That's fine for 'limited interest' games, although if Atlus sold 1 million copies of Nocturne in Week 2, and no preorders, they'd probably still be interested in a sequel. Plus, a lot of those companies, while they certainly wantto make money, don't put the dollar first--they know they're not going to sell 1 million copies. I know they plan ahead, but they don't rely solely on preorders.
But things like Halo 2 or GTA: SA? Again, unless you need it Day One, I don't see the point. Yes, it might sell out at Store A. Odds are you can find it from Stores B-Q, or order it online. Or wait a week.

If you had no preorders for Snowblind, would you order 2 copies, or have two copies sent do you? As in, does the manager of the store have leeway in his inventory? I can see judging interest based on preorders, and certainly you wouldn't order 50 copies of everything, but by tying it all to the preorders, you are limiting yourself. Plus, you don't push preorders of everything; so in a way you are artificially limiting your inventory off the bat.

If you ordered 10 copies of a game, and you had 5 preorders, and I came in and wanted one those 5 copies that wasn't preordered, you wouldn't sell it to me? Perhaps that has more to do with your lack of sales than your preorder status. If I wanted that game, and you wouldn't sell it to me, not only would I go right over to Best Buy or somewhere and buy it, but in any future game buying plans, I would think "That's the store that wouldn't sell me an item they had in stock, screw 'em."

Unless there's a premium/price deal for preordering, or you have to have it release day, I see no benefit to the consumer for preordering. All the benefits [other than those two] seem to be heavily weighted toward the retailer. As a consumer, when I'm offered a 'deal', especially one that involves my giving a store money *now* for an item in the *future*, my first question is, 'What's in it for me?' Not a whole lot.

:lol: rotfl

Yeah, sequels get made because a game sells well, period. It doesn't make a shit whether 50% or .05% of the sales were pre-orders.

I can see the supply and demand, and the reason the stores push them so hard, but as I said I hate game stores and don't care about their plight. :D

If a VIDEO GAME SPECIALTY store doesn't know how to properly stock their store.. they need to close shop.

If a VIDEO GAME SPECIALTY store doesn't have room for their stock they need to either clean out the stupid shit that litters their hovels more than the actual video games (dumb ass anime toys and figures that don't sell and always end up on clearance the next month, hundreds of unkempt DVDs, etc) or own up to the fact that business is booming and get a bigger fucking store.

Sad, very sad.

Pixy, its not like that though. When I ran my store, my office was 6 feet long, 2 feet wide. A desk BARLEY fit there. Since then, I have managed two other videogame stores, most have an office 8 feet long by 3 feet wide. We simply DON'T have room to store tons of games. This applys to EB's, Game Stops, Game Crazys etc.

Dtcarson, at the three stores I have managed, we had no control how many copys to order. Some moron at the shipping plant decided "This store get 15 copies, this store gets 1". Im not kidding. I would goto my store with 0 pre-orders and see 2 copies of the Sims, goto are other store 10 miles down the road, they too had 0 pre-orders, and have 20 copies of the same game!". Its simply amazing. Often times they would ship one store (always the farthest one out there in the ghetto) 300 copies of a game, and I would have to drive 150 miles each way to pick my shipment up. I really do NOT miss those days.

No, I simply would say "All the copies are for pre-orders only". You would see the game on the back counter with a big PRE-ORDER only paper on it. Keep in mind, alot of stores did this. This was a tactic coming from one of my District Managers. BTW, the extra 5 copies would be sold the next day.

Drop-ship. When I worked in retail, they did that a lot to me too. I could order certain things, or extra or certain things, but I got sent cases and cases and crap I didn't want, couldn't sell, and wouldn't have ordered. We had to do the same thing, trade/sell with other stores where the crap would sell, and drive all around town making these deals.

Even if you said "All the copies are for pre-orders only," you still lose my sale, because I go somewhere else to buy it. And you may sell all five the next day, but I don't see how it makes sense to punish the consumer for the company's lack of foresight or lack of flexibility in ordering. And that's the gift that keeps on giving, because again, next time I want a game, I'll think "They only had enough for pre-order," and go somewhere else, totally eradicating any chance that store may have had of my pre-ordering.
I just don't see how it makes sense to *not* sell product to a customer who's willing to buy it [again, as long as all those who preordered stuff got theirs.] *shrug*

Games really don't take up that much room, especially since a lot of stores nowadays stick the empty cases on the shelf [another thing: why do we need 10 open cases of the same damn game? 2 or 3, maybe, so 2 or 3 people can look at it at the same time, but the rest is wasted space.]. Those cd slidey-racks my EB has hold thousands of disks in not a lot of space, and a good shelving system could do the same. I'll admit, they couldn't store what a BB could; but then again, this is the exception, not the rule. You don't need to keep 250 copies of MLB 2004 in backstock; a couple copies each of the current releases, and more stock of the hot new titles, depending on how detailed your consumer data is, and how often you get a shipment in [and of course assuming you could order your own stuff, which you're saying you couldn't, which of course adds a level of inefficiency to it.]

