its own artificial scarcity, and now the scalpers are once again abusing customers’ sense of FOMO.
The PlayStation 5 Pro is already going to be the most expensive console you can buy, even if it’s ostensibly the most powerful non-PC gaming device out there. The $700 console won’t include a disc drive. Instead, you need to buy a drive separately. Those drives remain in stock in places like GameStop and—once again after a lull—on BestBuy’s website. The $1,000 30th Anniversary Bundle also did not include the disc drive.
We don’t recommend waiting in line to buy a $3,000 to $5,000 console. Instead, we suggest you wait and see if Sony realizes its mistake and decides to manufacture more anniversary editions before the holiday season truly gets underway.
