PlayStation 5 will be launching in Europe (and rest of the world) roughly a week after launching in select regions: North America, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Singapore, and South Korea. The delayed launch will apparently not help meet demand which continues to be far higher than supply.
Taking to Twitter earlier today, indie developer Rami Ismail pointed out that the “largest” retailer of Netherlands will have only 500 PS5 units available for sale on the day of launch. That makes it 500 PlayStation 5 consoles for a population of about 20 million, which is not really a fair comparison but does paint a grim picture of an expect supply shortage ahead of launch.
Considering that the said retailer did not take any pre-orders, it goes without saying that its entire stock of 500 units will be sold out within a few hours. That will leave consumers to either wait for the second wave of supply or try their luck with other retailers which will have fewer PS5 consoles in stock if not the same.
The largest Dutch electronic retailers that didn't allow pre-orders for the PlayStation 5 announced their launch day stock: 500 units. For the entire country of the Netherlands.
There's "not meeting demand with production", but this is "the Analogue Pocket had more stock".
— Rami Ismail (رامي) (@tha_rami) November 18, 2020
Sony Interactive Entertainment previously announced that “all day-of launch sales” will be conducted through online stores. That means the only way to purchase a PS5 console on launch-day will be digitally. The decision was taken in light of COVID-19 and imposed lockdowns and to ensure that consumers do not start lining up in or outside of their local stores.
PlayStation 5 officially launches in Europe and rest of the world on November 19. The console, as already noted, was launched in select regions on November 12 where supply shortage continues to be a problem. This will only get worse once the crazed shopping season goes underway.