PlayStation 30th Anniversary Pre-Orders Start Today, Here’s How To Get In Line

The PlayStation 30th Anniversary Collection looks great. A lot of people seem to think so. And when retro nostalgia collides with rabid console fandom, things tend to sell out quickly. Pre-orders begin at 10:00 a.m. ET (7:00 a.m. PT), with fans able to hop into a virtual queue as early as 9:00 a.m. Here are some steps you can take to try and get the jump on scalpers.

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Suggested ReadingThe 30th Anniversary PS5 merch goes up for pre-order on September 26 at the PlayStation Direct store and includes the following:

All-Digital PS5 Pro limited edition bundleAll-Digital PS5 slim limited edition bundle
PlayStation Portal handheldDualSense Edge
DualSensePrices still haven’t been confirmed, though the PS5 slim bundle will reportedly be $500, while the DualSense is $80. More importantly, we now know the exact time on September 26 that the PlayStation Direct store will begin taking pre-orders and how to get in the queue.

When do pre-orders go live for the 30th Anniversary Collection?Even though Sony hasn’t officially confirmed the pre-order time yet, we can make some educated guesses, we now know pre-orders will go live in the U.S. starting at 10:00 a.m. ET (7:00 a.m. PT). In addition, fans can go to this this link to begin getting in the queue and get to the front of the line once pre-orders begin. We still don’t know prices, however, and based on how the process has played out in other regions earlier today things could still turn into a mess.

In both Australia and the UK, people encountered errors while waiting to pre-order things like the 30th Anniversary PS5 Pro, or weren’t able to snag one before everything sold out within minutes. Some lucky fans did snag what they wanted though, while everyone else will now have to decide if they want to pay insane prices to a reseller on eBay instead.

3 things to do to increase your chances of nabbing the pre-order you wantThere are other measures you can take to increase your chances of snagging a PS1-style PS Portal or one of the super rare, 12,300 limited-edition PS5 Pro 30th Anniversary bundles that comes in an all-white box. Here are some steps you can take to be better prepared before pre-ordering:

If you have a PSN account, make sure you’re already logged on in your web browser.Have an active credit or debit card on file that can handle the full pre-charge for the sale and doesn’t expire in the next two months. Hope your internet doesn’t crap out at the last secondOnce pre-orders actually go live, it’s just a matter of clicking on the store listing, selecting the pre-order option, hoping it gets added to your cart, and then checking out. If the site crashes or there’s a queue, refreshing the page can sometimes reset your place in line or the whole process, so don’t F5 unless you’re out of options. From there, what happens next is up to the Sony gods.

Hopefully, everything goes smoothly and it’s not a repeat of the 2020 PS5 pre-order debacle which was so bad, Sony apologized to fans for it. Fortunately, the first round of 30th Anniversary Collection pre-orders are exclusively through the PlayStation Direct store, so no one has to worry about the chaos of navigating half a dozen online retailers’ decade-old websites. We’ll update this story when and if Sony shares more information about what to expect from the 30th Anniversary Collection pre-order process.

Update 9/26/2024 9:14 a.m. ET: Added new info about the timing for when pre-orders go live.