Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S pre-orders went live on September 22 and were considered to be a complete and utter mess. Retailers like Target, Best Buy, GameStop and Walmart all faced a plethora of issues that made it impossible for many to successfully get their hands on a console.
However, things got a bit weirder at Amazon. Andrew Alerts on Twitter noticed that the Xbox One X had jumped up in sales rank by 747% on the day Xbox Series X pre-orders began. This likely means some customers were confused by the console names and purchased the wrong one.
- Xbox Series X: price, release date, specs and how it compares to gaming laptops
- Xbox Series S: release date, price, specs, rumors and what we want
- Xbox Series X and Series S pre-order: Where to buy the new console
If you're someone who tried pre-ordering an Xbox Series X this past Tuesday, do yourself a favor and check your Amazon orders page to make sure everything looks OK. If you did accidentally purchase an Xbox One X, you can easily cancel your order and save yourself $500.
Consumer confusion behind the naming of Xbox Series X isn't particularly surprising. Xbox has been criticized for the names of its consoles since the Xbox One X was revealed. This criticism grew with the Xbox Series X as the title shares a great resemblance to that of the Xbox One X.
The Xbox Series X confusion is especially worrying when it comes to parents who might be interested in purchasing their child a console for the holiday season. From my experience, parents are forgetful and confuse the names of things they're not familiar with quite easily.
A kid asking their parent for an "Xbox Series X" for Christmas can easily be confused with an "Xbox One X," especially for less tech-savvy parents.
It's also important to note that the Xbox One X has been entirely discontinued. Certain retailers simply have additional stock that needs selling.
When it comes to PlayStation consoles, it's pretty clear what consumers are purchasing. The PlayStation 4 will continue to live a long life-cycle while the PS5 will begin its journey in November. Sure, a parent could still accidentally purchase a PlayStation 4 when their child asks for a PlayStation 5, but this seems less likely.
Some Twitter users are also hypothesizing that the hike in Xbox One X sales on Amazon has to do with automated purchases of the console from bots attempting to bulk-buy the Xbox Series X. There is no evidence of this, however.
