THE GIFT OF THE YEAR
During the Christmas 2023 season, many people have decided to buy the PlayStation 5 for the holidays. Imagine this: a 9-year-old kid on Christmas day, excited, imagining what gifts are under the Christmas tree. They see many gifts, with a large box. The child wonders what must be inside it. He decides to save the biggest present for last. He unwraps the gift, and a PlayStation 5 is there!
During Christmas shopping, people shop for the most popular gifts, like a new computer, a brand of clothes, and many more. From the 2023 to the 2022 shopping season, PlayStation 5s were more scarce than today. Shoppers presumably decided it was the right time to buy the PS5 due to the available bundles, like a PS5 bundle that contained the newest Call of Duty game, Spider-Man 2, etc. Other than that, consumers likely wanted to buy the console due to its availability over the past 3 years, a slim revision, being stuck with an older PlayStation, or just because it’s the new thing to play on. The console sold around 22 million units in 2023.
“I wanted one because my older gen console, the PS4, couldn’t properly run certain games and crashed, had problems loading certain models, and took forever to load up applications. Also because I wanted to play Payday 3,” said eighth-grader Diego G.
WHY IT IS DIFFERENT
From its ability to display 4K resolution, play games at 120 frames per second for smooth gameplay, video games with great stories and graphics, and its ability to play PS4 titles, it stands as a more advanced console compared to its older counterparts.
The PS5 offers a variety of games to play. The popular games on the system are Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, God of War Ragnarök, Hogwarts Legacy, EA Sports FC 24, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III, Fortnite, Mortal Kombat 1, and NBA 2K24.
“I think most of the games on PS5 are very enjoyable. Especially games like Spider-Man 2 and Hogwarts Legacy. It just seems more fun playing on PS5 for those games than PC,” said eighth grader Steven H.
HARD TO GET
When the PS5 was released 3 years ago, the 9th generation console was almost impossible to get, with high demand and low supply. A contributor to the scarcity of the machine was scalpers, who buy items and resell them for a higher price. According to the Yahoo Finance article “These 169 industries are being hit by the global chip shortage” written by Daniel Howley, another factor that caused this was the shortage of electronic chips, which also affected the production of Sony’s newest console.