Tech Support: How to find a PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X amid chip shortage

The pandemic has created a global semiconductor shortage that’s disrupted industries ranging from cars to consumer electronics. Yahoo Finance’s Dan Howley shares the details.

Video Transcript

AKIKO FUJITA: Let's turn our attention to the global chip shortage. Something we've been talking about for a while here on the show. With the growing demand for semiconductors that has halted production lines for cars, also led to shortages of game consoles. Dan Howley is on the case for us in today's Tech Support. Dan, let's kind of paint the picture for me first on the types of shortages we're seeing right now, and how quickly we're likely to see the bounce back.

DAN HOWLEY: Yeah. We're seeing shortages across the spectrum of industries. I mean, anywhere from auto parts to medical devices, to smartphones, to game consoles, and it's not likely to subside anytime soon. A lot of the talk is that we'll see something around the second half of the year when we start to see those chips come back for different sectors. But for now, it really is difficult to get any kind of chip that you need and especially for these game consoles.

And right now, they're essentially the Holy Grail if you can get them. They've been on sale since November, but so many people have been unable to find them. So, as a way to help my fellow gamers, I'm going to give you some tips as to how to find them. And I think the number one thing is to constantly check retailers, and those retailers include everything from Amazon and Walmart, to Best Buy, to Target.

Newegg.com is a really good one. That's something that you might not know about. That's where you can buy different pieces of computer technology, as well as Microsoft and Sony's own website. Now it's also worth noting that Nintendo's own Switch is also still very hard to come by. But it's not the newest console, so kind of leaving that on the side.

Outside of that, I think one of the big things to do is make sure that you have an account set up on these different retailer sites. Because once you log in, you'll be able to have all of your shipping information, payment information ready to go as soon as you're able to click buy. A lot of these sites are basically first come, first serve. One of the issues with that is bots that are built for scalpers end up getting on to the sites, buying everything up, and so you can't get access to it. And if you're able to make it just a second faster, you might be able to beat those bots.

The other thing is that you want to make sure that you're focusing on where the availability is. Sometimes, you'll go on Twitter, or Facebook, or Instagram, or TikTok, or Snap, or maybe LinkedIn, I don't know, and you'll see different alerts from retailers telling you that these consoles are in fact in stock. As soon as you see that, get ready to buy. And the way to follow those is to get on Twitter.

Again, that's probably the best spot you can go. There's different options, including something like a PS5 stock alerts, Xbox stock alerts, different websites able to provide you with different offerings, and even those retailers are offering that kind of information. And then finally, the big thing is just avoid those resellers. Again, those are the bots that are scooping up all the available consoles that are already in short supply and then reselling them for hundreds of dollars as markup.

So you're going from a system that's 599 to a system that's 999 in some instances. It's just not worth it. You're better off just waiting until you can finally get availability in that second half of the year. But that's really the best way you're going to be able to find a console at this point. I know it's not as easy as simply walking up to a GameStop or something like that. Even in person, physical retail is very, very limited. So I would say keep plugging away at it and eventually you will be able to play the latest consoles.

ZAC GUZMAN: Yeah, that would be my one follow up question for you, Howley, because obviously that premium might be worth it for some people who have been waiting for a while and really want to get into it, who might be those intense gamers. But you're right, I mean, the markup, I'm just looking at one here on eBay around 750, versus, what, the 500 you could get at Best Buy. I mean, I guess the question around whether or not that markup is going to be worth it is, how long you think this backlog is going to be before we see a large enough number of some of these gaming systems to come out?

DAN HOWLEY: Yeah, the second half of the year is really what we're hearing as far as the chip shortage in general. But for these consoles, for regular availability, well, once the backlog of chips is sorted out, they have to get these consoles out to people and you're going to have that high demand still there.

So some people are saying that as far as maybe even the next holiday season it'll still be difficult to come by, and maybe around then, you'll start to be able to go on to Amazon, or go on to Walmart, or Best Buy, or the Sony website, or the Microsoft website and just buy one as you normally would. But for now, it's still going to be very hard to get. Thankfully, at this point, there aren't any real exclusives for these new consoles that make them incredibly worthwhile just yet. But you can imagine in the second half of the year that's where the companies are going to start cranking those out. And that's when, you know, you may be tempted to pay that markup, avoid it though.

ZAC GUZMAN: All right, Dan Howley, bringing us the latest in this week's Tech Support. Appreciate that.