Poll: Preorders... Why?

[wisemithrandir]

I used to work at gamestop, and while I won't begin to defend them (they really aren't the best) pre ordering is actually quite nice. The money goes toward the purchase, and at my store, we set pre order copies aside for at least a weak, in reserve for those that bought them. If the gamestop you went to was giving the game away to others on the first day, then you had a bad shop. That is definitely not store policy.

 

[EHKOS]

I only preorder if I know I'm getting the game on day one and I don't have the time to go get it that day or I'm worried it will be sold out etc. I also only preorder if they have a fancy bonus item. One time I preordered Secret Agent Clank for the PSP just to get the little figurine of Clank in a tux for $5. Never picked the game up either, duped Gamestop.

 

[ParadiseOnceLost]

I sometimes pre-order from amazon which has the best deal. If you pre-order an item you are not charged until it is shipped and if the price drops at all from the time you pre-oder they automatically give you the lowest price. Plus you can cancel anytime before it ships with no penalty.

 

[molesgallus]

I was in gamestop the other day because I happened to be in the mall and needed to kill some time. I saw they had the Ico Shadow of the Colossus Collection on the shelf, which I had planned on buying at KMart when it was released the next day (I had $20 of credit there). A salesman asked if I needed any help, and I just asked if the game was already available to buy, seeing if I could somehow manage to get it early. Of course, he gave me the correct release date, but than asked if I wanted to preorder it, putting $5 down or paying for the whole game outright and pick it up tomorrow morning. I kept my snarky comment to myself, but why the hell would I want to do that? Why pay any amount of money on something that I don't get to have? There's never a situation where gamestop will give me a free game and then expect me to pay for it a week later.

I've worked in retail long enough to know that there are absolutely no guarantees. I also know from our good friend The Internet as well as a few other personal anecdotes I've heard directly from people that gamestop will happily sell your "reserved" game out from under you at the drop of a hat. This is probably because real money in the immediate present is worth more than hypothetical money in the future (especially when it's the same amount). This is referred to from my painfully obvious business classes as the "time value of money." So why does gamestop have common money sense, but it assumes (often correctly) that it's customers do not. I have a much higher likelihood of getting a popular game on release day by NOT preordering, so I can go track it down at another retailer, rather than wait for another shipment to my local store (by which time the price will probably have dropped from what I originally paid). And then again, it's not going to break my heart if I can't play a game in its first few days of release. It's not a major problem psychologically and I certainly wouldn't risk my hard earned cash on it.

It's not just gamestop either. Target currently has a promotion where if you buy a 12 pack of Dr. Pepper, you get a free $1 preorder for Battlefield 3. There is no way in hell Target can possibly be honoring every preorder sticker that comes attached to a case of a common soft drink, as well as every other person who wants a copy and didn't preorder. It's utter nonsense. Even preorder bonuses are fairly easily to obtain even if you don't preorder, either by picking it up in the first week or by ebaying a code or two. Besides, I've yet to see any preorder bonus that caused me to think twice about my stance on the matter (except maybe LA Noire, which all preorder bonuses became available a few months later at a reasonable price). Ooo, a secret gun! Extra bullets! Fancy armor! Really, you'd do that for me?

Why would anyone want to buy any game, on, or near launch? You pay the full price, and don't get a better product. 6 months time, you can pick up the same product for one fifteenth ofd the price on ebay. I don't really buy games; maybe one or two a year. But, still, I can imagine, if you delayed all your purchases by 6 months, you would have the same games to play, at the same relative time.

And, if youre doing it to support the developer, you know nothing about video game economics. They are probably only getting 10%, if they are lucky. The majority of the premium goes to the retailer. You would be better off buying the game at $5, and mailing the dev $20, than paying $60 for the game. The dev makes more, and you pay less than half price. All you need is something better to do, in the intervening time. Which, frankly, is probably the real issue. And, it's probably why people pre-order games; they have bugger all else to do with their sordid lives than anticipate new video games, and give away their capital to ensure that they get a copy of what is essentially infinitely replicable data.

 

[Stalydan]

That's me all over. If the game is going to be bought buy me anyway, pre-order on Amazon unless the game has a pre-order bonus at another retailer that I can guarantee I'll buy. Hell, I was going to cancel my Amazon order for Batman: Arkham City because GAME was giving out the Robin packs, but then I realised that when I went to cancel it they had changed my order to a Catwoman steel book edition with the Batman Earth One costume instead for the same price! Proving thus once again, Amazon are awesome. GAME and Robin can suck it!

Also, I could change my order to the collector's edition for £55 but I'd feel like it would go to waste on me because I'm living away from home so I wouldn't really have the statues.

Diverting from original topic here, but BWUH? When did this happen? O_O I preordered Arkham City on Amazon and didn't get this... Not in America, I guess?

