Another round of pre-orders for the crashed GameStop’s website.
It’s easy to see why players are so eager to get their PS5 pre-orders in early. Sony previously said that the next-gen console could be hard to come by this holiday season, even opening reservations for select PlayStation fans to save a spot in line for pre-orders last month, but letting the reservation system languish until after pre-orders had already gone up at some retailers. Recent rumors claiming that Sony had cut PS5 production only made securing a console before launch seem like more of a priority, though Sony has since denied the rumors.
Now, it looks like PS5 pre-orders have claimed another victim. Wal-Mart announced earlier in the evening that it would be opening pre-orders for the PS5 again after selling out of the stock it offered last night, even specifying the time they would go live. The retailer’s tweet apparently garnered more attention that even it was anticipating, as within minutes of the appointed time, traffic crashed Wal-Mart’s website. Geoff Keighley shared an image of a server error received on the site, while other Twitter s reported crashes and consoles removed from the carts of those who could access the site long enough to add one.
Sony's launch of PS5 pre-orders has been frustrating for many fans, especially since it's playing out exactly how the company promised it wouldn't. Before announcing the PS5's release date or even its price, Sony said that it would give players plenty of notice before pre-orders went live, reassuring them that it wouldn't happen at a moment's notice. At the recent PS5 showcase, Sony did give a bit of advance notice - less than a day - but retailers nonetheless made pre-orders available even earlier, within hours of the big reveal. Since then, Twitter has been filled with complaints from angry PlayStation fans worried that the whole debacle will mean they won't be able to get a PS5 at launch as planned.
Console launches are often fraught with difficulty, as low stock and demand tend to add up to a lot of disappointed players. This year particularly, with so many people out of work, the high price of new consoles will leave a lot of fans out by default, even with both PlayStation and Xbox offering relatively inexpensive options. Given that lining up with a crowd of other people to buy consoles in person would be a terrible idea this year, though, it falls to Sony and Microsoft to make their online launches go much smoother than this, for their own sake and their fans’.
Source: Geoff Keighley
