Preorder days where you can’t actually order the item in question are bullshit

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Let me just start this rant off by stating, for the record, that I love technology. Not quite as much as my editor, but not far off. It’s great, near-magical sometimes, and generally makes our modern life better.

The thing I don’t like? The way the industry is treating product launches lately. You might have seen the news recently of Nvidia botching the GeForce RTX 3080 release, when simple store protections such as CAPTCHA would have limited the usefulness of the bots used by scalpers to preorder the graphics cards ahead of actual human purchasers.

Don’t go look on eBay for “RTX 3080” either, as the top, sponsored results are for fake graphics cards, where someone thought it would be funny to list a piece of paper with a printed image of an RTX 3080 on it, for the price of a graphics card.

Image: eBay

Then it was Sony’s turn, with the PlayStation 5 preorders. Remember, this won’t be shipping until November 12, so why are the preorder amounts limited? Surely once the known stock amounts are reached, you can just put people onto a waiting list for the next batch? Then again, maybe this will teach people the value of patience… *laughs* wait, what am I talking about, of course, it won’t. At least Sony apologized for the anything-but-smooth launch.

Then the third day of preorder madness arrived today, September 22, with the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S. Surely, Microsoft would fare better? I even said as much this morning, but had to eat my words a short time later, as the Microsoft Store crashed under the traffic. Oops. Add to that, retailer websites that either didn’t show stock, didn’t have listings, put you into a queue, or straight-up didn’t let you add things to cart, and it’s another bungled launch (but presumably a profitable one).

So, three preorders in rapid succession that all broke websites, broke wallets, and most importantly, broke some hearts. Is this the future of retail? At least we’ve got the iPhone 12 launch to look forward to, as Apple knows how to handle preorders. Just let everyone order, and give them staggered shipping dates based on order of, erm, ordering. How civilized.

What do you think? Did you have any luck snagging any preorders? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.

Editors’ Recommendations:

• If you want to preorder an Xbox console, maybe avoid GameStop
• Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and Game Pass for PC members will get EA Play for free
• The PlayStation 5 will not be backwards compatible with PS1, PS2, or PS3 games
• The Nintendo Switch has hit a massive hardware sales record

Joe Rice-Jones

Maker, meme-r, and unabashed geek with nearly half a decade of blogging experience at KnowTechie, SlashGear and XDA Developers. If it runs on electricity (or even if it doesn't), Joe probably has one around his office somewhere, with particular focus in gadgetry and handheld gaming. Shoot him an email at joe@knowtechie.com.