Playstation PS5 – Congratulations, you’ve been selected
I got a PS5 recently, after having held out against scalpers for a year. The way I got one was down to luck – but I almost thought it was a scam. Here’s what happened…
I used to live in London, and consequently, my Playstation account is based in the UK. I had been hellishly stuck in Thailand for a couple of years due to the plague and a beach addiction. In Thailand, like in every country, PS5 consoles were hard to come by. You could buy them, but they tended to be double the price.
This is because scalpers are scum and make the world a worse place.
Annoyed that Thailand seemed to have no consoles for sale at a normal price, I looked on the internet in the UK as I had a trip planned in March. Sadly, it was the same situation there. Bad people are all over the world.
PS5 and scalpers – the current situation, if you didn’t know
People just want to play games, but there is a global chip shortage, so the consoles just aren’t coming out fast enough. Whenever some arrive anywhere, they are immediately bought by bastards who stockpile them and try to sell them back to gamers for way more.
These would be the same people who hoard toilet paper in a pandemic and, come the apocalypse, will be one of those who will steal tinned beans from old people and then sell them back. At least until the hero arrives and goes Mad Max on them. They seem to think they are businesspeople but are baffled when people admire good businesspeople yet insist on hating scalpers.
Anyway, enough of these pricks and on to the reason for this post (besides a delightful rant).
The emails are not a scam.
While in the UK, I got an email congratulating me on being one of the chosen ones. After a year of waiting, I was eligible to buy a PS5. You can see the email format above. I was given a specific day and an hour and a half timeslot in which to buy it.
My immediate thought was that it was some kind of scam. For one thing, it was an insane coincidence that I was in the UK. For another, it was just too awesome to be true. I almost ignored it.
However, the blanked-out bit in the picture above was my PSN user name. It also went to the email address I use for my Playstation account. The emailer somehow knew I was using the UK store. The addresses were all official and were spelt correctly. Things were adding up to genuine.
I did a bit of research and found others who had had the same emails, and they weren’t a scam. Even on Amazon, they mention an invitation.
The point of this post is two-fold.
1 – To reassure readers that these emails aren’t scams. However: check the addresses are spelt correctly. It might not always be the case, but they should use your PSN name. Use your Spidey-sense. I googled this a lot, and there were some mentions of how this was legit, but not enough. I want to add to that.
2 – To encourage people to fight the good fight against the pricks who are holding gamers to ransom. Ideally, anyone who wants a PS5 will get one at the proper price. I got one for £359.99. You can too. Let’s leave the scalpers with piles of consoles they can’t sell. After all, who would buy one online from a non-official source if you can get a proper one with a warranty?
Is a PS5 worth it?
Short answer – fuck yes. I had a load of games on PS4 that were upgraded for free and a load more that were just free. Bloodbourne, Spiderman Miles Morales, Far Cry 6, and Monster Hunter World, to name but a few. And they are all incredible.
Then, of course, there is Cyberpunk 2077. My current obsession. I was fairly excited about it on PS4, as you can see here, but it had a major flaw in that it was really buggy and designed for next-gen hardware. Now it is one of my favourite games of all time.
It was also my birthday recently, and once Cyberpunk is finished (at least once), I have Elden Ring to look forward to. It is the first game on my shiny new console purchased specifically for the PS5 (and it was by someone else).
In summary…
BE STRONG, PEOPLE – IT IS WORTH THE WAIT!
Please note – this post contains affiliate links. I need game money. Thanks.
