Sony’s powerful new PS5 Pro is out now, but anyone hoping to access their existing physical game collection and take advantage of the enhanced performance is out of luck. For weeks now, the PS5 disc drive add-on has been widely out of stock, much to the frustration of many Australian gamers.
Priced at a steep $1,199 in Australia, the PS5 Pro notably doesn’t include a disc drive. Playing games bought via the digital storefront? Not a problem. But if, like me, you have an extensive library of PlayStation 5 games on disc, you need to fork out $159 for an optical drive.
There’s just one teensy little problem: barely anyone can get their hands on the thing.
Pre-orders went live for the PS5 Pro in late September, including the highly coveted 30th Anniversary Collection. The latter sold out in an instant, while stock levels for the non-limited-edition PS5 Pro remained readily available. However, plenty of local gamers took the opportunity to snap up PS5 disc drives ahead of time, and they haven’t been widely in stock since.
Anecdotally, I’ve heard from multiple people who had pre-ordered PS5 Pro consoles, only to cancel at launch due to the lack of available disc drives. Reddit threads, social media platforms, and forum posts are filled with frustrated Aussies lamenting the lack of stock. It’s not just Australia, with overseas gamers also up in arms.
Scalpers appear to be taking advantage of demand outweighing supply. eBay is filled with sellers listing PS5 disc drives at exorbitant prices. $459.99 is the going rate from one seller at the time of writing, nearly a 300% markup from the retail price.
When will the PS5 disc drive be back in stock?
GadgetGuy contacted PlayStation Australia and several local retailers to find out when locals can expect to see the disc drives back in stock, but did not hear back by the time of publication.
An EB Games customer service response viewed by GadgetGuy claimed that the video game retail chain only received enough allocation to meet pre-order demand. There’s no known timeline for restocks either, which doesn’t bode well ahead of the Black Friday sales and Christmas.
After speaking with multiple people who have successfully bought disc drives, the common theme is good fortune. Despite JB Hi-Fi not showing available stock online, some shoppers managed to secure the last remaining drives by calling around and visiting stores.
Limited availability is one thing; not knowing when something will be available again is another. No one seems to know when the PS5 disc drive will be available again, and that’s the most frustrating part.
In the meantime, here are some listings for the product online that you can monitor just in case a sneaky restock happens:
Good luck to you all; I look forward to playing my disc-based copy of Metaphor: ReFantazio on the PS5 Pro soon.
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