Sony finally announced the price and release date for the PlayStation 5, putting an end to the long wait for head-to-head next-generation console details after Xbox outlined its own hardware plans last week. Despite indications from Sony indicating otherwise, preorders unexpectedly opened shortly after, leading to confusion and frustration amid canceled orders and scrambling retailers. How did it go so wrong?

Sony's messaging around preorders was sloppy and inconsistent. Shortly after the widely publicized presentation, the company noted in a separate announcement on the PlayStation Blog that preorders would begin the following day, September 17. Then we learned that some retailers planned to open preorders early--but with no word of which ones or when. What followed was a chaotic mess, with retailers opening their stock at different and largely odd times. Even buyers who were quick on the draw were sometimes met with out-of-stock notifications, leading many to flock from one retailer to another as they subsequently opened. Some fans wasted a long time refreshing Twitter or retailer sites, only to end up with nothing. Those who planned to preorder at a retail store had to rush for limited allocations.

It's unclear how much of this is on Sony, and how much retailers took their own initiative and jumped the gun on preorders before the planned time. But given that Sony never detailed when that time was supposed to be, it's hard to tell.