With Sony unveiling the PS5’s polarising console design, revealing that markets like India would get it in time with the rest of the world, and PS5 games aplenty, it appears that the next logical step would be to announce its price. However it seems that some retailers in India have jumped the gun and are taking PS5 pre-orders before a price has been announced.
The Mako Reactor was tipped off by several readers that brick and mortar stores across Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Delhi have been taking pre-orders for the PS5 console. We called one of these stores to verify the claims.
“You can pre-order the PS5 now for Rs. 5,000,” said one store owner on condition of anonymity fearing retribution from Sony. “We will take the rest of the money when the MRP is announced.”
This seemed odd but on further investigation we discovered some stores charging up to Rs. 10,000 upfront. While they were confident of receiving the PS5 on time they weren’t willing to confirm if it would be parallel or official PS5 stock. The former is a concern as it would deny customers of after-sales support and warranty.
According to Sony pre-orders for the PS5 have not gone live anywhere in the world and India is no different.
“At this point in time, pre-orders are neither encouraged nor allowed from Sony,” confirmed a spokesperson for Sony India to The Mako Reactor via email.
Makes sense when you consider a price hasn’t been announced yet. Furthermore, the likelihood of supply being widespread for India is also a concern.
With the PS4, BIS rules ensured that initial supply was inconsistent at best and the PS4 Pro had stock shortages for nearly a year since its India release date.
PS5 India release date
This time around, we speculate that not every Indian retailer may stock the PS5 at launch if we’re to go by the scant few online stores that have PS5 banners from Sony, most of which have changed the ‘Holiday 2020’ release window to ‘Late 2020’ including Amazon India.
It’s unlikely this means anything more than Sony being accurate with its communication as ‘Holiday 2020’ is in line with the Western calendar of Thanksgiving and Christmas rather than the rest of the world. A listing on Amazon France over the weekend had a November 20 release date but was later removed.
PS5 price
Several listings have emerged for the PS5 price over the weekend. One from PlayAsia suggested a $699 price and another from Amazon France claimed it would be EUR 499 onwards. Both were removed. It’s pretty obvious that Sony is keeping its cards close to its chest regarding how much you’d eventually pay for the PS5 much like Microsoft is with the Xbox Series X.
Just don’t expect the PS5 price to be cheap by any means.
“We wanted to list the PS5 on our social channels a few months ago,” said one Delhi-based retailer on the condition of anonymity . “No price has been given to us and we just wanted to do this so customers could tell us if they’re interested. However Sony India told us it would be on the expensive side when it hits and has asked us to focus on PS4 instead.”
