There was absolute noise at a Tokyo dealer overnight as new stocks of the PlayStation 5 supplied below arrived. Since its launch last November, Sony’s new console has been an impossible limit to find around the world, but Japan has been extremely short, as hardware sales fell behind the Nintendo Wii launch line. U.
Kotaku reports, however, that the Yodobashi camera electronics mega-store in Akihabara sold a bunch of new systems today, and all hell broke loose. We don’t even need to describe the scenes, because you can see them for yourself, courtesy of the video below:
In the end, things got so bad that the police were called and sales of the system were stopped. So what happened? Well, obviously, as already noted, stocks are scarce. But this was compounded by the fact that the Akihabara branch of Yodobashi Camera in question does not require the use of the retailer’s black credit card to purchase hardware, a regulation implemented to help frustrate scalpers.
In addition, the store delivered numbered tickets in order of arrival, first served, to potential buyers. In the past, raffles were offered, where those who had their number were given the chance to buy a system. Viously, obviously all of these circumstances contributed to the scenes you see above.
It is worth noting that all this happened at a time when the Japanese government was implementing a state of emergency due to the ongoing pandemic, and Tokyo is, unsurprisingly, the most affected city in the country.