Video game consoles fill the shelves at StateLine Video Games. But a PlayStation 5 isn’t among them.

Owner Frank Bond did come across a PlayStation 5 recently but that’s a rarity, the Holyoke video game store owner said.

“We have people in here all the time because they’re sold out everywhere,” Bond said. “‘Do you have the new PS5?’ Unfortunately no one has them.”

The PS5 was released in November 2020. While many parents hoped to deliver them as gifts last Christmas, it was nearly impossible to buy. Still, more than a year later, they’re just as difficult to find.

Bots and supply shortages are to blame.

Although Sony declined to comment, Bloomberg reported that uneven vaccine rollouts where Sony suppliers have their production bases have made supplies of chips and parts unpredictable. It had originally targeted more than 16 million units assembled by March, but has since cut that number down to about 15 million, the news outlet reported.

The average person has had difficulty snatching one up before a bot does. And small local stores are no different.

“Unfortunately, being a very small store, I don’t have direct relationships with Sony or Microsoft or Nintendo,” Bond said. “I deal with intermediary distributors who never have them or if they do, they’re way above cost.”

Instead, Bond said, he focuses on another trend this holiday season - retro gaming.

GameCube, Xbox 360, Sega Genesis, Nintendo 64 and Sega Dreamcast systems are what fill the cases in StateLine Video Games. An original Game Boy and Game Boy Color, plus many games, are at the centre of the store.

It’s reminiscent of years gone by, games once loved and hours of dedication.

“Their eyes just light up when they walk in, and they go back to their childhood,” Bond said.

The average price for a retro video game has increased 33% from the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, PriceCharting.com’s study suggested in April.

The GameCube has seen more than a 70% increase and Nintendo 64′s have been a 43% increase, the study said.

Everything Pokemon had the biggest price increase.

Pokemon Emerald for Game Boy Advance increased 145% and Pokemon HeartGold for Nintendo DS increased 133%, the study said.

“Video game collecting became a very popular pandemic past time” said PriceCharting owner JJ Hendricks in a press release. “Game collecting is nostalgic, indoors, and isolated but it also has a big online community so collectors can socially distance while still connecting virtually.”

For many, it’s the nostalgia.

“I find you’ll see a jump in certain consoles as certain generations hit their 20s,” said Camille Fowley, assistant HR manager at That’s Entertainment in Worcester, adding that 10 years ago Super Nintendo was really popular. “And now it’s starting to be the Nintendo 64 or the GameCube because people are reaching that age where they’re like, ‘life’s really hard and maybe I just want to play Zelda.’”

A retro gaming system won’t have the highest quality graphics or latest technology but it might have something even better.

“It’s more like an emotional attachment to this item and the memories attached to it,” Bond said.

Then it’s about sharing those memories with other family members or children.

“You can share your memories of why these games are special to you and have a great time playing them when you’re older,” Bond said. “It’s really cool.”

Last year, That’s Entertainment had some trouble keeping the retro gaming systems in stock as it relies on people selling their old systems. But this year, despite there still being demand, it’s been better.

“I think for every person who reaches their 20s and 30s and wants those consoles again, you have their parents who find those consoles in the attic and are like, ‘OK well, we’re done with this,’” Fowley said.

For those unsure which old gaming system to get as a gift, Bond suggests one of their retro Nintendo systems with games built in. Some of their systems already have 20 games on it.

“You get a nice variety and it’s a really cool gift instead of buying an old system that might be hard to hook up to a new TV,” he said.

For those looking for a new gaming system, customers can try their luck at scoring a PS5 by watching Restockify or buying a Nintendo Switch, which has also been popular.

However, as of Monday afternoon, all PS5s at Amazon, Walmart, GameStop, Target and Best Buy were out of stock. Amazon last had it three days ago, while Best Buy’s last restock listed was three months ago.

Fowley suggests going outside the typical gaming gift, instead opting for merchandise. She suggests a Dark Souls key chain, a Witcher coffee mug or something along those lines.

“It’s a hard time to be holiday shopping for modern gamers,” she said.

But she also suggests possibly pushing them outside their comfort zone and try a board game.

“Everybody can play board games,” Fowley said. “A lot of people get scared away because it’s like, ‘Well, I don’t want to have to learn a game for three hours.’ But they’ve gotten so much more newbie friendly.”

Another popular trend is comic books, which, she said, makes for easy and quick last minute gifts.

“They’ve been so popular lately with the MCU,” she said, following record breaking opening weekend of Spider-Man: No Way Home. “You can come into the store and grab a volume one of Spider-Man and you can be done.”

And these other options might be the safest bet, as supply chain issues for new video consoles aren’t likely going away.

“I feel like the new gen systems are going to continuously be hard to find,” Bond said. “We keep hearing about the supply chain shortage of video gaming just as much as any other industry.”

Bond is also preparing for a future when retro gaming has changed.

“There’s eventually going to come a time when it’s going to hit this point where a kid’s going to be born who never had a physical collection of games. It was all digital, it’s all download,” he said. “It’s going to change. It’s going to morph and alter depending on the age group.”

For him and StateLine Video Games that means hopefully holding more in-person events and tournaments. Something he hopes to start in 2022 as people continue to get vaccinated against Covid.

“I think having community based events, events where you can come have birthday parties and arcades and hang out,” he said. “That’s my plan for the future.”

  - TNS