SNES Classic Edition: Walmart Canceling Some Pre-Orders, Others Still Processing

Walmart really smacked the hive this weekend. If you spent your Friday under a rock, then maybe you missed the whole thing. Walmart’s website went live with Super NES Classic Edition pre-orders at a totally random time of night. I happened to be out enjoying my evening at the time. The only thing between me and a crowded Nashville dance floor was about three ounces of tonic water and about an ounce of fantastic gin. I nearly dropped my drink on the ground in my rush to grab my phone and place an order when I got the notification, but it was too late.

Many people were able to place an order; many people were not. These things sold out in well-under an hour and, understandably, many of us were right pissed about the whole thing. Where was our heads up?! Over the weekend, however, many customers got notifications that their pre-orders were going to be canceled due to an error, with Walmart reps stating that pre-orders weren’t supposed to go live until the end of this week.

So, which is it? Did you miss out on the chance to pre-order, or are they going live this Friday? If you managed to order one, is yours about to get canceled?

That depends on who you ask.

That depends on who you ask, apparently. There are multiple transcriptions of conversations with Walmart customer support reps, who were coldly and mechanically apologizing to people over the fact that their order would soon be canceled. The conversations all go something like this, starting with a Walmart rep saying:

“Regrettably, the preorder was launched accidentally in the incorrect date (Friday 07/22). Orders placed on this date, will get canceled because they were placed earlier than the release date. We owe you an apology if you were affected by this problem…”

Of course, most people in these conversations are asking the same question: “What about everyone else? What about my friends who placed an order and haven’t received a notification of cancellation, will their orders be canceled as well?” The response was in the affirmative, at least in these customer service conversations. The Walmart rep said:

“That’s correct. All orders will be canceled. However, you don’t need to worry because the release date for the preorder is expected to be next week and we will have plenty of availability of the SNES Classic Edition so you can get yours.”

How comforting… But wait. There’s still reason to believe that some of these pre-orders will go through.

Orders are still processing, and Walmart knows it.

Not everyone who successfully managed to place a pre-order has had theirs canceled. Check anywhere. Go online and look at Reddit, GameFAQs, NeoGAF, Penny Arcade… Wherever you like to hang out. There will be people there claiming that their orders are still showing up as “processing.” Heck, you may even have a buddy who pre-ordered who is still seeing their status as processing. If Walmart is going to cancel every order then they sure are taking their sweet time. It’s been over 48 hours since the error was made!

Then there’s this tweet. One expressed his excitement and gratitude over his SNES Classic pre-order, and the official Walmart Twitter account responded to his tweet congratulating him! Walmart’s tweet was sent out yesterday, you’ll notice, long after the supposedly erroneous listing has been identified and orders started getting canceled.

If that’s not sending mixed signals than I don’t know what is. It’s possible that Walmart is large enough that its left hand knoweth not what its right hand doeth. It could be that these customer service reps and social reps aren’t on the same page. Where does that leave us, though?

If nothing else, guys, this proves what we already knew to be true: The Super NES Classic Edition is going to be hot, and it’s going to be hard to find. People are ordering two and three at a time, hoping either to resell some for a profit, or else beat out the scalpers so they can give some to family members as gifts. If you’re a true-blue gamer wanting some SNES nostalgia, actually wanting to play the dang thing, you’re going to have some stiff and selfish competition. We wish you luck.

So what about those Walmart orders? Should they be canceled, or should the people who were fast enough to snag one be honored with their product? Let us know what you think in the poll below.

Should Walmart cancel the pre-orders?