Best Buy: our stores won't have next-gen consoles to purchase throughout the holiday season

[Shawn Knight]

What just happened? Sony on Thursday said it wouldn’t be selling its upcoming PlayStation 5 in-person at retail stores on launch day due to Covid-19 concerns. Later in the day, Best Buy took it a step further by banning in-person next-gen console sales through the holiday season.

The electronics retailer revealed in a blog post that its retail stores won’t have the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X or Xbox Series S available to purchase on launch day in person. Worse yet, you won’t be able to walk into a Best Buy and buy a new console at any time throughout the holiday season without first placing your order online.

Best Buy put a positive spin on the news, noting that “there’s no need to camp out at your local store, just check back on BestBuy.com without leaving home!”

Indeed, that’s exactly what Sony, and now Best Buy, are attempting to avoid – long lines populated by gamers itching to get their hands on a new console as soon as possible. Also lost is the camaraderie and the experience of participating in a midnight or early morning product launch, but such is the reality we live in today.

Best Buy said online buyers can still pick up their purchase via “store pickup or contactless curbside.”

If you pre-ordered one of the new consoles and selected store pickup, you can pick it up from your local store on launch day when stores open early at 9 a.m. local time, or at your confirmed appointment time.

Microsoft has not shared any updated launch day plans as of this writing.

Update: Walmart has joined the bandwagon.

The 𝙣𝙚𝙭𝙩 𝙜𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 of gaming is coming❗ The @Xbox Series X | S will be available only ONLINE on November 10 at 12 PM ET, meaning that you have five days to practice your F5 skills. 😉 pic.twitter.com/qeBqaX8DPE

— Walmart (@Walmart) November 5, 2020

Image credit: Miosotis_Jade

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https://www.techspot.com/news/87488-best-buy-our-stores-wont-have-next-gen.html

 

[ShadowDeath]

RIP

 

[QuantumPhysics]

Now if they'd only told people this regarding the video cards, they could have saved people time.

 

[oldikes]

Clickbait by omission, that’s a new twist

 

[texasrattler]

Now if they'd only told people this regarding the video cards, they could have saved people time.

If you are referring to Best Buy they haven't done launch day for majority of pc components in like a decade. So no one should have needed to be told anything. Plus it was reported before the cards release that you likely wouldn't find many in stores. Only store I've heard of them being in stock/sold was Microcenter.

 

[Evernessince]

It's going to be an amazing holiday season for scalpers. For everyone else? Hope you can wait...

 

[toooooot]

Dissapointing

 

[Dimitrios]

Reason why is that they don't want to get looted! I was thinking about this a month or two ago.

 

[smartroad]

It's going to be an amazing holiday season for scalpers. For everyone else? Hope you can wait...

The problem is if people didn't buy from the scalpers they wouldn't have an "industry". Companies can only do so much, we the consumer have to have patience. I want to upgrade my Ryzen 1700 but knew that wouldn't happen until at least the new year. Hell I waited over a year before I brought my Wii back in the day because of availability problems and scalpers.

 

[mbrowne5061]

Reason why is that they don't want to get looted! I was thinking about this a month or two ago.

ThisIsBait.png

 

[captaincranky]

Clickbait by omission, that’s a new twist

And yet, you clicked on it, and then felt obliged to comment.

As they say, "a slick, is a click, is a click, that which we call a clack...(I haven't worked out the rest of that paraphrasing yet). (**)

Shawn is a master at tactics like this, just as you appear to be an astute observer of them.

(**) "May ever bring as much revenue". (Got it)