PS5 price and bundles: where to look for and find PlayStation 5 deals

Fox June 6, 2022 Gaming hardware Leave a comment 146 Views

Trying to secure the lowest PS5 price or the best PS5 bundles? Although you’ll still need luck and plenty of patience, we’re here to help you find that elusive console. Besides tips on where to find PS5 deals in the first place, our team’s also rounded up advice on PS5 restock patterns and how to avoid sketchy online resellers who overcharge for the system.

Just don’t expect an instant fix. In reality, we don’t expect the situation to really improve until 2023. And no, we’re not kidding. While many are still struggling to simply wrap their hands around a console at all, though, there are ways to save on your PS5 experience. From PS Plus deals to discounts on the best PS5 games, there are plenty of savings on PS5 accessories to be found out there. 

The other good news is that we have started to see genuine, official PS5 bundles come along too – you know, the kind that’s on the official packaging from Sony with a game inside, not the varied bundles put together by retailers. This has come in the form of the PS5 + Horizon Forbidden West bundle that has made it into the wild on both sides of the Atlantic. It saves you a bit of cash and brings us hope that there will be many more such bundles down the line.

Anyway, if you’ve managed to secure a console, then you’ll still find useful information here on where to find the best PS5 deals available to kit out your console right here. Of course, we’re also helping you find that all-elusive console, with the retailers most likely to stock up just below.

Where to buy PS5

US PS5 prices and bundles

uk ps5 prices and bundles

canada ps5 prices and bundles

PS5 accessory deals

What about PS5 bundles and deals?

We’ve only seen two official PS5 bundles and that was with Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart (with a physical copy of the game) and that was limited to a release in the UK and EU only with no sign of it in the US. We also have now started to see a bundle with Horizon Forbidden West thrown in (digitally) and this is hanging around a little when it appears – both with the digital console and disc-drive console. And, importantly, while the Ratchet bundle didn’t offer any sort of discount, the Horizon Forbidden West one did – a little – so it looks like ‘proper’ official bundles might be starting to become more of a thing, and more present now.

Other PS5 bundles created by retailers have appeared. Usually with extra games, controllers, and other accessories. However, we don’t really recall seeing many (if any) offering any sort of discount – you’d easily be able to buy the extra items for less individually elsewhere. These bundles are essentially taking advantage of the huge demand for stock and getting even more money from a sale. Some retailers have even bundled the PS5 with more bizarre items like PC monitors, often at what are clearly inflated prices for often very average pieces of tech. Sadly, even these deals are still selling out.

Suffice to say, retailers have been very busy over the last few months. And after everything we’ve seen recently, there’s more than enough reason to consider picking up the PS5. For starters, all the upcoming PS5 games (including God of War Ragnarok and Hogwarts Legacy) are shaping up to be something special. Secondly, the system’s blindingly fast loading times improve the user experience by leaps and bounds even on older PS4 games.

US PS5 deals and bundles

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Amazon (opens in new tab)
The gargantuan online retailer is one of your best bets for finding any PS5 stock, although it has been a bit disappointing of late as it’s not had any stock for a while. Once life goes back to normal a bit more (soon hopefully!), expect Amazon to be a Sony fave.

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Best Buy (opens in new tab)
As with Walmart, Best Buy offers the option of in-store pickups to go with its online deals. That could come in very handy for some of us, particularly if we don’t want to miss a delivery while at work. It’s also likely to get a fair amount of stock in too.

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Walmart (opens in new tab)
No matter whether you want to pick up in-store or online, this retail behemoth has you well covered. Be warned, though – stock sells out very fast. That means you’ll have to move quickly if you want to secure yourself a PS5.

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GameStop (opens in new tab)
GameStop has had regular PS5 bundles over the last few months. So much so, you’re much more likely to find the PS5 in a bundle there rather than on its own. Forget about any discounted items though as the ones we’ve seen have been full-price. So you might have to buy some games/tat that you don’t want in order to secure a PS5.

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UK PS5 bundles and deals

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Amazon (opens in new tab)
Amazon is almost guaranteed to be a popular pick for PS5 deals in the UK. It’s one of the biggest kids on the block so is likely to get plenty of units in, but remember, everyone else will have the same idea. Make sure you’ve got some backups ready as a just-in-case.

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Currys PC World (opens in new tab)
(opens in new tab)The popular electronics retailer is a safe bet when it comes to console deals, and it’s had some great offers in spite of the pandemic. It has run a few online ballots for a chance to buy a PS5 which has helped beat the bots, but it’s been a while since it last had one now.

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John Lewis (opens in new tab)
(opens in new tab)PS5 prices for the console on its own are the same at most reputable retailers, so any edge is worth your time. John Lewis electronics come with a free two-year warranty. Other stores usually charge a lot of money to extend that warranty beyond 12 months, so this is a bargain. It’s a real shame that John Lewis has barely had any PS5s in stock since launch compared to other UK retailers.

