Walmart's website is crashing again thanks to PlayStation 5 sales. The long-awaited console released today to ravenous demand, as expected for a machine that's been desperately anticipated for basically the entirety of 2020. Major retailers sold out in instants, and scalpers crawled out of the woodwork to offer the new machine at absurdly high prices.
One retailer has come to the forefront of this console-purchasing madness. Walmart has had a lot to make up for following the tumultuous preorder period for the PlayStation 5 back in September. The big-box store was one of many that crashed due to overwhelmingly high traffic as fans scrambled to get a PlayStation 5 of their very own. In order to grapple with the demand from players who were leftover from that initial wave of anarchy, Walmart has introduced a staggered release window for the PS5 on launch day. The store has been releasing limited amounts of the console throughout the day, with a fresh wave coming every three hours, in order to give more people a chance to buy one.
So far, this approach doesn't seem to have paid off. Cnet reports that Walmart's website crashed during the first wave of PS5 consoles at 12 ET. In some cases players were hit with error messages even after they'd gotten the new console into their cart. The website crashed even faster during the second wave at 3 pm, and once again during the third at 6 pm. At the time of this writing, there's only one window left at 9 pm. Fans have taken to Twitter to express their outrage; many accuse automated bots of swooping in, filling their carts, and getting out in the blink of an eye before human customers get a chance. Still more accuse Walmart of simply having a poorly designed website. Walmart, in turn, has been responding to all complaints on Twitter with automated Tweets reminding fans of the next window of opportunity at 9.
Demand for the new consoles is at a high point, especially when compared to their predecessors. Xbox head Phil Spencer is on record stating his belief that supply for the new machines will not match this ravenous demand until 2021. Walmart's struggles certainly bear this prediction out. One wonders how the retailer plans to manage its inventory in the future.
No one likes getting turned away from a major console purchase by technical difficulties. Players getting their consoles removed from their carts is an especially infuriating result, and it's frustrating to see Walmart respond with nothing more than automated messages. It could be a very long time before everyone who wants a new PlayStation 5 can get their hands on one. Hopefully, with the benefit of hindsight and better web design, it won't be forever.
Source: Cnet, Avalanche, Christian Stoey