The PlayStation 5 Pro technically isn’t out yet, and you can’t pre-order it on retail stores like GameStop until October 10—the pre-orders will open on September 26 at PlayStation Direct—but with talks of its exorbitant pricing and lack of meaningful upgrades likely to last for a couple of months, it’s in a company’s best interest to ride the hype, which is precisely what Gamestop is doing at the moment.
After offering to buy second-hand current-generation consoles, including the Xbox Series S and PlayStation 5, for a reasonably high price over the past few weeks, the video game retailer is now leaning hard into its ongoing efforts to stock up on more PS5 units ahead of the holiday season by promoting trade-ins on its official social media accounts.
On X, Gamestop revealed that it’s currently willing to “pay up to $410” for PS5 trade-ins, which isn’t a bad deal considering that the PS5 with a disc drive launched for $499.99.
Of course, there are caveats to this. The “up to” means that you can get much lower than the specified amount for trading in your PS5. Gamestop can offer much less if, for example, your PS5 isn’t in the best condition or it doesn’t come with a factory seal bag or if it’s the digital-only edition, which sold for $399 at launch.
However, many users have reported getting fair amounts for trading in consoles in the past few weeks. Given the expected increase in demand for the holiday season as people are finally ready to move on from their PS4, now might be the best time to trade your PS5 in, especially if you want to get a PS5 Pro.
Let’s say that Gamestop offers you right around $300 to $350 for your PS5 after they negotiate. This will give you half (or close to it) the amount you need to buy a PS5, which costs $700.
It’s a nearly 50% discount for the PS5 Pro after having already enjoyed your time on your PS5. Sure, you won’t be with your favorite gaming console for a while, and the PlayStation Portal is useless without it, but what’s waiting until November 7 if you can get your hands on what will be the fastest video game console on the market when it comes out?
Former Blizzard executive Mike Ybarra made an excellent point on X about how the PS5 Pro is for those who can trade in their PS5 for a fair price, so they won’t have to spend as much for the PS5 Pro.
Now if you’re worried that scalpers will buy out stocks of the PS5 Pro like what they did with the PS5, this isn’t impossible. In fact, this is already happening with the PS5 Disc Drive going out of stock in many retailers. But do keep in mind that very few will be willing to stock up on PS5 Pro’s that cost nearly double the PS5 did at launch, especially since these mid-generation refreshes don’t sell as well as the base models. Besides, PS5s aren’t in short supply anymore and we’re no longer at the start of a new generation. Even if Sony releases the PS5 Pro at a lower price point, casuals still won’t race to buy it.
Scalpers will try to take advantage of the hype surrounding the PS5 Pro, but don’t expect this to last for years, so the likelihood that you’ll be able to pre-order and get your hands on a PS5 Pro in November is fairly high.
So, if you can stomach two months without your PS5, going to your local Gamestop right now to trade in your PS5 is your best shot at getting the PS5 Pro at a massive discount.
This isn’t the first time that Gamestop has leaned into the hype with their trade-ins. Last year, Gamestop offered Xbox owners to trade in their consoles in exchange for a PlayStation 5 right around the time Starfield came out and was bashed to oblivion.