Quick summary:
Other than:
* getting the game on release day [and if I preordered it, and you sold my copy, I'm pissed] [valid if this is an issue for you];
* getting a preorder deal/discount [obviously this is good, unless you wait a month or two for a price drop];
* getting a freebie/promotion [could be good, could be pointless--I'll take a t-shirt, but calendars seem pointless];

Are there any benefits *to the consumer* for pre-ordering?

This is seriously fucked up. Thank you for contributing to the decline of American customer service.

Hi! I'm a big chain video game store. I like to lie to and belittle my customers, the people who put me in business! My life is soulless, bitter and empty and it makes me feel better about myself to be a total fucking cum-slobbering jackass to the people who give me money! Instead of providing friendly service and knowledge and familiarity with our specialty product (things that are supposed to make specialty stores better choices to go to then large corporation chains) we deliberately NOT sell our products to people and instead keep them behind the counter where we jack off to our own pathetic malice!

Nope, and from what most have said, aside from the occasionall great freebie (Zelda) or killer trade in deal (gamerush) most gamers don't care about those much. Other than the hardcore types that have to have games ASAP.

IF YOU DON'T PRE-ORDER 6 COPIES OF HaLO 2 YOU WILL NEVER EVER FIND IT EVER AGAIN IN YOUR ENTIRE LIFE!!

Once again, can someone explain why pre-ordering is so upsetting to some of you? It's a service that some of us like. If you don't like it you don't have to participate.

Why the hatred?

Why?

That's a good start.

Eh, I just wouldn't shop there if I wasn't planning on pre-ordering. If that was the ONLY way to buy video games, I could understand the anger. But since there are plenty of other options I don't understand why anyone cares what EB or Gamestop does if they don't plan to shop there.

I just stopped by because I knew PixyJunket would be freaking out about pre-orders and GizmoDVD would be defending them. :lol:

LOL.

I am not kidding when my District Manager told me to do that. Not only that, I would get yelled at if I was selling copies to people who didn't preorder when the game came out (on release day). However, my store was top in are district (20 stores give or take when the district would split) so I must not have been pissing off too many customers.

Pixy, I know you work at a chain store, did you manage it? There are usually things going on behind the scenes you would not know about.

Remember guys, ALWAYS PRE-ORDER! Its your american duty!

BTW, When I left my stores, alot of customers refused to come back due to the awesome service I gave them (no, not that you sickos!).

Not to mention, the very term 'pre-order' doesn't even make any sense. A true pre-order would be if I called up and said, "Yes, I'm coming in today to order a game that's not out yet." Then when I came to do it, I would be 'ordering' it, or 'pre-buying' it.

I just hate being hassled by the clerk asking if I want to pre-order this or that game everytime I buy something there. Which is rare, but occasionally I'll pick up some used games during the buy 2 get 1 free sales.

So I do't really hate preorders themselves, just the way they push them so hard.

To be fair the employees get paid very little and put up with a ton of shit at places like EB and GameStop. They have to push preorders, trade ins, etc or lose their jobs. The game stores know that most of the employees want to work their because they are in to games so they take advantage of that.

Granted you can always go work somewhere else, but working at a game store should be a fun job, but greedy and stupid district managers turn it into complete hell.

That guy bugging you about the stupid preorders knows its bullshit, but its his job if he doesn't. Best policy is to shop somewhere else if it bothers you.

All these employees have preorder quotas and the only thing they usually get for meeting them is to not get fired.

When I worked in my stores, I never asked people to pre-order unless a. my District Manager was there, and b. I know the customer (frequent) and know what he would want .

I don't fault the employees, I know the managers make them push that shit. I've worked retail before. :D

And as I've said repeatedly here, I do shop elsewhere to avoid it. The gamestores have to have a great deal (an offer I can't refuse) to get me in there. Other wise I'm just going to pick up games at Target or Best Buy.

Now that I don't work in a game store, I don't shop there either except for the occasional bargain or classic games (Game Crazy primarily). Though I am loving that EB sells used music CDs for next to nothing.

let them know how you feel http://www.gamestopfeedback.com/

I don't pre-order. I don't want to put money down for something on a fixed priced when I can shop around as the release date comes closer.

I also hate stores that push pre-orders.

