Gamestop and EB no longer take returns of opened games, so your point is not a point.

The guy loading up the boxes does not make the decision about how many copies you get. Do games only sell on release week? A business run this way will only lose sales when they are not carrying an item after release. Again, which is better, not having the game and sending the customer and their $50 elsewhere, or having the game and getting the $50? They'll find the game elsewhere...games are not so rare that they won't be able to find a copy. That's the stores pushing that 'fake shortage' crap, which is no reflection on reality. If you don't have the game the customer wants, you lose the sale.

Wait, do they save money at Best Buy or don't they? In your first paragraph, you say they do, but now they're the same price. I'll get at least $5 off at BB with a coupon, and probably more with a sale...yet you keep telling your customers it's their fault for not reserving. How many stores would you go back to that continue to blame their customers for not having stock on games? Fever 2004 is everywhere...it's not sold out. If you don't stock it, they'll get it somewhere else. Your loss: $50...but you sure showed them stupid customers, huh?

Breaking records throughout Europe...and I notice you never offered up a bet that it would fail.

FS

What kind of game store doesn't have Fever 2k4 in stock?!

I dont berate my customers I just try and help them the best way I can. I dont push a pre-order for EVERYTHING but I do stress it for high profile releases like Zelda and so forth. Not all of us who work behind a counter are evil. Maybe a select few but Im still failing to understand what the evil is in pre-ordering.

Don't you think that's the exact OPPOSITE of what you should be doing? Zelda, at release, was EVERYWHERE! No shortages...why would you push that game for a pre-order except to force consumers to buy it from you? That's why people look down on pre-ordering. Wouldn't it be better to suggest pre-ordering for games that are going to be in limited supply? There was absolutely no reason to pre-order Zelda...every other store had it on release day.

FS

Apparantly one that would rather say this:

"Did you Pre-order? Remember you raved about how much you wanted this game, and you refused to put the measly $5 down? Were sold out. Feel free to go to the nearest Best Buy or Target, where it may be in stock (Not always on the release date) for the SAME price ".

...than actually MAKE a $50 sale by having the game in stock.

FS

I'd like to point out the fact that not only game stores do this. Target, Walmart, Best Buy are similar too.

It all works on how many the distribution center sends out. Such as the case with NBA2K3 last year. My store only received it in for the PS2 on release. None for XBOX or GC. I thought that was strange.

Sorry Flash, I think you are way off here.

Using your "going to BB and buying any DVD released in the past year" example, I'd point out that a comparable DVD to the low-profile release of Otogi would be a unknown foreign film or something, which there is NO guarantee that Best Buy would have.

I'm not a big fan of EB Games or Gamestop. I really only go there when they have a great deal on something. But their stores are only so big, and no one has shown any interest at that store towards a game by pre-ordering. Why you don't understand that they didn't get enough to meet a demand that simply wasn't there?

How are stores supposed to anticipate demand if not through pre-orders? If there were more pre-orders for Otogi, you better believe there would be more copies in stock.

The fact that every place is selling out of what few copies they have should indicate a higher demand, and presumably more copies will be coming in replacement.

No guarantee, perhaps, but the local Circuit City had several copies of Otogi on their shelves, so I guess it had at least somewhat of a high enough profile for them to stock it.

Continuing with the under-the-radar foreign film analogy, who would you expect to have a copy of that DVD in-stock -- a mass-merchandiser or a store whose sole purpose is to sell movies?

I look at pre-ordering as an "if you want to be absolutely sure we have a copy for you when it comes out" sort of assurance, not "if you want this game at all, you're required to..."

You've proven my point exactly...

Paragraph 1: Stores should use pre-orders to determine demand.

Paragraph 2: By using pre-orders to determine demand, stores could not meet the demand for games.

The conclusion should be there is a flaw in using pre-orders to determine the demand for a game.

FS

But a store where video games are their specialty should have sufficient stock of demanded games...it's their SPECIALTY.

Again it's simple, if they don't have the game, they don't get the $50 and someone else does. I can't think of one store that would WANT to send it's customers elsewhere, but stores are using a flawed system for determining demand and paying the price.

These games are not of 'limited supply' or 'going to run out'...every other store has them. If they want to sell games, they should HAVE games to sell. If I absolutely WANT to get a game, I should pre-order. But it is not too much to expect a VIDEO GAME STORE to have VIDEO GAMES for sale on the day of their release. If they don't, they lose the sale and the customer WILL find the game elsewhere. There is no 'win' for the stores in these scenarios.

FS

This is why I just shop at walmart and BB and CC. Every damn time I go into a game store the workers got to say something retarded. If I want to hear what you think I would have asked ya now STFU and ring up my game bitch. I also get sick of them pushing that damn GI mag in your face and talking pre-order this and pre-order that I mean I can see the big signs around the store that says pre-order this game by this date you don't need to tell me I can read the damn signs.

I just stopped shopping at the game stores and will only get something if I happen to be passing by or if you get a cool pre-order item. I also will not even ask for a game unless I see a sealed copy in the glass case behind the check out desk. One time I said do you have any sealed copy's of Buffy and the guy said why does it matter if it sealed we will still replace it if it does not work. I was thinking OK Mother BEEP I asked you a yes of no ? I did not ask to hear what you think about it. Also this happened twice to me it's like I got some nerve to want a new unopened game for the price of a new game. I mean when I turn in a game that is prefect do they gave me full price for it hell no they don't and I won't gave full price for a opened game.

