PS5 Walmart pre-orders sold out in 10 seconds

The PlayStation 5 Showcase event went off without a hitch, and showed new games, footage of already announced games, and much more. The highlight was, of course, the reveal of the price and release date for both the PS5 and the PS5 Digital Edition. Sony confirmed that pre-orders for the PS5 would start the following day, but that was a flat out lie, whether intentional or not.

Almost immediately after the showcase, several retailers made their online PS5 pre-orders available. It resulted in utter chaos, as PlayStation fans raced to their computers only to be told that the PS5 was no longer in stock. It hasn't even been released yet, and it is no longer in stock. That is incredible.

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Walmart was out of PS5 pre-orders in seconds

Some retailers, like Best Buy, were able to hang on a bit longer, as the more popular outlets were overrun, but it didn't take long for nearly every store to mark their PS5 pre-orders as sold out.

Walmart seemed to be the retailer hit the hardest. Several people were let down as they reached the checkout screen, only to be told there were no more consoles available once they went to enter their payment information.

got to the checkout screen on walmart for PS5 pre order and got the "sold out" text :(

— FaZe Simp (@SimpXO) September 18, 2020

Between when I added my PS5 to my Walmart shopping card, stood up to get my credit card to fill in my info it sold out. Love to see it!

— Nick “Station” Chester (@nickchester) September 16, 2020

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PS5 scalpers are the culprits

No doubt, scalpers and their bots sat waiting for PS5 pre-orders to go live. The next-gen console is a hot commodity, so while unfortunate, this is not surprising. This has happened for almost every major tech release in the modern era.

Scalpers run a bot on their computer that purchases as many items as the site will allow. At times, they will use different times and several cards to bypass the purchase limit. They then go and resell the items at outrageously marked-up prices.

The new Walmart PS5 pre-orders went live at 6:00pm PT. The digital edition was completely sold out within 10 seconds. You just can’t compete with scalpers and their bots.

— Gary Whitta (@garywhitta) September 18, 2020

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More PS5 pre-orders on the way?

Image Credits: Sony

Sony has confirmed that more PS5 systems will be available at launch than there were for the PS4. When a restock will happen is anyone's guess, however. The PS5 is set to release on 12th November, two days after the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S. All this takes place right at the start of the holiday season.

Be sure that there will surely be more PS5 pre-order and purchase chaos in the coming months.