PlayStation 5 preorders sell out again in S. Korea

Preorders for the second batch of Sony Corp.'s next-generation gaming console, the PlayStation 5 (PS5), sold out in just an hour in South Korea, industry insiders said Wednesday.

As of 2 p.m., all major retailers here said they have closed preorder reservations for the PS5. Eleven local online shopping malls and offline stores started to accept preorders for the gaming console from noon.

Preorders for the first batch of the PS5 also sold out quickly here on Sept. 18.

The PS5 is the successor to the PS4 that was released in 2013.

The new gaming console is set to be launched in South Korea on Nov. 12.

The standard PS5 comes with a price tag of 628,000 won ($540) here, while the digital edition of the PS5, which does not have a disc drive, will be sold for 498,000 won.

The PS5 is expected to boost the growth of the domestic console game market amid the stay-at-home trend induced by the pandemic.

According to Korea Content Creative Agency, the size of the local console game market was estimated at more than 600 billion won last year, more than double of 262.7 billion won in 2016.

Like other countries, the PS5 will go into fierce competition against Microsoft Corp.'s new gaming consoles Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S in South Korea.

Preorders for both Xbox Series X and S sold out quickly after reservations opened on Sept. 22.

The next-generation Xbox is scheduled to be launched here on Nov. 10. (Yonhap)