Do People Who Paid $1,000 for a PS5 Regret It Now?

Given rising grocery bills, higher unemployment, and stagnant wages, it’s almost unimaginable now that anyone would pay more than retail for a PlayStation 5. Yet in the months after its launch, securing one often cost buyers roughly double the sticker price — sometimes north of $1,000. Who paid those sums, and what became of them?

The shortage traces back to the PS5’s debut in November 2020, and arguably to the fraught pre-order period that preceded store shelves. Demand was overwhelming: many enthusiasts wanted day-one hardware and developers’ new features, and retail sites frequently collapsed under the traffic surge, making purchases difficult for ordinary shoppers.

Compounding the frenzy were resellers using automated bots. These tools could sweep websites and buy dozens or hundreds of consoles in seconds, long before most humans could complete checkout. Retailers later reported staggering bot activity — for example, Wal‑Mart recorded millions of automated attempts in a very short window shortly after launch — and scalpers even boasted online about hoards of units they’d captured.

But software tricks weren’t the whole story. The global semiconductor shortage and logistics breakdowns played a huge role. Semiconductors — the chips that power consoles — were suddenly in massive demand during the pandemic as people bought more electronics while staying home. That pressure extended across industries, from automobiles to laptops, and was exacerbated by surges in crypto mining and AI hardware needs. With factories already running at capacity and shipping snarls at ports and with containers, manufacturers simply couldn’t ramp up supply fast enough.

For resellers, the PS5 shortage was a windfall. Early resale medians reportedly hovered around $1,000 — roughly double the $499.99 launch price — and plenty of buyers, for a mix of reasons, paid up. Some were driven by impatience and FOMO; others were prepared with complex monitoring setups involving social alerts, Discord groups, and restock trackers to hunt rare drops. After months of scarcity, many felt they had few options but to pay the markup.

Not everyone paying scalper prices was a hardcore gamer. Parents and casual buyers figured prominently among purchasers. Launched into the holiday season, the console became a sought-after gift — a tangible way to show care — even if that meant paying vastly inflated prices. Numerous online anecdotes describe parents or relatives buying consoles at marked-up prices so they could surprise children or partners, sometimes buying pre-owned units at premium rates.

Illustration: Joshua Rivera/Polygon

Those well-intentioned purchases sometimes left recipients and buyers awkwardly conflicted. Stories circulated of loved ones who spent far more than retail to secure gifts, only for recipients to feel uneasy knowing the console was bought from scalpers. Other buyers tried to help partners or family members out of frustration with restocks — one person paid roughly 60% over retail to surprise a partner for Valentine’s Day, and the gesture didn’t land as expected.

Reactions varied over time. Some buyers immediately regretted their purchases; others stood by them, especially if they could comfortably afford the price. As supply normalized in later years and consoles became widely available in big-box stores again, the sting for some early buyers dulled — for others, sighting plentiful units for sale used or lightly used only amplified their remorse.

Sony Santa Monica Studio/Sony Computer Interactive Entertainment

Context shifted over the following years. The broader gaming market experienced rising hardware costs — driven by tariffs, increased production expenses, and shifting consumer habits — while the post‑pandemic surge in hardware spending cooled. With Sony having had time to showcase the PS5’s capabilities, opinions split: some praised standout titles and technical advances, while others felt the generation’s improvements were incremental and that must‑have exclusives were scarcer than expected.

As the resale premium faded, secondhand marketplaces filled with lightly used consoles, and finding a PS5 without paying a massive markup became commonplace. Retail listings and local marketplaces started showing abundant stock, and for many of the early adopters who paid steep prices, that newfound availability prompted second thoughts.

Beyond consoles specifically, the PS5 episode highlighted a broader trend: in a tightly coupled global market, almost anything can be subject to shortages, price-gouging, or opportunistic reselling. That fragility helps explain why some industry observers question whether traditional console cycles will persist in the same form, and why companies are experimenting with different hardware and distribution models.

Whatever the future holds, the era when a PS5 could fetch a four-figure sum feels like a discrete chapter in gaming history — one shaped by pandemic conditions, supply constraints, and a digital marketplace that enabled rapid profiteering. For some buyers it was a triumph; for others, a costly, avoidable lesson.

 

Source: Polygon