After the February 2, 2021 release date of the PS5 official launch, Sony is completely failing to deliver its console to Indian Gamers. It’s been over two months, and while Sony has been silent on PS5, India restocks, and even all of its social channels are failing to give us any clue over when will we see PS5 restock or there will be no restock in April 2021.
Since the PS5 launch in India, Sony only provides shipments of less than 4,000 PS5 consoles. This itself shows that how interested they are in selling PS5 in Indian Market.
It is safe to say that Sony does not consider India as its potential market. Almost every other week, US Retail Stores like Walmart, GameStop, BestBuy, Costco, and Amazon are getting restocks. Recently on April 2, 2021, Gamestop announced that they had fresh restocks of PS5 to buy.
Sony’s PS5 India release was filled with several high-profile controversies that could have been avoided. From bait-and-switch tactics employed by seemingly respectable e-commerce platforms to scalping by Sony’s own retailers leading the gaming community to take matters into its own hands, it’s safe to say that the company could have handled things better.
What happened to March 2021 PS5 India Restocks
Croma and other Sony centers told customers that the March date was on the way, and Sony Centers in cities like Rajkot and Surat were taking money upfront for potential availability until this week. But the restock did not happen, and no response from official Sony India or PlayStation India.
When PS4 launched around 8 years ago, Sony saw an uptick in PS3 sales. Both were a result of the price difference between the older and newer consoles. Similar things are happening this time; with the release of PS5, PS4 is in high demand and met the price hike.
PS5 India March 2021 Restock Cancelled
February 2021 was all about Ever Given ship, which was blocked in the Suez Canal, and God knows because of that block which other shipments are blocked too! (Maybe PS5 shipment was delayed in India because of that).
According to numerous sources at Sony close with the subject who asked not to be identified discussing private information, there has been a delay in the arrival of the next PS5 shipment for the country. We don’t know what the reason is, but it could be anything like Sony is now focusing more on PS4 in India rather than PS5 since last year was supposed to be the worst year for PS4, but instead, it was the best year for Sony in India.
If you are closely following Sony Centers in India, they told us that by the end of March, Sony would restock its PS5 units, but that did not happen. None of the large retailers like Amazon, Flipkart, Reliance Digital, Croma, or Vijay Sales stocked the PS5, and there is no concrete PS5 restock date just yet aside from a March window already gone. So, when we can see the potential restock in India for 2021. Well, let’s find out.
PS5 India Restock in April 2021
Update: April 6, 2021: 2:30 PM: Multibrand electronic retail chains that BestPS5 publication spoke to have also said that the PS5 re-stock is expected in the second week of April or mid-april.
Another big April 2021 update on PS5 India Restocks is that a lot more PS5 units will be available for purchase this time around. Sony India has not officially confirmed this news. According to a new report from IGN India is to be believed. Sources familiar with the matter have told the publication that the number of PS5 units that will be available for purchase this time around will be significantly more than before.
Our sources tell us that Sony Centres in Rajkot, Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Bhopal were taking cash from customers citing that Sony had informed them of a PS5 India restock date of the second week of April, citing potential delays. BestPS5 IGN was independently able to verify that this is indeed the case in these cities. In fact, when we reach out to Rajkot Sony Center, they told us that our waiting number for PS5 is 137. Just imagine, this is just one Sony store in Rajkot. Can you imagine what the situation for the Rajkot and the whole country is?
Another coincidence is that the second week of April links in with another recent Sony development, PS4 restocks. The nearly decade-old console is still in demand, and as we have seen that it was the best-selling console in India in 2021. Also, it recently received a price hike, which did little to hindrance the preconception surrounding it.
What we are predicting in April 2021 is that Sony will restock PS5 in mid-April or the last week of April, but the stock will be minimal again. If it doesn’t happen, the lookout for End of April, we all are out of guesses.
Problems with PS4 Restocks
The recent PS4 restock had fewer consoles than expected. Numerous sources are speaking to BestPS5 under the condition of anonymity state that in some cases, allocation per store had been reduced between 50 and 75 percent. That means, if they were agreed to allocate 50 units, they got 12-14 units per retail store. But to save the day, Sony says they will get more mid-April.
This could mean that there is a higher chance that in mid-April PS5 restock window is likely to open, on the assumption that Sony decides to send both PS4 and PS5 consoles to India in the same shipment.
Global Supply Chain problems with PS5 and XBOX Series X
Corona Virus pandemic has destroyed the supply chain system. There is a very high demand for Chips used in PS5, XBOX, and Nvidia Cards, and supply is minimal. So this can be one of the reasons why Sony is just targeting Tier-1 countries like the USA, Canada, Australia, and Japan for selling their consoles.
XBOX head Phil Spencer said that the Series X shortage would be there until June 2021 since there is very high demand for these high-tech consoles, and due to chipmaker’s shortage, they are struggling to deliver.
Another Big PS5 Problem for Sony
The exclusive PS5 games price in India is around Rs. 4999. It is very costly compare to other old games. The games like Returnal, which recently launched in India, have a price tag of around Rs. 5000. It’s not just the PS5 that’s an issue for Sony India at the moment. Retailers tell us that the company’s first-party exclusives are not selling as well as they hoped. The other reason is why first-party exclusive is not selling is because people don’t have PS5 consoles and whose fault is that: Sony. So Sony is the only one responsible for not selling PS5 exclusives.
While customers are willing to pay 5000 Rs. for first-party exclusives, the reception to Sony’s launch lineup has been dismal despite arguably conservative shipments. This extends to pre-orders for Returnal and Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, both of which are in the low double digits according to industry estimates.
Playstation India head Prosenjit Ghosh is aware of this issue, but he said that they can do little to nothing about it right now.
April 2021 Status of Indian Retailers On PS5 Restocks
Amazon.in
Today, Sunday, 4th April 2021. PS5 is out of stock on Amazon India, and no further new learning on when it will arrive.
[Image Credit: Amazon India]
Flipkart
Today, Sunday, 4th April 2021. PS5 is out of stock on Flipkart, and no further new learning on when it will arrive or if it will restock.
[Image Credit: Flipkart]
Reliance Digital
Today, Sunday, 4th April 2021. PS5 is out of stock on Reliance Digital, and no further new learning on when it will arrive or if it will restock.
[Image Credit: Reliance Digital]
Croma
Today, Sunday, 4th April 2021. PS5 is out of stock on Croma, and no further new learning on when it will arrive or if it will restock.
[Image Credit: Croma]
Final Words
We all hope that Sony will listen to Angry gamers like us and Restock PS5 consoles as soon as possible. They are building world-class consoles, no doubt in that, but they should at least inform us that when will they restock or frequency of restocking should be increasing. Right now, it seems like they are restocking every 3 months or more, depending on the next restock. With PS5s selling out in mere minutes of pre-orders going live, conceivably, we won’t have to wait much longer for a PS5.
Hardik is playing games since 15 years old, and now he is an expert gamer