Walmart has rejected over 20 million attempts by online bots to acquire PS5 as a purchase. Taken to the official Walmart corporate website, Chief Information Officer Jerry Geisler disclosed how the company has struggled against “grinch bots” who are trying to steal would-be presents.”
Geisler has acknowledged that trying to prevent these online bots is extremely difficult, due mainly to the fact that bot scripts are constantly being updated and rewritten to try and stay ahead of the game.
Geisler states that Walmart is working very hard and upgrading its bot identification software on a daily basis to ensure that consumers have a chance to get not just the latest PlayStation, but also the Xbox Series X.
Adding to this, Geisler states that when the first PS5 pre-orders went live on November 25, the retailer stopped 20 million bot attempts in only the first 30 minutes.
Yes, that’s right…20 million! Not bad Walmart! Furthermore, Walmart is constantly performing audits and so they can quickly cancel all orders that it confirms have been bought by bots. As a consequence, Geisler reports that the “vast majority” of next-gen consoles have been bought by actual Walmart buyers.
Concluding, Geisler reveals that the retailer has a restock for both next-gen consoles coming soon, but, unfortunately, this is the extent of specificity.
“We have more next-gen consoles coming online soon, and we’re continuing to work hard to get them into the hands of as many customers as possible,” said Geisler. “We hope others across the retail industry will join us by asking lawmakers to do more to prevent these unwanted bots on retail sites, so customers have equal access to the products they want.”