United Kingdom. Guess this is done on the account (maybe) that 1) Rocksteady is an England based developer and 2) We aren't getting even HALF of the pre-order costumes. Seriously, I wasn't happy that I heard of all the little pre-order costumes and the only one I was able to get with ease The Dark Knight Returns which is nice but only came with the collector's edition of the game and I've already given my reasons for that.

Yes I would LOVE to have the Batman Beyond costume! My god, that thing looks awesome! However, they say it's at Gamestop in the UK. Little known fact, Gamestop might as well be non-existent in the UK because the nearest store I know of is about 60 miles away from me.

The rest are... well they're not gonna be available.

So it's nice anyway to see that Rocksteady cares about it's UK consumers to give us a copy I've not seen anywhere else

 

[molesgallus]

I only preorder if I know I'm getting the game on day one and I don't have the time to go get it that day or I'm worried it will be sold out etc. I also only preorder if they have a fancy bonus item. One time I preordered Secret Agent Clank for the PSP just to get the little figurine of Clank in a tux for $5. Never picked the game up either, duped Gamestop.

Wow. You were duped. Big time.

I need to think of a way of making people think they have duped me when I sell them a $1 figurine, for $5...

 

[Sylveria]

I am of the standing that pre-ordering is only worth while if it comes with some sort of bonus: premium edition, an unlockable, some sort of collector bait. If all you're getting is the same package that everyone else is getting, or even worse something you could easily get used and cheaper a couple months down the road and after you've read some reviews, why bother cementing yourself into a purchase before you even know what you're in for.

 

[Azure-Supernova]

I also know from our good friend The Internet as well as a few other personal anecdotes I've heard directly from people that gamestop will happily sell your "reserved" game out from under you at the drop of a hat.

I've got to be frank, this just sounds like Gamestops shitty policies to me. When I worked briefly at GAME there's a pre-order sheet with a number of pre-order slots. When you pre-order or pre-purchase a game your name goes down in one of those slots and you sign. You don't pick it up in two days and GAME will remove your name and will sell your reserved copy.

Are you seriusly telling me that Gamestation don't honour their pre-orders? Because if that's true then I've just lost what little respect I had for the chain. I've got two pre-orders on the Uncharted 3 special edition, with a £5 deposit on each. I did that because when Uncharted 2 was released I had to wait weeks for GAME to re-stock to get my copy. What's the point in a pre-order if you don't honour them?

I'd be a little bitter and snarky too if I were a Gamestop customer.

 

[Char-Nobyl]

I was in gamestop the other day because I happened to be in the mall and needed to kill some time. I saw they had the Ico Shadow of the Colossus Collection on the shelf, which I had planned on buying at KMart when it was released the next day (I had $20 of credit there). A salesman asked if I needed any help, and I just asked if the game was already available to buy, seeing if I could somehow manage to get it early. Of course, he gave me the correct release date, but than asked if I wanted to preorder it, putting $5 down or paying for the whole game outright and pick it up tomorrow morning. I kept my snarky comment to myself, but why the hell would I want to do that? Why pay any amount of money on something that I don't get to have?

Right...here's the thing: not everyone operates on an unlimited financial base. Sometimes, you can afford to put $30 down on a game, but if it's a $60 game, you're shit out of luck. So you pay for part of it in advance, and then the rest when you pick it up. It allows some degree of financial flexibility.

Beats me where you get "something that I don't get to have" from. Because you do get to have it. You know, when you pick it up?

There's never a situation where gamestop will give me a free game and then expect me to pay for it a week later.

I'm...not really sure what this means. Moving on then.

I've worked in retail long enough to know that there are absolutely no guarantees. I also know from our good friend The Internet as well as a few other personal anecdotes I've heard directly from people that gamestop will happily sell your "reserved" game out from under you at the drop of a hat.

You're confusing "reservation" with "custom order." Using Gamestop as the example: they get a certain number of a certain game in any given shipment. They can sell reservations based on copies they'll be getting in beyond the first release date, because there isn't an individual copy of the game with your name on it.

Besides, I've yet to see any preorder bonus that caused me to think twice about my stance on the matter (except maybe LA Noire, which all preorder bonuses became available a few months later at a reasonable price). Ooo, a secret gun! Extra bullets! Fancy armor! Really, you'd do that for me?

Brilliant deduction, Sherlock. But the point of getting it with the preorder is that you're getting it for free. By definition, something that is free is infinitely better than the same thing available for any price. The preorder doesn't cost any more than just buying the game traditionally.

 

[zelda2fanboy]

a lot of these things aren't true, or are hyperbole. For example, Gamestop is contractually required to keep your game for a certain period of time (I think it's 48 hours... but it might be a week). That contract is your receipt and it does say such on it. If they break it, it can mean bad, BAD things for that store - either from corporate punishment or legal.

Some companies give you GREAT preorder bonuses. Battlefield 3 comes with the first map pack for free if preordered - that saves you $15.

