The night before the next-gen Xbox launched, Amazon delayed some pre-orders — and people are furious

• On Tuesday, November 10, the new Xbox Series S and Series X game consoles launched.
• Due to the ongoing pandemic, most buyers are relying on digital pre-orders to get their new consoles.
• On Monday night, some folks who pre-ordered months ago on Amazon found out that they wouldn't get the console until an unknown future date.
• "We expect to ship your console in the coming weeks as we receive more inventory in November and December," the note from Amazon said. The only guarantee of a new ship date provided was, "by or before December 31."

On Tuesday, November 10, Microsoft officially kicked off the new gaming generation with the launch of the Xbox Series S and Series X.

For the tens of thousands of people who pre-ordered one of the consoles back in September, it's an exciting day. But some folks who pre-ordered through Amazon unfortunately found out the night before launch that they wouldn't be getting the console until an unknown future date.

"We're contacting you with an update regarding your order of Xbox Series X," one such email from Amazon reads. "We expect to ship your console in the coming weeks as we receive more inventory in November and December. At this time, we anticipate that you will receive your Xbox Series X by 12/31 or before."

The email was received on November 9 at just after 5 p.m. ET, literally hours before launch. Other Amazon customers who pre-ordered back in September didn't even receive an email with the news — the "shipping date" section of their order simply hasn't updated.

"I just wish I knew when I'd have it," one customer who pre-ordered in September told Business Insider, "even if it's not like this week or month."

It's not clear how many Amazon customers had their order delayed at the last minute, but social media is rife with people who say they were impacted.

—Robin Burks (@sunriserobin) November 9, 2020

—TimInTheNorth (@TimInTheNorth88) November 9, 2020

The message from Amazon didn't provide a new shipping date.

Instead, it said, "We are making every effort to get it to you as soon as possible and apologize for any inconvenience. You will receive an email notification when your order has shipped."

Amazon representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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