Press Start: Xbox Preorders Were Not "Smooth" as Promised

After asserting that preorders for the Xbox Series X and S would not be as rough today as the preorders for the PS5 were, people looking to buy a next-gen Xbox were actually faced with a very similar situation to last week's PS5 fiasco.

Preorders went live across the board at 8 a.m. Pacific Time today, and retailers were selling out left and right. Just like last week, sites were crashing, people couldn't successfully check out, and stock is continuing to bounce in and out of stock. Just like how last week was a bad look for Sony because of the mass disorganization, Microsoft has some egg on its face today after the confidence demonstrated last week, when it assured consumers this would be a "smoother" experience.

But were the preorder issues Microsoft or Sony's fault? Sony said preorders were going to go up on the morning after the price and release date reveal, but thanks to Walmart, they went up a day early.

Microsoft was able to hit their promised date for preorders, but retailers like Target and Best Buy were hard to access, which isn't Microsoft's fault. I'd say the biggest mistake Microsoft made was saying preorders would be a smooth experience, when there was no way they could guarantee how retailers would handle the high amounts of traffic to their sites.

Are retailers less willing to stock digital consoles that give customers no reason to return to their stores?

I'm also surprised about how few digital editions were available for both PS5 and Series S. Are retailers less willing to stock digital consoles that give customers no reason to return to their stores? Or do Microsoft and Sony think consumers aren't quite ready to begin the transition to a digital future? I'll be curious to see how many digital versions of these consoles are available as the generation gets underway.

For now, I hope everyone who wants to preorder can get one in before November hits!