This story is part of Christmas gift guide 2020, CNET’s gift selection with expert advice, reviews and recommendations for the latest tech gifts for you and your family.
Today might be your last, best chance to get one PS5 or Xbox series X or S. for Christmas. The next-gen consoles went live at Best Buy at 6 p.m. PT (9 p.m. ET), as haunted by the store on Monday – and the site promptly dropped below demand. As with Walmart and other retailers earlier this season, the preplanned inventory declines have created such demand that the retailers’ sites crash or become effectively unusable. On the Best Buy site shortly after 6 p.m. PT, “ Sorry, something went wrong ” was displayed on many of the product pages for the affected consoles.
Just before 10 a.m.PT, CNET was able to confirm that the Best Buy website was starting to sell at least some of its PlayStation 5 stock to at least some users, although you had to be both quick and happy to get through the till. Despite the appearance of yellow “add to cart” buttons, Best Buy’s app issued pop-ups to inform shoppers that in some cases it was unable to add the item to the cart and increased inventory “every few minutes” would be released.
The pop-up added a “tip” that if you can get it into the cart, go to “quick checkout as it will sell out quickly”.
At around 12:15 p.m. PT, Best Buy began offering Xbox consoles for sale, but like the PS5, if you have the chance to add it to your cart you’ll want to check out quickly.
Read more: Do you miss it at Best Buy? Walmart is offering more next-gen consoles for sale on Tuesday
Is inventory still available for the PS5 or Xbox models? It’s unclear, but here are the links to the company pages for all four consoles if you’re looking to try your luck.
Sony
Picking up the disc version of the PS5 might cost more at first, but it does give you access to cheaper games in the store.
Sony
If you prefer the convenience of digital games, the PS5 Digital Edition is the way to go.
Andrew Hoyle / CNET
It lacks the grunt of the Xbox Series X, but this console is cheaper and a lot nicer looking. Great as a secondary console or for people who just want to subscribe to Xbox Game Pass.
Dan Ackerman / CNET
On paper, the Xbox Series X is the most powerful of all next-gen consoles.
Despite going on sale over a month ago, the new PlayStations and Xboxes remain incredibly difficult to find. Best Buy’s tweet announcing it will have more inventory on Tuesday was retweeted over 1,600 times within 50 minutes of going out.
Has anyone managed to buy one today? Based on anecdotal (and unverified) screenshots on Twitter like the one below, it looks like at least a lucky few made it:
Is there more stock available at Best Buy today? We have a question for the retailer and will update this story if we hear specific information.
read more: Sony PS5 vs. Microsoft Xbox Series X: The Best New Game Console for Holiday 2020
Look at this:
PS5 vs. Xbox Series X: The Ultimate Comparison
15:36
Read more at GameSpot: PS5 and Xbox Series X / S will be in stock at Best Buy on Tuesday