When PS5 30th Anniversary Pre-Orders Go Live and How to Get One

The PlayStation 30th Anniversary Collection looks great. A lot of people seem to think so. And when retro nostalgia meets fanatical console fandom, things tend to sell out quickly. Unfortunately, we still don’t know exactly when pre-orders will open for everything from the 30th anniversary PS5 Pro to the PS1-style DualSense. It sounds like it could be 10 a.m. ET (7 a.m. PT). Whatever the case, here are some steps you can take to get ahead of the bootleggers.

The 30th Anniversary PS5 Merch can be pre-ordered from September 26th at PlayStation Direct Store and includes the following:

• Limited Edition All-Digital PS5 Pro Bundle
• Limited Edition All-Digital PS5 Slim Bundle
• PlayStation Portal Handheld
• DualSense Edge
• DualSense

Prices are not yet confirmed, the PS5 Slim bundle is allegedly $500, while the DualSense costs $80. More importantly, we still don’t know when the PlayStation Direct Store will begin accepting pre-orders. Until Sony confirms this, please check the website at key times and PlayStation Twitter account for warnings.

When do pre-orders for the 30th Anniversary Collection start?

Although Sony has not officially confirmed the pre-order timing, we can make some educated guesses. The earliest pre-orders will be available is expected to be midnight 0:00 ET (9:00 p.m. PT) on September 26. After that, the pre-order window has typically been late morning. Pre-orders went live for the first time on the PlayStation Direct Store for the original PS5 later today at 1:00 p.m. ET (10:00 a.m. PT).

The abbreviation Reports that a major retailer in the US claimed its stock for regular PS5 Pro pre-orders, which will also be available on PlayStation Direct tomorrow, would go on sale starting at 10:00 a.m. ET on October 10, “exactly two weeks after Sony.” So one interpretation is that Sony’s own stock for the PS5 Pro and 30th Anniversary will go on sale starting at 10:00 a.m. ET (7:00 a.m. PT) on September 26. Or maybe it has nothing to do with the time at all.

The official PlayStation UK Account tweeted that pre-orders start at 10:00 a.m., but didn’t specify which time zone. If that were local time, it would be 5:00 a.m. ET (2:00 a.m. PT) in the US. Regardless, it’s safe to assume that pre-orders will open after an hour, so if you check before each order, you probably won’t be surprised.

3 things you can do to increase your chances of getting the pre-order you want

There are other things you can do to increase your chances of getting your hands on a PS1-style PS Portal or one of the extremely rare PS5 Pro 30th Anniversary bundles in an all-white box, limited to 12,300 units. Here are some steps You can be better prepared before pre-ordering:

• If you have a PSN account, make sure you are already logged in in your web browser.
• Present a valid credit or debit card that covers the full upfront amount for the sale and does not expire within the next two months.
• Hope your internet doesn’t crash at the last second

Once pre-orders actually go live, all you have to do is click on the store listing, select the pre-order option, hope it gets added to your cart, and then checkout. If the site crashes or there’s a queue, sometimes refreshing the page can reset your place in the queue or the whole process, so don’t hit F5 unless you’re out of options. From then on, it’s up to the Sony gods what happens next.

Hopefully everything will go smoothly and there will be no repeat of the PS5 pre-order debacle 2020 This was so bad that Sony apologized to fans. Thankfully, the first round of 30th Anniversary Collection pre-orders will be exclusively through the PlayStation Direct store, so no one has to worry about the chaos of navigating the decades-old websites of half a dozen online retailers. We’ll update this story when and if Sony releases more information about what to expect from the 30th Anniversary Collection pre-order process.