Don’t expect Xbox Series X and Series S pre-orders to be smoother than PS5

In the wake of Sony’s chaotic PS5 pre-order launch, Microsoft seems to be taking a few different steps to try to ensure that there isn’t a similar level of carnage during its own process for Xbox Series X and Series S:

• They announced the date well in advance and listed the exact times for different regions that pre-orders should be available.
• In reality, they may be punishing retailers that break the launch embargo by reducing their future stocks (which is what many suspect happened with the PS5 launch).

And in addition to those two, you might be thinking that with PlayStation outselling next-gen Xbox 2: 1 and analysts are predicting something similar for this next generation, you might find it easier to get one of the models.

Don’t count on that.

My prediction? Tomorrow it will be as crazy for potential buyers to get their hands on an Xbox Series X or Series S as it has been trying to get a PS5 to date.

Why? Some reasons.

First of all, while it’s nice to have an exact date and time for pre-orders to be posted, while it’s good for “being close to your computer” purposes, that too seems like it has the potential to make it even harder to get one, given that both legitimate buyers will be camped out on the retailer’s website, and also illegitimate botters / resellers will be sitting as well, knowing the exact time they’re supposed to turn up, rather than reacting to random retailers They put their stocks online, which is what happened with Sony.

We’ve already seen this with PS5, where we once saw some retailers announcing when stocks would be back, releases with exact times out of maybe 30 seconds, rather than a few minutes, which is what happened when it was more of a surprise.

And while yes, I think Sony will likely out-sell Xbox in the long run, that means next to nothing for the initial launch window here. Interest in the next generation at Sony and Microsoft is high enough that both consoles run out of stock and sell out quickly. Don’t rely on Xbox being less popular than Sony to produce a situation where you can calmly check the launch window for one. It’s still going to be a feeding frenzy, especially for this first batch here.

Finally, unlike the PS5, where some consumers were fine buying a disc-based PS5 instead of a digital one for $ 100 more, even if it wasn’t what they were looking for, that opportunity isn’t really the same here for the Xbox. If you’re looking for an X Series with its huge horsepower advantages, you probably won’t be satisfied with “just” choosing an S Series, if that’s the model you can get your hands on. That means you have less overall stock to choose from, unlike on PS5 where the only difference between consoles is the disc drive.

But I guess the S Series can be even more popular for just $ 300 with a ton of next-gen capabilities. And as such, people may not be willing to pay $ 200 more than they thought they would pay if the situation is the other way around and more Series Xs are available instead. If I had to guess, Microsoft will make the most expensive console the one available for free, which is what Sony did.

Overall, it will probably be quite difficult and chaotic trying to get to the exact Xbox series model you want tomorrow, so don’t expect this to be easier than Sony’s launch, despite a clearer date and time for the launch. -orders. Good luck, we will all need it.

To update: And if we need any more reason for an Xbox pre-order frenzy tomorrow, Bethesda’s new purchase will likely only increase interest.

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