PS5 Buyers Brought Their Beds To GameStop So They Could Sleep In Line

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Some true fans showed determination for their PlayStation 5 purchases by setting up literal beds outside a GameStop to wait for the console's restock for Black Friday. Anyone trying to purchase a PS5 would come to a quick realization that it is extremely difficult to get one. This wasn't simply due to the console's high price, but its insanely high demand. Even purchasing the console from trusted sites like Amazon could lead to having it stolen before delivery.

One unsavory method is to purchase a PS5 from scalpers, but this unethical and a crapshoot, with reports of scammers selling fake consoles for prices up to $1000. The safer method of purchasing a PS5 is to order online or in-person at retailers like Walmart and GameStop. However, with this being the most common way of purchasing a console, there are a lot of other people vying for the console's limited stock. Online purchases require a fast reaction time and a lot of dumb luck, with many people (mostly scalpers) using lightning-fast bots to purchase their consoles. Meanwhile, physical stores have created absurdly long (and, in the COVID-19 era, dangerous) lines and critically low in-store stock, meaning those who arrive first on a given day have the best odds of not leaving emptyhanded.

That's exactly what some particularly savvy GameStop shoppers did, as Eugene Daniel tweets, showing pictures of people that brought their beds to camp outside of a GameStop for 24 hours. What made this even more surprising was that these young men pulled off their PS5 stakeout on Thanksgiving day, spending the holiday eagerly waiting for a PS5 restock rather than at home. Speaking to Daniel, they said they arrived at the store at 6 AM Thursday and slept there until 7 AM Friday when the store finally opened. Their dedication proved worth it, as Daniel would later post a tweet showing them and their newly purchased PlayStation 5s.

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This leads one to question how much the PS5 is worth - not just in terms of money, but the time and dedication people invest in order to get their hands on one. These men and many, many others have forfeited their own safety and security is also another factor just for PS5s, as standing outside in a line for that long during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic is extremely dangerous for anyone. That's not even to mention the chances of being robbed, which has already happened to many prospective console buyers. These new PS5 owners and more achieved what they set out to do, but it doesn't seem fair that there seems to be so much more to the console's price beyond that $500 price tag.

Some may blame Sony for not stocking up more consoles preemptively, but it might've been difficult to predict a demand this high for a console. Ultimately, the most effective method of getting a PlayStation 5 might be patience. People may realize it might not be worth the effort to get a PS5 now just to play a handful of new games a few months earlier. As PS5 prices are expected to drop six months after its release, might end up being the best time to obtain one.