Demand for the PlayStation 5 still exists and many retailers are continuing to work hard to give gamers the chance to buy one despite ongoing supply issues.
The console came out more than a year ago - on November 19, 2020 - and it's been one of Sony's most sought-after games of all time.
Many gamers have one following the Christmas and Black Friday period which saw retailers host frequent online drops in order to compete during the busiest shopping periods.
However, a large portion of gamers in the UK still don't have one due to either timings of drops, low stock or poor service from retailers.
A number of online retailers make both editions of the PlayStation 5 (Disc and Digital) available to buy online and sometimes, although rarely, in stores.
Selected retailers have been praised higher than others for the way in which they've handled their online drops of the console, with good reviews going to the sites that make buying fair, easy and accessible.
But some stores have been criticized for their handling of the PlayStation 5 drops.
In a recent interview an expert behind a popular social-media account, set up to help people buy a PS5, said he's found AO to be one of the top three worst retailers for selling the console.
AO's last drop of the PlayStation 5 came on January 5, 2022, when they made a PS5 bundle available on their site, and before that it was December 30, 2021.
Expert Talha Sonmez who runs the PS5 Stock UK Twitter account, said: "AO put up an 'add to basket' button on their PS5 bundles ever since launch, up until recently (two months ago) where they're only just starting to show the button to customers.
"For nearly a whole year, we've had to find and explain techniques for bypassing a no checkout button and adding the console to your basket, through HTML/inspect element tricks."
Advice has come in the form of various steps to follow when AO makes a PS5 bundle available on their website.
With the PS5 Stock UK Twitter account reporting to do the following during previous drops.
- Visit the PS5 console or bundle that's in stock on AO.
- Right click anywhere on the screen and select 'inspect' option.
- Press CTRL +F on your keyboard
- Search this exact phrase (case sensitive) "addToBasket btn"
- Edit that sentence and change any word you see that mentions 'hidden' to 'visible.'
- The add to basket button should now appear on the product.
- Purchase the product.
So why has it been so difficult to buy one from AO?
AO have said they only want to make the console available when they are absolutely sure they have enough stock to meet demand.
An AO spokesperson said: “We all know how incredibly popular the PlayStation 5 console has been, couple this with a limited and unpredictable supply of stock, we’ve only released the product for sale on our site when we know we can guarantee availability for our customers.”
