I don't think you'll have any trouble finding these in the stores during Christmas. Coupled with one of the worst recessions we've ever been in with lack luster launch titles and high price. I have a feeling alot of people are preordering these to flip and the same happened to ps3.... tons were being returned by dec.
While I agree the U.S. is mired in an economic freefall, which will only get worse (and worse) as we edge closer to the holidays, console launches are (almost) always under-supplied and over-demanded, and I expect that to be the case with PS5.
The PlayStation brand easily has enough loyal followers to clear the 11M or so consoles the Company intends to ship over the initial launch window. I'd venture to guess Sony could ship even twice that many and sell-through with no issue. And yes, even in this economy.
Also, mind you both Sony and MS are going for global launches. In the past, these consoles would release many months apart between North America and other regions, but this is either same-day (MS) and with Sony, just a week apart. In other words, there will be mass shortage and no way for Sony to come close to meeting enthusiast demand across all regions.
So yeah, if you don't pre-order one, you're unlikely to be buying one from a retailer this holiday.
I've only partaken in console launch madness for Nintendo consoles (GCN and Wii U). Launch line-ups are never big enough to get me in (though that Demon's Souls trailer looks amazing). I'll tend to stick with my "old" gen through at least 1-2 years into the next cycle. By then, I often find ten games I want to play. My general rule for buying the next console ten games.
I'm definitely getting the PS5 disc version. Not just because I'm already in the PS4 ecosystem (appreciate the near-full backwards compatibility which effectively provides a back-up PS4), but because the first-party and third-party exclusives for Sony have always interested far more than what MS has offered. For me, Sony's edge with Japanese publishers is the biggest deal-breaker. Even if Xbox gets these titles, it's often well after Sony has had it (e.g., Nier Automata). Of course, then there are the first-party games, which during this past generation, Sony wiped the floor with Microsoft.
Hopefully, Microsoft makes gains on its first-party front, but I'm skeptical that services like Gamepass would drive MS to finance many AAA titles. I'm a diehard physical media gamer. While I won't deny the benefits of Gamepass, I think it also represents the mobile gaming equivalent for consoles. The service essentially cheapens games, and its business model (I fear) only allows for production of largely mediocre, mid-tier, and microtransaction-fused titles. All that said, I prefer the Xbox controller to Sony's, so if MS can fix its first-party shortage, may be I offer some support for Series X (again, the disc version!).
I've said this before, but I'm no fan of a largely digital VG landscape. That said, I'm aware it's inevitable at this point. I do think PS5/Series X are the last disc-based consoles (heck, a mid-gen refresh may even do away with the disc drives altogether), so it may be my last VG console, period (well, that and the allegedly revised Super Switch next year).
Giving 1-2 years will also let me see how publishers intend to handle releasing games. I expect many publishers will start to drop physical editions since mid-tier (or A, AA) releases are less download heavy, and (let's face it) the economics just work out far better. If this goes the way of what we're seeing in films (and I suspect it will), smaller publishers like Limited Run and iam8bit are going to become much larger players in the publishing space (think Kino Lorber and Shout Factory for films) to add diversity to physical media buyers like me.
Nintendo's recent move to "limit" physical sales of Mario 3D All Stars has me worried that others will punch up the same to cause people to panic buy and fork over premiums. Sadly, premiums for physical media are only going up, and will keep going in that direction. Not sure what the ceiling really is for physical media, but it's probably higher than $70. Of course, that depends on the game and may be consumer outcry will keep that in check during this generation.
Anyways, enough rant from me. Definitely excited to have the new consoles around the corner, and all the awesome games that are coming.
