It's been a tough time for those trying to get their hands on a next-gen system. The shortage of consoles has made it almost impossible to get your hands on a PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X|S, at least without resorting to paying almost triple the retail price from a third-party seller. Now, it looks like that shortage may have led to another shortage on the previous-gen consoles, as getting a PlayStation 4 or Xbox One is proving to be just as difficult.
Over the past few days, major retailers like Amazon, Target, and Walmart have periodically gone out of stock for new PS4 and Xbox One consoles. Even GameStop has recently been flush out of the old consoles. Of course, there are some third-party sellers offering the consoles to those eager to get their hands on one. Though, you will be paying a bit more for these particular consoles, like this PlayStation 4 1GB Slim console at Walmart that is going for $135 more than the retail price of $300. Or, this PlayStation 4 Slim 2TB console on Amazon that has a $599 price tag.
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According to Kotaku, this shortage began with the DualShock 4. Stores were able to get their hands on two of the controllers at most, quickly leading to a shortage. Currently, GameStop has the controller available in the standard black model for $60, but every other model is either unavailable or pre-owned. Over at Amazon, refurbished DualShock controllers are going for upwards of $70, with some third-party sellers offering new controllers over $100. Ironically, the DualSense PS5 controller is in abundance with major retailers having plenty of stock available. Though, they are useless without the nearly impossible-to-get PS5 console.
While PlayStation 4 is suffering a controller issue, Xbox One isn't having such problems. Controllers for both the One and the Series X|S are available almost everywhere and at consistent prices. Though, the Xbox One console is suffering the same shortage as the PS4 console, with no new systems available from major retailers and refurbished models going for the same price as new models or higher.
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