Walmart website sees massive traffic, experiences ‘intermittent slowness’ after PlayStation 5 goes on sale

Kelly Tyko

| USA TODAY
PlayStation 5 announced for 2020 holiday seasonSony confirmed the ‘Playstation 5’ name and release date on October 8th.Frustration boiled over on social media after massive traffic to Walmart.com prevented would-be PlayStation 5 shoppers from scoring the hot holiday gift.After the new Sony video game console went on sale Thursday, Walmart told USA TODAY that some shoppers might have experienced “intermittent slowness for a few minutes.””We quickly caught up with the volume and are currently restocking the item for additional release of inventory throughout the day,” Walmart said in a statement to USA TODAY.Walmart said in a tweet on Nov. 5 that it would sell the consoles four times on Nov. 12 –noon, 3 p.m., 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. ET – for PS5 fans who missed out on preorders.Recommendation from Reviewed: PlayStation 5 goes on sale at Walmart ThursdayPlayStation 5 review: A powerhouse video game console with innovative controlsBut although Walmart had offered some hope about restocking through Thursday, for many hoping to order the console those hopes were quickly dashed during the final timeslot.One of the error messages shoppers got was “An error has occured while adding an item to the cart. Please try again shortly.”Sony’s new console is selling for $499.99 and a separate digital version for $399.99. Both are only being sold online.Some Twitter users reminisced over how they went to the store to purchase in past launches.”Totally understand the Covid in-store precautions, but I’ll definitely miss my old 100% success rate of camping out the night before,” Twitter user Joshua Wittenkeller tweeted Thursday.No PS5 for you: Fans react to not buying a new PlayStationHere are some of the reactions on social media Thursday:Really thought I was finally gonna get the #PS5 when I made it to the Walmart checkout section only for it to say “out of stock” when I placed my order pic.twitter.com/rfvbIso6V8— 5’4 Trillionaire (@KBEXCLUSIVEKB) November 13, 2020Upgrading to an Xbox Series X or PlayStation 5: What to do with your old video game consoleFollow USA TODAY reporter Kelly Tyko on Twitter: @KellyTyko

Source link