PS5 sales rocket 500% as legit stock rolls in and scalpers scurry away

It may have taken two years too long to rectify, but the PlayStation 5 console shortage is officially over. Seeing as getting your hands on a PS5 console is now a relatively straight-forward task, sales have skyrocketed by a whopping 500%. Better late than never, they say.

It was Sony boss Jim Ryan who announced the end of the PS5 console shortage earlier this year. Gone are the days of subscribing to every Twitter and Discord stock alert going. There’s no pain quite like adding a PS5 to your basket, only to see ‘out of stock’ when you press checkout. With the end of the pandemic though, worldwide production has finally stabilised. Remember all those scalpers who exacerbated the shortages? Many are now desperately trying to sell their remaining consoles for below retail price. That’s what they call Karma.

PS5 exclusive Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores launches today. Take a look at the trailer below.

GamesIndustry.biz reports that from March 2022 to March 2023, PS5 sales in Europe saw a whopping year-on-year increase of 500%. Collectively in Q1 2023 (the first three months of the year), PS5 sales rose by 369%. To compare, Nintendo Switch sales fell by 18% in the same period while Xbox Series X/S sales dropped by 10%. These figures apply to mainland Europe. Data is compiled from France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Portugal - with the UK excluded from these particular findings.

The findings go on to state that 1.5 million gaming add-on products were sold in March 2023, marking a year-on-year rise of 13%. Once again, it is Sony that continues to dominate as the best-selling product was the PS5’s DualSense controller.

Speaking of the PlayStation 5, insiders are convinced that Sony will soon reveal a brand new design for the console. It’s not thought to be a Pro or Slim model. Simply a PS5 2.0. The suspected design reportedly features a detachable disc drive. Perhaps we’ll hear more at an upcoming showcase.