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Walmart cancels SNES Classic preorders, says they were premature

The retailer blamed a "technical glitch."

Sean Hollister Senior Editor / Reviews
When his parents denied him a Super NES, he got mad. When they traded a prize Sega Genesis for a 2400 baud modem, he got even. Years of Internet shareware, eBay'd possessions and video game testing jobs after that, he joined Engadget. He helped found The Verge, and later served as Gizmodo's reviews editor. When he's not madly testing laptops, apps, virtual reality experiences, and whatever new gadget will supposedly change the world, he likes to kick back with some games, a good Nerf blaster, and a bottle of Tejava.
Sean Hollister
2 min read
Watch this: Walmart cancels SNES preorders, blames a glitch
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The SNES Classic. It's tiny.

Were you one of the lucky few to preorder a coveted SNES Classic from Walmart last Friday?

I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

You, like me, probably just received an email notifying you that your pre-order has been canceled. Why? Walmart says it was all a mistake, and the console was apparently never meant to be available for preorder at all:

"Unfortunately, due to a technical glitch, the Super Nintendo Classic Edition was mistakenly made available last Friday evening ahead of the official release date. We, regrettably, will have to cancel this item on your order. We know that this is incredibly disappointing to you, and we're truly sorry for this mistake," writes Deserie Dulaney, senior director of customer care for Walmart.com, in the email sent to customers.

Walmart says it won't charge any credit cards, and any credit card authorization holds will automatically disappear -- or, if you paid with PayPal or a gift card, they'll send you a refund.

We can't be sure if every single preorder has been canceled, though we've reached out to Walmart for clarification. On Monday, some preorder customers were already reporting cancellation notices, even though other customers seemed to be in the clear -- and that could possibly still be true now.

In fact, Walmart sent me two different emails today: The cancelation notification, and -- 18 minutes later -- a second email letting me know that my preorder will arrive on September 29. 

Typing in my order number at Walmart.com pulls up a valid preorder, too.

Update, 7:41p.m. PT: My preorder has finally been canceled.

I won't be too torn up if I don't see my console, though. It wasn't terribly fair to folks on the East Coast for preorders to go live, without any warning, at 11:30 in the evening.