Black Friday PS5 deals 2021: what's in store later this year?
PS5 Black Friday deals will be tough to find again this year, but you're in the right place as our team of deal hunters will be updating this page throughout the big sale with the latest stock sightings and other related offers.
With any luck though you won't have to wait that long though. So be sure to check out our PS5 restock updates guide for the rundown on what's been happening so far this week at the best retailers if you want to bag a PS5 before Black Friday.
Given how much competition there will be amongst the retailers, you can actually expect retailers to start promoting some fantastic pre-Black Friday PS5 deals from early November, well in advance of the official November 26 date.
The PS5 will have been around for a year by Black Friday, so that's plenty of time to allow for some top deals on some of the console's best games, headsets, controllers, and the increasingly important storage devices, both external or the newly unlocked SSD options.
If you are looking for a PS5 itself though on Black Friday, or right now, these are the stores you should keep checking, although brace yourself for a lot of 'sold out' signs.
- USA PS5 ($499.99): Amazon | Walmart | Best Buy | Target | GameStop | Newegg
- USA PS5 Digital Edition ($399.99): Amazon | Walmart | Target | GameStop | Best Buy | Newegg
- UK PS5 (£449.99): Amazon | Very | John Lewis | Argos | Currys | eBuyer
- UK PS5 Digital Edition (£359.99): Amazon | Very | Argos | Currys | eBuyer
When do the Black Friday PS5 deals begin?
You'll want to be ready for Black Friday PS5 deals on Friday, November 26 2021. That's the official start date to Black Friday, so we expect most movement on PS5 stock, headsets, games, storage devices, and more to take place on that day. Expect many of the best offers to sell out fast too.
For deals in general on PS5 gaming items, you certainly won't have to wait that long for the seasonal shopping event to get underway. I've worked the last nine Black Friday's and over the last few years, I've noticed the deals increasingly start earlier than normal.
It's not unusual nowadays to see some retailers start teasing out early deals from mid-October. Then a fresh wave of discounts from the start of November. Black Friday itself seems to have become a week-long affair now too, so you'll want to be extra alert from Monday, November 22 as lots of retailers like to get the drop on each other by going live as soon as possible, often with assurances that they won't lower prices further on Black Friday itself.
Where to find the best Black Friday PS5 deals
Come back to this page on the big day itself and we'll bring you highlights of only the very best PS5 Black Friday deals. But if you want to see the full selection of offers out there then our experience shows that these are the stores you'll want to be checking for big discounts on games, headsets, storage, and other accessories. If you're really lucky you might find PS5 consoles too.
US
Amazon: expect some of the best deals of the day on a huge range
Best Buy: typically strong on headsets and storage in particular
Walmart: expect cheap games to a blockbuster feature
Newegg: one to watch for PS5-compatible internal SSD discounts
CDKeys: one to watch for PS Plus and PSN top-ups
UK
Amazon: should be your first stop for all things PS5
Very: often gets random console stock in bundle form
CDKeys: PS Plus subs and wallet top-ups could appear
Argos: expect a bit of everything from the popular store
Currys: often features strong deals across gaming and electronics
Should I wait until Black Friday to buy a PS5?
Absolutely not. If you're fortunate enough to find the PS5 in stock at any time, you should snap it up immediately. We can't emphasize enough how hard they've been to find over the last year. The only time we'd avoid them is when a store only has them in hugely priced bundles with a bunch of items you wouldn't normally buy.
We're not expecting any discounts on the PS5 console itself at all on Black Friday, so you don't need to worry about buyers remorse by seeing a better deal. They're going to be locked in at MSRP for a long, long time.
PS5 SSD (internal)
As things stand, you need to be on the PS5 software beta in order to unlock the internal SSD bay's functionality, but we're finally getting there. Sony has been slow in letting us know what brands are fully compatible, but we've dug out a few confirmed by Sony or by the manufacturers, given the parameters that Sony has set out.
Want to know more about your options? Then take a look at our dedicated best PS5 SSD guide, for the lowdown before you buy. In short, though, you need to make sure it includes or meets the following criteria:
- Interface: PCIe Gen4 x4 M.2 NVMe SSD
- Capacity: 250GB - 4TB
- Sequential read speed: 5500 MB/s or faster
- Module width: 22mm (25mm modules are not supported)
- Socket type: Socket 3 (Key M)
- Total size including cooling must be smaller than 110mm (L) x 25mm (W) x 11.25mm (H)
You also need to attach a cooling structure like a heatsink (or buy one built-in).
OK, that's a more complicated set of limitations than we were expecting, but fear not. Any SSDs we highlight during the Black Friday PS5 sales will be checked by our team to ensure they are indeed PS5-compatible so you can buy one that'll be a good fit.
PS5 SSD (external)
Important note: External SSDs can not be used to run/play PS5 games directly. Instead, they're used to store your PS5 games and can be transferred quickly back and forth to free up space on your internal drive. This is much quicker than redownloading them over and over.
You can play PS4 games from external drives though, and it does help improve their loading times. On many of them, we find it matches the loading speeds of the same titles being played directly on the PS5. This means they're pricier than regular external hard drives (HDDs), but we'll be pulling together loads of the best SSD deals in the Black Friday PS5 deals event as we're all in the market for one after all too!
PS5 headsets
Over on our guide to the best PS5 headsets we've highlighted the finest options from a wide range of brands across various budgets so there's something for everyone. We expect Black Friday gaming headset deals to be a big thing again this year and many of the best PS5 ones will almost certainly be available for less.
You'll find the cheapest prices available right now in our comparison chart below on some of our all-time favorite models. Given the huge choice available out there, we often find most of them are getting regular discounts throughout the year, so there might not be any real need to wait until the Black Friday PS5 sales officially begin in order to get a fantastic piece of kit today.
PS5 controllers
Sony took its sweet time, but you can finally get the DualSense PS5 controller in some new colors. In addition to the basic white one, it's now available in Cosmic Red and Midnight Black.
And as things stand, these are the only controllers that will work for PS5 games. Older models will work for PS4 games, but there aren't any third-party options yet for the PS5 itself. This could of course change by the time Black Friday comes along though. We're looking at you, Nacon and Razer. For now though, here are the best prices for the Sony DualSense.
We're expecting loads of the best gaming items to feature in the massive sales event later this year. So be sure to check out our other guides on the best Black Friday headsets, Black Friday gaming chair deals, and Black Friday laptop deals. The Black Friday Lego deals will be ones to watch too, especially ahead of Christmas.
PlayStation Plus
PlayStation Plus deals are something to be on the lookout throughout the year. You don't have to wait for your subscription to run out before activating a code for a new one either as subs will stack on top of each other. Black Friday PS5 shoppers would do well to pick up a sub as they allow you to play games online, provide free games each month and unlock exclusive discounts on the PSN store.
PS5 controller charging docks
Your old PS4 docks won't work, but PS5 DualSense controller docks aren't very expensive. We expect a few deals around Black Friday, especially on the third-party ones from the likes of Fosman as they're discounted on a regular basis anyway. The official Sony one often sells out, so if it's on someone's Christmas list, it might be wise to pick it up sooner rather than later as we wouldn't be surprised if it doesn't get a discount any time soon.
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