We’re just a few days away from the release of two of the hottest tech items of the year: the Xbox Series and the PlayStation 5 consoles. The consoles became available for preorder online in late September and instantly sold out. Now that the launch date is almost here, a couple retailers have advertised that they’ll have small quantities in stock on launch day.
Utter chaos is the only way to describe what happened when both consoles kicked off their preorder campaigns in late September. Sony confirmed that they would tell shoppers when to anticipate preorders going live in advance and then later confirmed that Thursday, Sept. 17 would be the big day. Unexpectedly, Walmart tweeted after 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 16, that they had decided to set their preorders live, rather than wait for the official day. Because that retailer broke the date, both Target and Best Buy almost immediately followed in their footsteps, unleashing their preorders to an unaware hoard of internet shoppers. Of the three retailers, only Best Buy notified shoppers who had signed up ahead of time that their units were available to order.
Microsoft watched the calamity from afar and opted to take advantage of the situation by advertising that their event would not be at the same level of insanity. However, Microsoft’s preorder event went almost as poorly. The Xbox Series consoles were set to go live for preorders on the morning of Sept. 22, at 11 a.m. EST. However, only two retailers met that time. Best Buy didn’t set their preorders live for over an hour after the start time. Amazon randomly opened their preorders at 11:40 a.m., causing even further confusion and mayhem for shoppers trying to secure a console for launch day.
Preorders have not been available since September, which makes the launch events possibly one of the last chance shoppers will have to get their hands on the new consoles before next year.
Where to order PlayStation 5 consoles on launch day (Nov. 12)
Unfortunately for shoppers hopping to snag a PlayStation 5 on launch day, Sony confirmed on Nov. 5 that they will not have any PlayStation 5 consoles available in retail stores on Nov. 12. While that’s a massive blow to anyone who didn’t snag a preorder who was hoping to play on release day, Sony does have an alternate plan in place: online retailers.
Even though Sony did confirm that physical retail locations will not have any PlayStation 5 consoles in stock, they did confirm that major retailers, including Best Buy, Walmart and Target will have the console available to purchase online on Nov. 12. Sony cited COVID-19 as their primary reason for not having consoles in stores, focusing on customer safety by having shoppers shop online for the hot console.
Walmart has a drop page set up for the PlayStation 5 section of their website, but they do not have a specific product page for either version of the PlayStation 5 console. On the drop page, Walmart has confirmed that the consoles will be available for purchase at four different times on Nov. 12: 12 p.m., 3 p.m., 6 p.m., and 9 p.m. All times are EST.
Where to order Xbox Series consoles on launch day (Nov. 10)
The Xbox Series consoles are set to launch on Nov. 10 and only two retailers have advertised that they plan to have stock available for shoppers on launch day. Lenovo displayed both versions of the consoles in their Black Friday ad with launch date availability. Target also advertised that they will have the consoles available in store on launch.
Best Buy has not officially confirmed that the units will be available in their stores on launch day. However, we predict that some stores will have a handful of units available for early shoppers on Nov. 10.
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