During the PS5 DualSense event, Sony addressed speculation surrounding the PS5 pre-order date. Reason being, a rumour originating from industry insider Roberto Serrano claimed that PS5 pre-orders would begin from July 13. It gained an exceptional level of traction which amounted to nothing at the end.
In conversation with Geoff Keighley, the Senior Vice President, PlayStation Worldwide Marketing Eric Lempel stated that PS5 pre-orders won’t just open suddenly all while admitting Sony had no idea where the rumour originated from.
“We have nothing to do with it [the rumoured PS5 July 13 pre-order date],” says Lempel. “I got a message from someone saying people are lining up at stores and we had no idea why. So I think it’s safe to say for your viewers, we’ll let you know when pre-order will happen. It’s not going to happen with a minute’s notice, we’re going to at some point let you know when you can pre-order a PlayStation 5. So please don’t feel like you have go run out and line up anywhere until you receive official notice on how that’ll work. So I don’t know what happened or who did it. Wasn’t us though.”
Considering that the ongoing coronavirus pandemic makes going outside more hazardous than it should be, Sony appears to be cautious about announcing a pre-order date and time without the necessary safeguards in place.
You can watch the entire PS5 DualSense hands-on video right below. Lempel’s comments are viewable from the 18-minute mark.
That said, if you want to pre-order the PS5 in India it appears that only four retailers are going to get it. No independent retailers or large format stores like Croma or Reliance Digital appear to have any PS5 listings at the moment. It will be interesting to see if more stores stock the PS5 at launch in India. While we have asked Sony if it would be exclusive to these outlets, there’s been no reply to our request for comment just yet. With supplies expected to be limited, we don’t expect most Indian game stores to stock the PS5 officially at launch in the country.
Where to buy the PS5 in India
- Games The Shop: the specialist retailer has the PS5 listed for pre-order registration. Considering its parent company E-xpress works with Sony in terms of distributing and selling digital codes for the PS Store and PS Plus, it’s a safe bet that it would have stock in time for launch.
- Amazon India: the e-commerce giant has always had a decent foothold in the games space in India in terms of volumes and scale. Outside of its Xbox One launch, the company has never really delivered on day one deliveries for games. Most notoriously with FIFA 16, 17, and 18 all being delayed. Perhaps it would fare better with the PS5.
- Flipkart: the Walmart-owned company was one of the earliest proponents of online sales. However it hasn’t been as aggressive as it used to be (which is a good thing when you consider how mismanaged past efforts have been). Hopefully it handles the PS5 launch efficiently.
- ShopAtSC.com: SC is short for Sony Center, which is Sony’s retail chain with a huge offline presence. Going online is a smart move if Sony decide to leverage its Sony Centers for delivery making it a strong option for PS5 pre-orders.
