Long lines outside retail stores devolving into brawls, desperate shoppers refreshing websites in a bid to outrace the bots and a cottage industry of people trading tips and making money in the process—is the state of the video game console market a year after a new generation of widely coveted devices was released during the height of the pandemic
Black Friday shoppers line up before dawn on Nov. 26, 2021, at a Best Buy store in Greenwood, Ind. Some retailers like Best Buy give preferential treatment to shoppers who pay a subscription fee, but that doesn’t guarantee them a video game console. (Kaiti Sullivan/The New York Times)
A few seconds before noon Monday, Jake Randall began encouraging people watching his livestream on YouTube to start refreshing Walmart’s website on their computers.
At his bidding, thousands of people around the country began furiously pounding keys, jostling to get to the front of the retailer’s virtual line for this holiday season’s hottest gift: a video game console. To increase their odds, Randall recommended that the 8,000 viewers on his livestream also get in line through Walmart’s app on their phones. As the minutes ticked by, a lucky few sent Randall screenshots of their purchases. Some sent him donations — about $2,000 in total — as thanks for his help. Others were unsuccessful. In an hour, all of the consoles were sold out.
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