PlayStation 5 pre-orders have been released earlier than scheduled causing chaos for customers and leading numerous major retailers’ website to crash under the pressure.
Shoppers eager to get their hands on Sony’s next generation gaming console yesterday evening were met with broken links, downed websites and failed orders.
Walmart, Best Buy, Target, and GameStop all made PS5 pre-orders available yesterday evening, despite Sony explicitly stating they would be released on September 17 and that there would be no surprise announcement regarding pre-orders.
For those of you out there still looking to preorder a PS5, Target is still releasing a few at a time. You just have to keep on trying! It took me two and a half hours. My fingers are sore. pic.twitter.com/sZNKOSAw6X
— Faceless Techie (@FacelessTechie) September 17, 2020
Everyone refreshing their browser to make their #PS5 preorder go through. pic.twitter.com/2gFPyaTnIh
— IGN (@IGN) September 17, 2020
I may not personally care about getting a PS5 at launch, but I do genuinely feel bad for everyone that was so excited and wasn’t able to secure a preorder. That sucks. Hopefully more preorders open up over the next few days or weeks, so those who want one can get one.
— 🌸 Legend of Aly 🎮 (@Alyc0re) September 17, 2020
This mean caused GameStop’s website to crash entirely, and other website to struggle under traffic so much that users were unable to make a purchase.
Sony’s worldwide head of marketing Eric Lempel told fans earlier this year that the company would give them ample notice before pre-orders went live, promising that they wouldn’t have to “go run out and line up anywhere”.
READ MORE: Xbox One series ‘discontinued’ on Amazon suggesting next-gen release could be around the corner
Many fans have taken to social media to express their anger at Sony breaking their promise.
The frenzy came after PlayStation finally revealed the details of its upcoming console, which is due to be released on November 12, during an event yesterday.
It promised to match the price of its rival Xbox Series X, following the unexpected reveal of Xbox’s prices last week following a leak.
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