How to find a Playstation 5, Xbox Series X

Yahoo Finance's Dan Howley joined Yahoo Finance Live to break down how to find the Playstation 5 and Xbox Series X as consumers struggle to find these next generation consoles.

Video Transcript

ADAM SHAPIRO: Emily, thank you very much. We're going to switch gears now because we've been talking a lot about the chip shortage and how it's impacted the automobile industry. But then there's the gaming industry. Dan Howley, our tech correspondent, has some means on how you can get hold of some hot game consoles even with a shortage of chips.

DAN HOWLEY: That's right, Adam. There's a huge chip shortage. We've talked about it ad infinitum at this point, especially with cars. But they are impacting the video game industry as well. And what that's leading to is a kind of inability of consumers to get their hands on Sony and Microsoft's latest console. They've already been in high demand since they launched in November. But god bless you if you can find them online.

So I've got some tips that can maybe help you in that search. And the number one thing probably is to frequently visit some of the obvious sites that would probably have them. That includes the likes of Sony and Microsoft's own website-- they frequently sell their consoles through there when they have stock-- as well as the likes of Target, Best Buy, Amazon, and Walmart.

And Newegg is actually a computer-- we'll call it hardware site where you could pick up different goods for PCs. But they also sell things like the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X that you'll be able to pick them up from.

Now, how do you know when those sites have actual consoles in stock? Well, you can go to those sites and set up alerts for when they do have stock available. And then you can immediately go to that site and make sure that you can pick up the console of choice.

First, though, I suggest creating an account on one of those sites. This way, rather than having to click Buy and then sit through putting in your contact information, your credit card information, your shipping information, you could just quickly go ahead, click Buy, and then get right to getting to your actual device being purchased.

And then another way to make sure that you can find them is something like PlayStation's own Twitter account or Microsoft's own Twitter account or PS5's stock alert or Xbox's stock alert. Those are Twitter accounts that you'll be able to follow that will provide you with the latest information on where these consoles are and where you can buy them.

And then finally, I just want to say there's a lot of scalpers out there or resellers out there that are purchasing these systems and then reselling them, sometimes up to as high as $1,300 for one. They regularly retail for $499, just to give you an idea of the markup there.

I would say ignore those resellers at this point. The reason why they're doing it is to turn a profit. And if you actually do buy from them, you're giving them even more incentive to go out there and purchase these consoles.

What they do is they use bots, those automated kind of pieces of software that are able to troll sites and pick up as many consoles as possible. That's part of the reason for that kind of glut that we're seeing in demand-- or in availability. So don't purchase from those. Just wait until you can find one on the website using these tips.

ADAM SHAPIRO: Dan, we appreciate that.