They also like to say allot of retarded crap to get you to buy something but I know a thing or two about games and other **** so I say WTF you talking about that is not true then they act as if your a lying moron. I really hate when they pull their lying crap on old folks and people shopping for someone else cause they don't know any better.

All this is doing is forcing people out of the store and hurting them in the end. Also why do people who work for a company get all upset and defend the company when someone bad mouths it not like you're company gives a crap about ya.

I think it's a little unrealistic to expect the consumer to preorder something in order to be able to get it. I've never liked preordering and have only preordered once (Zelda: WW). I don't preorder games for the same reason I stopped preordering DVD's, i.e. you can usually find a deal after release, plus I don't like being locked into a particular retailer.

Plus, with games, I like to wait a week or more after release to hear other people's opinions first.

It's a shame that many good games may become rare because not enough people pre-ordered. I remember this same situation with Rez.

I agree with this 100% I can't tell you how many times I've gone to looke for a game (not new releases just fairly popular games) at Gamestop (EB once in a while too)and heard "We don't have any in stock" Were it not for their used games they wouldn't have much of a selection of anything.

When chains like Toy's R Us and Best Buy have larger, better selections of videogames than a store that is all about videogames, then there is something wrong.

As for pre-orders, if there was some incentive for doing this I would (price matching for instance, nothing like paying full price for a game only to see it for $5 cheaper the next day). I'd put down $5 on a game more often if I knew I'd be getting the best price on it.

I finally found Otogi at Best Buy ($39).

Now as far as EB & Gamestop, even if they don't get enough copies of a game in on relase day- why can't they get more in just a day or two?

I work in manufacturing and I order parts and supplies everyday - I get everything I order the next day at no chrge (same state) - why can't video game stores do the same?

So since VIDEO GAMES are a VIDEO GAME STORES specialty, we should have HUNDREDS of copies of each game? For Otogi, we should carry what, 20 copies? 30? Whats sufficent enough for a game that knowone has ever heard about, nor will even want to buy it till they hear reviews on it within the next few weeks.

If you want to exaggerate, you could say that.

If you are running a store that specifically sells video games, you should have a wide variety of video games available, not just titles that you can walk into Best Buy or WalMart and get for $5-10 cheaper. To succeed, stores need to have a competitive advantage over other stores that sell games. Your store has no competitive advantage over BB.

I'll repeat...every customer you tell that you are out of stock on a game and that they should have pre-ordered will go elsewhere and take their $50 with them. You will have the satisfaction of denying them a game and they will have the satisfaction of spending their $50 elsewhere on the game. That satisfaction you got for tsk-tsk'ing the customer, however, will not fund your paycheck.

FS

No, but you(game specialty stores)should carry more than just the most popular titles. Geez, I remember wanting to get Hitman 2 (more of a mid-tier title as far as popularity) and it took almost two weeks past the release date for the title to show up (I had trade-in credit to use). At least a couple of copies of the years current titles would be nice. Other than being able to trade-in your old games, these types of stores offer no advantage over any other retailer that stocks games.

In fairness, they do get titles in earlier than the other guys, which is the only reason I'd shop there over Best Buy or some other retailer. If I'm going to go to a store and spend $50 on a game, I might as well go to the mall and have it in my hands a few days earlier. Other than that difference of several days, I don't really see any advantage over a mass-merchandise retailer.

You didn't answer his question. How many copies of games that appear to have NO demand before the release date should a store like EB Games have on hand?

I would say that they should at least have more than NONE - which is what every store I went to had (they only got enough for pre-orders).

Its interesting that you guys bring this up. Gabe over at Penny Arcade is also having the same problems getting this game and wrote a good article on how people get screwed over with preorders. I'd post the whole article here but in classic PA style, its chock full of profanity and even includes some made up swear words that probably wouldn't get censored by the forum. Its a good read and pretty much sums up how I feel about the whole preordering issue.

Article here

Good answer!

They should have enough to meet estimated demand. The system they're using now (using pre-orders) obviously does NOT work. There is no numerical answer to give, but consider this. The ideal inventory situation is to have exactly the number of games in stock to meet demand. There are programs that can estimate demand, and anything would be better than the current system.

Now you answer me a question..do you think it makes good business sense to tell customers repeatedly that you do not have a game in stock...customers who enter your store with $50 in their pockets WANTING to give it to you? DO you think the better situation wuld be to improve your inventory control?

FS

suprised a big chain like Gamestop didnt have Otogi.

i go to my local mom and pop video game store called Games For Less, they offer the most for used titles. like for a new game selling for 50 bucks, they'll offer 20-25 credit, and sell it used for like 30-35. i know the people there and they know me thats why i always buy my games there

i went there last weekend and i remembered they had a couple copies of Otogi for 37.99, they write all their new releases on a whiteboard and they usually sell for 2 dollars less. i picked up a mint used copy of Ikaruga for 29.99 and a new shrinkwrapped copy of Bomberman Generation for GC for 29.99 as well...awesome cause its 49.99 at amazon.com.

Otogi for $37.99? Are you SURE? This is a title by store pays $39.50 for, and for a Mom and Pop store to sell at such a los...yikes!

Once again I will repeat, Otogi was NOT a big title. Infact it was pretty unknown of. Its not very unliley for a store which does only $4-5k a week not to get any in if it wasn't pre-ordered. We will get it in tomorrow (a week after its date) because it A. Wasn't pre-order and B. Will cost less as it won't have to be specialy shipped at a higher rate.