The new word is that Walmart will be restocking on PlayStation 5s, giving potential players another chance to acquire the rare console. However, these PS5s won’t be available to gamers online, as all other PS5 stocks have been up to this point. Instead, it will be available only to walk-in customers who physically come into Walmart, at least according to a new rumor reported by GamingIntel.
The PlayStation 5 remains one of the most elusive consoles ever sold. While it has sold 10 million units already, making it Sony’s fastest-selling console to date, you wouldn’t know it from how much players have been racing each other in order to buy the consoles when restocks occur. There are whole websites and newsletters and Twitters dedicated to console restocks in general and PS5s in particular.
Given that we were in the middle of a pandemic when the console’s launch, it’s probably not a surprise that most consoles sold via online retailers, to the point where stock disappeared almost as soon as it went live. Users of the PS5Restock subreddit report buying PS5s in their brick-and-mortar Walmart locations, and advise users to call ahead and ask if the store has PS5s in stock to purchase before going in to check.
It’s not exactly clear why Walmart would only be offering the PS5s to walk-in customers as opposed to online (assuming, of course, that the intel is on the money). But perhaps they’re getting a little tired of having empty cabinets where there should be PS5s. They’re going to sell PS5s regardless, so perhaps they’re investing in the aesthetics of having the consoles on the shelves, as opposed to offloading them all online. Still, some of the subreddit users say that the stores are keeping them in the back, so that would make that theory false.