Walmart Blocked 20 Million Bots From Buying PS5s

Walmart has blocked 20 million bots from buying PS5 in the wake of "an uptick of "grinch bots" this year," according to Walmart Global Tech Chief Information Security Officer Jerry Geisler.

It's not a secret in the gaming community that hunting a PlayStation 5 is a quest of its own. Since its release on Nov. 12, 2020 in North America, the latest console from Sony Interactive Entertainment has been sold out in various major retailers such as Walmart, Best Buy, Amazon, and GameStop.

Walmart Blocked 20 Million Bots From Buying PS5

Released in already limited supply during launch, the PS5 units are snagged by both console gamers and scalpers. These scalpers would then resell the console for double or triple its original price of $399 for PS5 Digital Edition and $499 for PS5 with Ultra HD Blu-Ray Disc Drive. Sometimes it is even more than that. To access the stock once PS5 becomes available in stores, scalpers have been using bots. Without anti-bot protections, it is impossible for a human to place an online order faster than a bot.

While it is still going to be an incredible challenge to get the PS5 right now, at least Walmart's action helps to ensure that purchases from its stores are made by legitimate customers. It seems like the preventative measure works for now. Other retailers that have not been implementing the anti-bots seem to struggle to keep up with customers' demands with buyers constantly ran into error pages when trying to purchase the PS5.