Walmart Blocks More Than 20 Million P55 'Grinch' Bots: Are Bots Still Reliable for Pre-Orders and Tracking?

Isaiah Alonzo, Tech Times 16 December 2020, 10:12 pm

Walmart is not tolerating using autonomous systems to purchase the sought after next-generation consoles, the PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Series X, that they claimed to have already blocked a massive 20 million bots. The initial release of the PS5 has popularized the use of stock trackers and bots to immediately give the public updates and buy the console for them.

One of the country's largest retail company, Walmart, has recently revealed that it has blocked over 20 million PS5 bots that attempted to buy the next-generation off its website after a series of restocks and availability. PS5 Pre-orders have begun on November 25 for the company, and since then, people have relied on bots for alerts and buying the console.

According to Walmart's Chief Information Security Officer, Jerry Geisler, the company has removed "Grinch Bots," as they call it, from its websites and online store, which all have surfaced and surrounded the sale of the most-coveted tech this 2020, the PS5. The company said that this was their part in ensuring a fair deal and distribution of the world's "hottest item" of the present season.

The company has considered the "Holiday Rush" and demand for these items, particularly the PlayStation 5, because these bots cannot verify whether their purchase would be the first for the account owner. In the spirit of fairness and equality, Walmart has removed these bots since the beginning of PS5's sale and drop with the company.

The PS5 bots are referred to as "Grinch bots," taking inspiration from the popular children's book mythical character who steals Christmas from the author, Dr. Seuss. These bots are said to replicate what the Grinch has done in his stories, stealing items and not giving people a fair chance of purchasing their chosen items because of their fast reactions and purchase.

PS5 Bots: Are They Unreliable Now?

The question for everyone who wants to get their hands on a PlayStation 5 now is that "Are bots still reliable after Walmart's block?" Indeed, this question would come, especially for users who utilized bots to secure themselves a unit or item from the various retailers which sell the next-generation consoles.

The answer to that question is that these PS5 Bots are still reliable and would provide great updates and notifications on where stocks would turn up and go live for selling. Walmart and other e-commerce websites may have blocked them; however, its primary function of tracking stocks and notifying users is still a massive help to get one's hands on the PlayStation.

Twitter bot, Discord bot, and PS5 Stock Trackers are still needed, especially if that user is not one to have the luxury of time to go through websites and hunt for the new game consoles.

PS5 Walmart Restock: Coming Soon in 2021

According to Geisler, people need not worry and rely heavily on bots to buy PlayStation 5 for them because there would soon be an abundance of restocks and units for Walmart in the coming future. The Chief Information Security Officer has not revealed the date but said that it would come soon, with speculations looking at early January 2021 to have the first wave of new stocks for PS5.

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Written by Isaiah Alonzo