Tokyo PS5 sale leads turbulent crowd to local retailer

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Today the Yodobashi Camera in Akihabara had PS5 units for sale, but the situation played out in a less orderly fashion than expected by the retailer.

Today the Yodobashi Camera in Akihabara had a sizeable supply of new PS5 units for sale, but the situation played out in a much less orderly fashion than expected by the retailer.

As reported by user yonepo665 on Matome, the retailer opened sales in the morning, resulting in an unforeseen situation in which many customers literally attacked the counter.

You can see what happened below, courtesy of the Twitter user Tabata. He mentions that the police had to come and check the situation to restore order.

According to the user, at least part of the public included retailers, due to the fact that the store does not have the usual measures to prevent money changers.

In fact, this happened despite the fact that Yodobashi uses a system with limited tickets to avoid overcrowding.

The PS5 is very difficult to find in Japan at the moment, which means that many retailers sell the console only through lottery (basically, you need to register in advance and can only buy a PS5 if you are lucky). This system was not used in this case, and the result was certainly unusual for Japan.

By the way, Yodobashi Akiba in Akihabara is a very popular place for residents to buy new consoles and games.

If you’ve seen photos of long lines waiting for a new release from the pre-COVID era, there’s a good chance they were from Yodobashi Akiba. Unfortunately, the same didn’t happen this time.

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