Gamers hoping to buy a PlayStation 5 on its release day have been met by long queues and crashing websites as retailers struggle to cope with demand.
Thousands of shoppers had been hoping to purchase one of the £450 consoles on its first day of sale – with many complaining on social media after being hit with messages of limited stock, delayed release or long online queues.
Currys PC World has tweeted to say “there will be no PS5s available to buy today” and added they are “working super hard to get more in stock”.
The website was also down at around 11:30am with the company saying it would be “back up and running soon”.
The retailer had earlier put its initial online release time of 9am “on hold”.
John Lewis has tweeted that the console has been “incredibly popular” and is now out of stock on its website.
The Currys website said it was ‘down for a bit of maintenance’ after the company said it was no longer selling PS5s today
Shoppers had earlier struggled to access the website for roughly an hour on Thursday morning – but it is not clear if this was due to the demand for the console.
Other retailers including Amazon and Game are also showing the PS5 as being “out of stock”.
Some Twitter users were quick to accept their fate as their chances of purchasing one of the consoles appeared to slip away.
Keith Colclough posted an image of a clown sat at a computer and wrote: “Me spending the day on my computer thinking i’ll actually find a PS5 in stock today.”
Ethan Barnes shared an image of Donald Trump tweeting “STOP THE FRAUD!” and wrote: “Me trying to get on John Lewis for a #ps5 knowing full well its going to be sold out.”
Nick Deal posted an image of Sir Ian McKellen as Gandalf from Lord Of The Rings with the quote “there was never much hope. Just a fool’s hope”.
Mr Deal wrote: “Me looking back at all that optimism I had this morning.”
Physical queues of dozens of people could also be seen outside Game’s branch in east London’s Westfield shopping centre.
Despite a general closure due to coronavirus restrictions, the store had a limited opening on Thursday, with more than 50 people seen lining up outside.
Gamers have also flocked to eBay in the hope of finding a unit on launch day, with many forking out as much as double the recommended retail price.
The consoles are already being listed on eBay for more than double the price
The vast majority of listings were sold between £700 and £800, despite the disc edition costing £449.99 and the digital edition being priced at £349.99.
However, some bids pushed beyond the £1,000 mark.
The PS5 has been hailed as a “new era for gaming” by maker Sony, with the new system promising 4K resolution gameplay, higher-quality graphics and faster loading times.
New games consoles are proving popular in the UK as people seek to beat the lockdown blues, with the latest Xbox machines thought to have contributed to record demand for broadband data on its launch day last week.