Sony has apologized for the apparent mess created with the premature opening of pre-orders for its PlayStation 5 console last week. “Let’s be honest: PS5 preorders could have been a lot smoother. We truly apologize for that,” Sony said on the official PlayStation Twitter account on Saturday.
The company said promised it will release more PlayStation 5 consoles for pre-order “over the next few days”, for which retailers would share more details. The apology follows multiple international online stores opening pre-orders for the console on Wednesday 16 September, a day earlier than the availability date announced by Sony during its PlayStation 5 showcase.
Those planning for pre-orders to open on 17 September were caught off guard and had to scramble to get their hands on the console, leaving many disappointed.
South African retailers sold out
Multiple South African ecommerce stores also quickly ran out of stock after pre-orders were first opened on Thursday morning. Barely 24 hours later, searching for the console on BT Games, Takealot, and Koodoo yielded no positive results.
On Takealot, navigating to the link which previously allowed South African’s to buy the 1TB Glacier White version of the PlayStation 5 displayed the following message:
“Oops! It looks like this product is no longer available.”
BT Games’ website displays a 404 error when navigating to its PlayStation 5 webpage, while Koodoo’s page continues to show the PlayStation 5 consoles, but marks them as sold out.
Xbox Series X pre-orders
Microsoft has provided a more detailed region-by-region rollout schedule for pre-orders for its PlayStation 5 rivals – the Xbox Series X and Series S consoles.
For South Africa, pre-orders are slated to open 9:00 AM on Tuesday 22 September, as confirmed by BT Games.
Game Awards producer Geoff Keighley has explained that Xbox is taking steps to avoid similar pre-order chaos as with the PlayStation 5.
“I’ve heard that Xbox will be penalizing retailers by lowering allocations if they break these embargoes, so hopefully these times will hold,” Keighley said.
