Despite the fact that Microsoft made a point to let its fans know the time and date pre-orders would go live with several days’ notice, the process hasn’t been any more organized than when Sony warned people last minute that PS5 pre-orders were going live last week. Regardless of how these companies made their pre-order announcements, it seems that digital storefronts just can’t keep up with the demand for these next-gen consoles.
And it doesn’t help that supplies are reportedly very limited, especially on the PS5 side, due to manufacturing and shipping delays caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. Even when a site did work, such as in the case of Walmart, consoles sold out within minutes. If you managed to get an Xbox pre-order at Walmart today, you are one of the lucky ones. (I am one of the lucky ones.)
In a very rare instance of going off the marketing script, Sony apologized for its own pre-order mess last week, saying “Let’s be honest: PS5 pre-orders could have been a lot smoother. We truly apologize for that.” Sony promised to release more PS5 consoles for pre-order “over the next few days.”
It’s looking very likely that Microsoft will be forced to make its own apologies in the coming days as the Xbox pre-order fiasco continues to unfold. For now, Xbox fans have been happy to share their displeasure on Twitter:
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