The PS5 is finally on direct sale in Europe. But in Italy no

Unveiled in November 2020 and remained, for over a year, among the dreams of many of the aspiring buyers: the PlayStation 5, as well as the other next-generation consoles, like the Xbox X and S, were born in the eye of the storm. That is in the midst of the semiconductor crisis, already underway for some time due to the production imbalance and aggravated by the revolutionized purchasing and demand dynamics triggered by the pandemic.

Together with the dramatic flooding of international supply chains, this situation has produced and continues to produce production delays and order fulfillment, as well as delivery delays, of the most requested consumer technology products. Causing pachydermal delays to an infinity of other sectors, starting with the automotive sector. Until now, there was no way in Europe to try and buy a piece directly from Sony. But the situation is changing.

For months the PS5 has been sought after (and in some ways also sold), but in fits and starts: the stocks available through the various intermediaries, from the most famous video game chains to platforms like Amazon, run out in a matter of seconds. AND rely on speculators on eBay or SotckX it means paying exorbitant amounts, prices at least 2-300 euros higher than the list price and with lower guarantees. In the fiscal fourth quarter between July and September last year, Sony sold 3.3 million next-gen consoles for a total of 13.4 million units since launch. Numbers undoubtedly to be seen on the upside considering the further quarter (the holiday), which has elapsed since the dissemination of those sales figures.

Until now in Europe there was no way to try to buy a piece directly from Sony. Last October, however, the company opened direct sales only to buyers in the United States. Now this sort of lottery of hope is also expanding to 6 European countries: Germany, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and the United Kingdom. Italy is currently excluded and in any case making it is still an undertaking: it is certainly not like filling the cart of any ecommerce site, paying and waiting at most a couple of days.

The term lottery was not disturbed by chance: the would-be buyers of the console they can register on Sony’s official website to secure “an opportunity to buy a PS5 console from PlayStation “. The group obviously points out that “it will have a limited number of PS5 consoles available to customers for direct purchase” and “if selected, we will contact you via email with instructions and details”. In short, you have to cross your fingers. To register you need use your PlayStation Network credentials and agree to receive emails from the group.

And if it were possible to get to the last step of this obstacle course, however, there will be no absolute certainty of being able to finalize the purchase. Sony explained that even if selected, “the purchase window will remain open for a limited period and while stocks last”. It will be like this for quite a while, and not only in the console sector: according to Nvidia, which produces graphics cards, deficiencies and delays of this type will begin to smooth out only towards the end of the year. But it could be an all too optimistic forecast: Forrester Analytics experts interviewed by Engadget explained that the so-called chip shortage could create inconvenience until 2023. Even new plants, such as those of Intel in Arizona, and upgrades to the factories of other manufacturers, such as the Taiwanese Tsmc or Samsung, will not go to full capacity until within a couple of years.