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No matter how you look at it, that’s very comparable to the Xbox Series X price. And even though the PS5 Digital Edition is still a fair bit more than the Xbox Series S price, it’s not bad going considering the fact that this is the same PS5 console bar a disc drive.

Regardless of which system you get, they’re all great value; the PS5 and Xbox Series X rival the best gaming PCs in terms of tech. Considering the fact that graphics cards like the brand-new RTX 3080 cost many hundreds of dollars alone, we dread to think how much all of the PS5’s components would cost separately. Not that anyone can buy RTX 3080 stock right now.

The high price of a PS5 is in part due to Sony teaming up with hardware giant AMD again to create best-in-class PS5 specs. More specifically, a modified third-generation Ryzen 3 processor and advanced Navi-based graphics that has enabled ray tracing, a supremely fancy lighting system. 

The real game-changer is the addition of the PS5 SSD, though. This slashes load times by a considerable amount. If you want a taste of how SSDs can speed up your life, be sure to check out our guide to the best PS4 SSD.

Sure, some have complained that the PS5’s 825GB SSD isn’t as big as the 1TB NVMe equivalent in the Xbox Series X. But let’s look on the bright side. The PS5 price would be even higher if Sony had opted for a larger SSD.

Curious about how the two next-gen consoles stack up against each other? Be sure to check out our guide on PS5 vs Xbox Series X.

PS5 Digital Edition – what’s the difference?

PS5 price

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Simply put, the PS5 Digital Edition lacks a disc drive and is cheaper than the regular full-fat version. In fact, it’s $100 / £90 less expensive. While this isn’t an earth-shattering discount, that’s because it’s otherwise identical.

Unlike the Xbox Series X and the entry-level Series S, the PS5 Digital Edition is every bit as powerful as the standard PlayStation 5 console; so far as we can tell, there haven’t been any cutbacks in terms of raw specs. That means it can handle every next-gen game in 4K with all the associated benefits. Basically, you’re getting the same console without the ability to play physical discs.

However, much like with the Xbox One S All-Digital from the current generation, we can’t see this digital alternative being a decent choice. PSN games in most territories cost significantly more than their physical counterparts (obscenely so in the UK), and prices take much longer to drop. Not to mention the fact that you shut yourself out from playing pre-owned games, your old DVDs, and 4K Blu-rays. 

However, even though the all-new, revamped PS Plus service and tiers are approaching something of a proper rival to Xbox Game Pass (opens in new tab), we’d still recommend sticking with the standard PS5 if at all possible. It leaves you with more flexibility.

How specs impact the PS5 price

PS5 price

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Hoping for a slightly lower PS5 price? We (and our bank balances) hear you. However, it’s actually fair value when you break everything down. If we were to build the PS5 from components that are on the market right now, it’d be much, much more expensive.

Let’s look at the GPU first. Right now, you’d be staring down the barrel of an RTX 2080 equivalent graphics card (e.g., the best graphics cards) to handle ray tracing at any kind of decent frame rate or resolution. To produce ray tracing at 4K – before we even get to the 8K Sony has promised – you’d need a powerful chip like a Radeon VII, or whatever the Navi equivalent will be inside the PS5. Want it to hit 30 frames per-second and medium-high settings? You’d be looking at $800 / £600+ at a minimum.

Now, onto that SSD. If you go bargain hunting right this second, you’ll pay $350 / £300-ish for a 1TB NVMe SSD from the likes of Samsung. Yes, you can go cheaper, but Sony is claiming that the PS5’s SSD will outperform all current PC SSDs. As such, $350 / £300 or more is about right.

With that in mind, we’re already looking at $1,000 / £1,000+ build. And that’s before you take other parts into account. We assume 32GB of RAM at a minimum, a Ryzen 7 equivalent CPU with 8 cores (which we know about), and all the cooling, power, wireless tech, and casing required to keep everything together. That’s another $500 – $800 / £400 – £700 at least.

Then there’s the DualSense controller. It contains haptic feedback that’s going to replace the traditional vibrations we’ve had for a long time, increasing immersion in games literally through touch and feel. The adaptive triggers will also seek to offer differing resistance depending on what you’re doing in-game, like drawing a bow or driving over gravel. That’s bound to increase the PS5 price.

This doesn’t mean the PS5 should cost over $1,000 / £1,000 though. Given the strides in GPU development and the inevitable cost-cutting Sony has arranged, the PS5 is a fair bit cheaper than that. Plus, the cost for future models will keep going down as the company figures out manufacturing tricks to lower the price of production.

Looking for some particular PS5 gear? Check out the best PS5 headsets, the top PS5 wireless headset contenders, and the best TVs for PS5 money can buy right now.

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