Xbox promises to confirm ‘exact Series X pre-order times’ in a nod to PS5’s confusion

Xbox has told fans it will soon detail exact pre-order times for Series X and S consoles, in an indiscreet nod to PlayStation 5’s pre-sale confusion.

On Wednesday, several major retailers opened their PlayStation 5 pre-orders without pre-warning customers, despite the fact PlayStation had told its social media followers to expect pre-sales to begin starting Thursday.

Subsequently, retailers such as Walmart, Target, GameStop and Game in the UK had already sold out of their allocated PS5 stock just hours after the console’s launch details were announced.

In a tweet published later that evening, the official Xbox profile reassured its followers that it would confirm “the exact time” pre-orders for Series X and S would go live soon.

Microsoft confirmed last week that Xbox Series X and S pre-orders will begin on Tuesday, September 22.

In the UK, Microsoft has already confirmed that Xbox pre-orders will go live at 8am on the 22nd from the Microsoft Store, Amazon, Game, Argos, Currys PC World, Smyths Toys, John Lewis, AO .com, and Very .co.uk.

UPDATE: Microsoft has confirmed that US Xbox Series X and S pre-orders will begin at 8AM PDT / 11AM EDT on Tuesday, 22nd September.

Pre-orders will be available at retailers including the Microsoft Store, Amazon, Target, Walmart, Best Buy, Costco, Sam’s Club, GameStop, Newegg and Army and Airforce Exchange Service.

ORIGINAL STORY CONTINUES: In Wednesday’s tweet Xbox also took the opportunity to highlight its global release date of November 10. PlayStation confirmed on Wednesday that PS5 will launch across two dates in November.

PlayStation 5 will launch starting November 12 for $400 / £360 for the Digital Edition console and $500 / £450 for the standard edition.

The console will release first in the US, Japan, Canada, Mexico, Australia and South Korea. The rest of the world will get the console a week later on Thursday, November 19, including Europe, Middle East, South America, Asia and South Africa.

Last week Microsoft officially priced Xbox Series X at $499 / €499 / £449 and Xbox Series S at $300 / $300 / £249.

Daniel Ahmad, senior analyst at Niko Partners, told VGC he expects supply issues for both PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X this year.

“While production is ramping up and component scarcity is less of an issue than before, we believe that logistics issues will be a barrier for both platform holders to overcome this holiday, with the impact from Covid-19 leading to long shipping times and shortages on store shelves during the launch period.

“We expect Sony and Microsoft to utilise air shipments, which will cost more, to meet demand this year.”