The PlayStation 5 could be pre-ordered briefly on the release day at selected retailers in the so-called 3rd wave. However, once again, it ended up being extremely chaotic, and many fans still got nothing.
What were the pre-order waves all about? The PlayStation 5 is in high demand, and both the first pre-orders and the 2nd wave shortly thereafter turned into a disaster. Owing to chaotic conditions, the servers were overloaded, orders were possible too early, or were not accepted at all. Other fans were assured a console only to later find out that due to a system error, many more orders were confirmed than could actually be delivered.
Those who hoped that the 3rd wave scheduled for 1:00 PM on the release day would run more smoothly were sorely disappointed.
This is how the 3rd wave of pre-orders went
While the lucky pre-orderers who had been assured a console in the previous waves received their console by mail or in-store pickup on November 19, 2020, there was still hope for PS5 fans who did not yet have one with the 3rd wave that same day.
Amazon, Otto, Medimax, and GameStop were among those offering a small allocation of PS5 for pre-order on the release day. However, it went horribly wrong again.
Due to the massive rush to the servers, even the shipping giant Amazon was hopelessly overwhelmed, and many users suddenly got booted from the system in the middle of the ordering process. In the end, they were left with empty shopping carts and no console.
Customers are frustrated
This is how fans are reacting: Disappointed fans vent their frustration and anger on Twitter.
User Gratox86 just had to enter the address, and suddenly everything was gone:
Other users, like Juko here, didn’t even see a PS5 on Amazon because it was gone so quickly:
User DmitriyBsgN apparently tried in vain for a long time to order the PS5 on Amazon and after 2 hours had to give up:
Other users take it with humor. Since when searching for the PS5 on November 19 a system error only connected users to the controller, User Finn created this meme:
As Amazon shows images of sad dogs as error messages, User Casi decided to get a doggo:
However, some users are also happy that Amazon at least offered consoles. According to User Yves, MediaMarkt couldn’t even manage to deliver the pre-ordered devices:
Will there be a PS5 available for pre-order before Christmas?
The situation currently looks bleak, and it is rather unlikely whether there will be any official restock before Christmas. Only the provider Medimax might offer consoles with some luck.
Profiteers from the console scarcity are meanwhile unscrupulous profiteers on eBay and Co. There, once again, exorbitant prices of up to 2,500 euros for the PS5 are being charged. One can only hope that no one is so desperate as to support such business practices and buys the PlayStation 5 from such profiteers.
