It’s Tuesday, September 29 — do you know where your Xbox Series X preorder is?
Preordering the next generation of consoles has been chaotic to say the least. From PS5’s hasty announcement (and then almost instant sell out), to the crashing of websites and yo-yo-esque nature of the Series X pre-orders, the whole thing has been very 2020.
Much like 2020, which started full of hope, before the rug was suddenly pulled from under us, it turns out a confirmation email is more of an aspirational suggestion. This week some customers who preordered their console from Target have been getting follow-ups to their confirmation emails, informing them that “your order has been cancelled due to insufficient stock.” The emails also say a refund for their deposit would be coming within the next seven business days.
Target was one of the few retailers to take full payment of $749 at the time of preordering.
Having a week between confirmation and rejection is unusual. It’s unclear how many confirmations have been rescinded, how many consoles retailers got, or whether Target had their orders cut.
Kotaku Australia reached out to Target for comment but they did not respond in time for publication.
So far it only appears to be Microsoft’s premium Xbox Series X that has been affected by these cancellations. We haven’t heard anything about the comparatively more affordable Xbox Series S pre-orders being cancelled.
Both the Xbox Series X and S are expected to be on shelves (or in mailboxes) on November 10, two days before the release of Sony’s PlayStation 5 on November 12. For more information on what to expect from the consoles on release date, check out our comprehensive coverage here.
Have any of you had your preorder cancelled? How was your preordering experience? What do you think retailers could learn from this experience? Let us know in the comments.
Leave a Reply