Blockbuster UK Will Not Honor PS4 or Xbox One Preorders

[roseofbattle]

Blockbuster UK Will Not Honor PS4 or Xbox One Preorders

<tweet t="https://twitter.com/Blockbuster_UK/status/395239391339110403" align=right>Blockbuster UK struggles economically once again and will not be able to fulfill PlayStation 4 and Xbox One preorders.

In a series of announcements and replies on social media, Blockbuster UK announced it will not honor preorders for next-gen consoles PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. The company has applied for protection while it seeks a buyer after reentering administration, BBC reports. Private equity firm Gordon Brothers bought Blockbuster UK earlier this year after the company entered administration in January, but it had to close 164 stores in the process. Blockbuster UK will refund all validated preorders.

To claim a full refund, write to Blockbuster UK at Harefield Place, The Drive, Uxbridge, UB10 8AQ. Include your name, the branch you placed an order, the order number, and a copy of the receipt. Earlier on Twitter the company advised customers to go in-person to stores, but it now asks customers not to visit stores about refunds for console preorders. Staff members were not informed before news broke about the company's reentry to administration. Despite news outlets reporting Gordon Brothers' statement that Blockbuster UK will enter administration, Blockbuster UK said on Twitter [https://twitter.com/Blockbuster_UK/status/395201082005008385], "To avoid confusion, we're NOT in administration, we've applied for protection, whilst we seek a buyer. All stores remain open as normal."

Gordon Brothers had "striven to turn around the historically loss-making company by restructuring the business, investing significantly in strategic marketing activities and negotiating with the landlords of its retail outlets," it stated. "The company also tried to develop a new digital platform but was unable to broker a licensing deal with Blockbuster UK's parent company in the US."

Trading and renting will resume as normal, Blockbuster UK announced on its Facebook page. While there is no way to cancel Blockbuster subscriptions online, those who wish to do so can contact [email protected]. At this point, it is too late to preorder a PS4 or an Xbox One at other stores.

Source: CVG [http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-24730726]

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[The White Hunter]

This company still exists in my country?

I'm surprised.

 

[Icehearted]

Preordering is a fool's game anyway. Wait for reviews, see what the public says, maybe get a deal a little while later. It only technically makes sense when supporting an indie or a small project, in this case it makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.

More than that I'm surprised to see Blockbuster. I really thought they were already gone by now.

 

[fix-the-spade]

I'm sure the three people that picked Blockbuster as their pre-order supplier will be very disappointed.

They will be if the place goes bust and they haven't already gotten a refund, which unless this gets reported in the non-gaming news will probably happen.

 

[J Tyran]

Preordering is a fool's game anyway.

Pre-ordering like this is a fools game, why anyone would stump up cash ahead of delivery like this I will never know. I pre-ordered mine in August and will get it launch day and I won't have to pay until the day they dispatch it, if it turns out to be a PoS I can have 14 days to send it back and get a refund too. I get to review it myself, don't have to pay upfront and won't even have to leave the house.

 

[Aggieknight]

Why would you preorder from a chain under bankruptcy protection?

I feel for the people impacted, but it wasn't a smart move on their part.

 

[CriticalMiss]

This company still exists in my country?

I'm surprised.

I'm suprised too. I haven't seen a Blockbuster on the highstreet for months. I'm equally suprised that people would preorder consoles there.

 

[Bad Jim]

Preordering is a fool's game anyway. Wait for reviews, see what the public says, maybe get a deal a little while later. It only technically makes sense when supporting an indie or a small project, in this case it makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.

Preordering makes sense when it's a physical thing that is likely to quickly sell out, such as a PS4. If you didn't preorder one, you probably won't be playing on a PS4 this christmas.

 

[The White Hunter]

This company still exists in my country?

I'm surprised.

I'm suprised too. I haven't seen a Blockbuster on the highstreet for months. I'm equally suprised that people would preorder consoles there.

Months? Man I haven't seen one for about 5 years now. I thought they went under years ago. I thought games retailk in this country was essentially dead and owned by amazon and supermarkets using them as loss leaders whilst Game struggles to survive in the face of it's own irrelevancy as it's casuals walk away and the more enthusiastic hobbyists purchase online or use digital distribution...

I'm gonna go into one and ask if it's real.

 

[SonOfVoorhees]

I have a Blockbuster about 2 mins walk from my house. That place cant compete with Lovefilm and they cost a fortune for rentals. I really thought they would do well now Lovefilm no longer do game rentals. Such a shame as i went to that store when they had their grand opening party. Was awesome.

 

[Andy Shandy]

While I feel sorry for the people affected by this, I must say it wasn't a wise move to pre-order it from Blockbuster in the first place.

Hell, I was surprised when the story popped up because I was sure Blockbuster was already dead.

 

[major_chaos]

As one of the five people who prefers to shop brick and mortar for both games and movies it makes me sad to see a titan like blockbuster doing so badly. We already lost all our Hollywood Videos, so now for rental its either redbox and its terrible selection and availability or Netflix and its terrible price and pathetic streaming selection. If I'm looking to buy its a bit easier but if GameStop ever goes out of business I think I'm done with gaming, seeing as I loath digital distribution and trust Amazon and Ebay about as far as I can throw their servers.

 

[Kittyhawk]

Blockbuster is just a badly run business. I'm surprised they lasted this long. I'm amazed that they've struggled to get to grips with the internet but those are the breaks, and also why Netflix have kicked them into touch.

I always loved the idea of Netflix and when they came to the U.K, I didn't hesitate in signing up for it. I have no problem paying for stuff so long as the price is within reason. Blockbuster by contrast are local to me but I hardly ever venture in there.

Funny thing is the Netflix founders pitched their content streaming concept to the Blockbuster board years ago, and hilariously the Blockbuster board laughed at them. Look who's laughing now. Those are the breaks in business, where its easy to be king one moment and pauper the next.

 

[spartandude]

This company still exists in my country?

I'm surprised.

I'm suprised too. I haven't seen a Blockbuster on the highstreet for months. I'm equally suprised that people would preorder consoles there.

its the only place in my town that sells games, but funnily enough its cheaper for me to get a bus to the next town over where they have a Game and buy from there. Heck they were selling Pokemon X for £45 pounds in my town.

 

[NiPah]

I guessed the disasters that last generations launch consoles were would have taught people to wait for the second or third revison before spending hundreds of bucks. Most launch 360's died within nine months to two years and the 40 and 60 GB PS3's didn't last much longer...

The PS3 release was a disaster? News to me (I mean system health wise, not getting into games). Most of what I hear are people complaining that they can't find 1st gen PS3s since they had backwards compatibility.

The 360 was horrible at about 30-50% failure rates to be sure, but the Wii and PS3 were much better.