Amazon email invites to buy a PS5 or Xbox are now going out

Back in June, Amazon began offering invite requests for an opportunity to buy the hard-to-get PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X consoles — allowing anyone to try their luck without the stress of a live restock and all the F5 spamming. Now, nearly two months later, Amazon has confirmed via its Amazon Games Twitter account that invites are finally going out for both consoles. These invites will be sent in waves, with another round expected to go out next week.

If you receive one of these invites, you will have 72 hours to make the purchase on Amazon’s site from the unique link in the email. Speaking from firsthand experience of the Xbox invite I received today, Amazon’s emails look a little generic — they’re simply from “Amazon.com,” and the subject line reads just “Congrats, you’re invited!” Which, frankly, looks a little spammy at first glance. So be sure you don’t accidentally delete it on impulse like I nearly did.

These invites are a welcome departure from Amazon’s track record of sloppy restocks, where the consoles usually sell out quickly amid myriad checkout errors. You’d think the e-commerce giant could figure out a queue system for live restocks of high-demand items, but at least this is a useful substitute.

If you didn’t already request an invite, the pages for the standard $499.99 PlayStation 5, the $549.99 PS5 bundle with Horizon Forbidden West, and the $499 Xbox Series X all have buttons to request an invite on Amazon now. You don’t need to be a Prime subscriber, and you can see if you get lucky in one of Amazon’s upcoming invite waves.