PS5 Pre-Order Miscommunication Upsets Fans

During the September 16th PlayStation Showcase, Sony at long last revealed the PlayStation 5 price and release date. The all-digital version is priced at $399 and $499 for the standard version. Both versions of the console are coming on November 12. Later in a follow-up tweet, they noted that the PS5 pre-order is set to open “as early as tomorrow”, which is conveniently today. Not long after, various outlets including Walmart, Target, Amazon, and Best Buy also announced that they were opening their pre-orders as well.

Pre-order the new PlayStation 5 now.

And don’t forget to add an extra controller, new headset and your favorite games while you’re at it.

— Best Buy (@BestBuy) September 17, 2020

While fans raced to secure their own units, things got much more confusing. Sony suddenly announced that the PS5 pre-order was limited to people who had signed up to their official store. And the registration is limited until Friday, September 18th. After the news broke out, retailers closed their pre-orders. Quoting Gamasutra, Walmart decided to scrap their early pre-orders due to the “incredible interest it received from the online pre-order”. Amazon’s link just returns an error page instead.

Of course, this chain of events is somewhat contradictory to what PlayStation Worldwide Marketing Head Eric Lempel told Geoff Keighley back in July. They said that they will give plenty of advance notice for when PS5 pre-orders are up. In fact, they specifically said it’s “not going to happen with a minute’s notice”.

A day after the price and release date announcement, just two months before release, fans are still not sure when they can snag the next-gen console, and even if they can get it on day one. SIE head Jim Ryan’s interview with Yahoo! Japan doesn’t give much confidence to their consumers either. Although the quote could be directed solely at the Japanese market.

“The demand is [completely] unpredictable. At least, if you want to get a PS5 at the release date, it will take a considerable amount of effort I think.”

Over on social media, fans are still showing their disappointment towards Sony’s confusing messages on PS5 pre-orders. While some are having issues, others who claimed that they’ve gotten their hands on launch shipments are selling their “golden tickets” with insane prices on eBay. Microsoft, on the other hand, delivers another jab at Sony’s incompetence; slightly masking their own lackluster announcements.

Pre-order ? September 22

Worldwide launch in 36 countries ? November 10

Hype ? 9000+

(don’t worry – we’ll let you know the exact time pre-orders start for you soon) pic.twitter.com/SLUrrtszyN

— Xbox (@Xbox) September 17, 2020