PS5: Number of major retailers fail to load websites due to high demand amid online queues

Retailers have been hit by problems coping with the vast demand for the new PS5.

Some users reported they were unable to load websites of shops such as Argos. Other websites, including Curry’s, put visitors into a queue in an attempt to handle the load.

Even tracking website Stock Informer – which catalogues the shops that have PlayStations and other products available – went entirely down, leaving users unable to access it.

It is just the latest time that PlayStation fans have struggled to buy the new console, after a chaotic pre-order chaos that forced Sony to apologise and promise that new PS5s would be arriving through the year.

It is not clear whether there will be a meaningful amount of PlayStations waiting on the other side of those technical issues. Much of the stock was allocated during that pre-order process in September, and retailers have not said how many consoles they are likely to have on the release date.

At Curry’s PC World, visitors were told that “huge demand has meant we need to place you in a short queue", which at the time of visiting including tens of thousands of people.

Such queueing systems are regularly deployed for big events and mean that people wait on another website, keeping the original site up despite the increased demand. They are also intended to allow people to get back on the actual website fairly, by ensuring that those who visited earlier also get to see it earlier.