Or the other stores were pissing them off worse. :)

if I decide I want to preorder a game I usually hit their online stores(EB,Gamestop) and see who's offering free shipping or whatever and go with the better deal and leave it at that. then I just wait for it to arrive in my mailbox. its much easier than driving all over town trying to find the game and dealing with some of the clerks who sell them.

of course this only applies to the bigger game releases, not just any old game. for common releases I just pick them up whenever.

Right before GTA: San Andreas was released the guy at Gamestop told me that if I didn't preorder "I wouldn't get it till March or April at the earliest." The funny thing was right after the game came out, every single store in Rochester had literally 50 copies at all times.

I picked up GT4 on Tuesday evening at EB without any pre-order. The guy at the counter asked me if I pre-ordered but did not give me the pre-order spiel. He did however, ask me if I would pay $3 extra for insurance. What a friggin' scam! He put it in such a foreboding way that I almost fell for it! Phew! Luckily I woke just in time to say no.

Yeah, I was in Gamestop the other day picking up a copy of World of Warcraft when the guy behind me asked for GT4. He got the did you preorder spiel, but they had 3 extra copies so they sold it to him, warning him that he might not be so lucky next time.

I have to admit, the "limited" availability almost made me buy one too, but I figure WoW will kill all my free time for a few months anyway, and I never even finished GT3...

What's with all this running around to stores nonsense? :D
If you have to pre-order, do it online. When I really want a game the second it comes out, I just order it from ebgames.com. They 2-day FEDEX it, and I've always gotten it the same day the street stores do. No muss, no fuss.

I refuse to preorder. Why? Because stores that do the preorders sell them at list. Sometimes between the time you order the game (and have to pay their price) and the time it comes out, it will be cheaper at another store.

I tried to explain this to a Gamestop employee when I called and asked if a game had come out and he asked me if I had pre-ordered. He started to lay a guilt trip on me (or he was really stupid). "Oh well... I mean... if you don't want to buy the game from us..." I told him that I buy it from whoever has the lowest price. Preordering it means that I have no choice but to buy it at your price. He didn't get it.

What i don't understand about this is that you can cancel your pre-order at any time and get your cash back. So it really doesn't lock you into one particular place - it is kind of like hedging your bets in my opinion. I've even canceled pre-orders after getting the freebie that comes with pre-ordering. Never have they asked me any questions.

I see your point but if you have to cancel the pre-order that is just more work.

It's just easier to get it at best buy and use the $5 off coupon, they will have it in stock more often than a smaller chain. No point in making 2 trips to the same store unless there's some kind of freebie involved.

I absolutely see your point - especially if you are in a city with any size and variety to it. In the small town i live in we have 2 EB's (no Gamestops) and a Circuit City. Granted there is a Wal-Mart with a horrible selection and a Toys R Us with their overpriced selection, so in my case pre-ordering doesn't lock me into a whole lot - there isn't much competition. Also, the EB is in the only mall/shopping center in town so if you go shopping at all you will be walking right by it so minimal extra effort is involved. Either way i think pre-orders have their place as a useful kind of "backup" or insurance for getting a game you really want if you can't wait a few weeks.

It's extra work, and the game store will NEVER, have the best price unless it was a trade in deal or there was a great freebie (zelda disc only one I've ever thought was worthwhile), and those are the two scenarios I will preorder something.

Otherwise I'll just see which big retailer has the best price and go pick it up a few days after release if it's something I want at full price (which is another rare event). :D

But I see your point about small towns. I grew up in WV and did preorder more then. Both because I was young and more obsessed with games,and there weren't many stores that sold games (EB and Gamestop in the mall, the local wal-marts, toys R Us and Sears). But now living in the DC/Baltimore area it makes new sense for me as there's stores that sell games all over the place so it's better to wait and see who has the best price.

Of course, if I was still there now, I'd probably just order online from where ever's cheapest. Seems like most new games can be had for $40 or less with free shipping if you dig around.

So no one got new releases on the release date if they didn't pre-order, but you never asked anyone to pre-order. Were sales slow for new titles on release day? ;)

If you really want revenge on the evil game stores put your $5 down on the game if it has a freebee like a T-Shirt or disc they give you right then for preordering, then come back the next day and cancel and buy it somewhere else.

You get free crap and the best price. That is sticking it to the man, man! :lol:

Worked at some stores, not mine. If you were to pre-order and get a Freebie I would not refund any pre-order money for 1 month after release if you chose not to buy them game. I told this to every single person and never had 1 problem.

I remember when the Zelda Bonus discs were coming out and some guy tried to pre-order 50 copies and I refused. I wound up calling the cops 10 minutes later when he start acting like a moron.