And finally, if you're like me, and you live in a populated area, your gamestop WILL run out of the big triple A games on the first or second day (it's happened SO MANY TIMES). Even places like Best Buy in my area are known to go out. So it's not so simple as making money early (nevermind the fact you can cancel at any time).

Oh, and you must have worked at a shit retail store if NOTHING was guaranteed. I work in retail too - as did several of my siblings and friends - and the true trouble with guarantees is that the store tries not to tell you unless necessary. But that doesn't mean they don't exist.

"Legal" problems? Contractual obligation? Please. Has anyone ever in any capacity taken a gamestop to small claims court because they couldn't fulfill a preorder on release day? And even if they did, how would they have any chance of winning? And what would they win? Five dollars? That's an episode of Judge Judy I would love to see. And corporate punishment? The worst they can do is fire you, write you up, or send an angry memo. Maybe make the managers attend a training seminar or write an action plan. And that's if you put in the time and effort to complain to corporate, find someone who cares, and will act on the store in question. It's not as easy as you make it sound.

And yes, I do work at a shit retail store. I would imagine you haven't been in retail hell for very long. Get to experience a Black Friday yet? I've been through three, about to go on my fourth. There will be so much shit moving out the door so fast, you won't know up from down. Get ready to anger and disappoint many, many people. It's unavoidable and you will take it personally.

 

[PortalThinker113]

That's me all over. If the game is going to be bought buy me anyway, pre-order on Amazon unless the game has a pre-order bonus at another retailer that I can guarantee I'll buy. Hell, I was going to cancel my Amazon order for Batman: Arkham City because GAME was giving out the Robin packs, but then I realised that when I went to cancel it they had changed my order to a Catwoman steel book edition with the Batman Earth One costume instead for the same price! Proving thus once again, Amazon are awesome. GAME and Robin can suck it!

Also, I could change my order to the collector's edition for £55 but I'd feel like it would go to waste on me because I'm living away from home so I wouldn't really have the statues.

Diverting from original topic here, but BWUH? When did this happen? O_O I preordered Arkham City on Amazon and didn't get this... Not in America, I guess?

United Kingdom. Guess this is done on the account (maybe) that 1) Rocksteady is an England based developer and 2) We aren't getting even HALF of the pre-order costumes. Seriously, I wasn't happy that I heard of all the little pre-order costumes and the only one I was able to get with ease The Dark Knight Returns which is nice but only came with the collector's edition of the game and I've already given my reasons for that.

Yes I would LOVE to have the Batman Beyond costume! My god, that thing looks awesome! However, they say it's at Gamestop in the UK. Little known fact, Gamestop might as well be non-existent in the UK because the nearest store I know of is about 60 miles away from me.

The rest are... well they're not gonna be available.

So it's nice anyway to see that Rocksteady cares about it's UK consumers to give us a copy I've not seen anywhere else

Yeah! It's nice to see that everyone can get at least something cool out of these preorders. =) I LOVE steelbooks, I'd personally rather have that than the costumes any day.

I'm totally agreed on the Batman Beyond costume and its epicness. I still have no clue how they expect anyone to get it at this point, though. The costumes will probably be DLC at some point soon, anyway *shrug* I will get my $10 Amazon credit, and I will be happy.

 

[Tharwen]

To ensure that I won't forget to buy it, and to get it delivered. Buying things is hard when you can't drive and the nearest shop is 10 miles away...

 

[zelda2fanboy]

Right...here's the thing: not everyone operates on an unlimited financial base. Sometimes, you can afford to put $30 down on a game, but if it's a $60 game, you're shit out of luck. So you pay for part of it in advance, and then the rest when you pick it up. It allows some degree of financial flexibility.

You're confusing "reservation" with "custom order." Using Gamestop as the example: they get a certain number of a certain game in any given shipment. They can sell reservations based on copies they'll be getting in beyond the first release date, because there isn't an individual copy of the game with your name on it.

Brilliant deduction, Sherlock. But the point of getting it with the preorder is that you're getting it for free. By definition, something that is free is infinitely better than the same thing available for any price. The preorder doesn't cost any more than just buying the game traditionally.

But it's not free. They take your money and put it towards the game. I understand that, but while they have my money between when I preordered the game and when I actually get it, I do not possess that money. I can't buy a sandwich with a gamestop preorder form. Believe me, I'm the king of operating on a limited budget, but I know how to save my own money. I don't need Father Gamestop to hold onto my $30 for me. I might want to use that on something else, or be able to pick what retailer I utilize.

Also, I don't know what this reservation / custom order business is. You work there, I take it? It appears you are saying what I've been saying this whole thread. Pre ordering guarantees you nothing.

 

[zelda2fanboy]

hahahahah, Black Friday is like blissful lesbian sex compared to the ugly, bull-elephant rape of back to school at certain retailers (having experienced both, I'll have you know).

And if you take those things personally, you should see a shrink. I've been given recommendations on my customer service but take NOTHING personally. Customer's are customer's, all you can do is serve them as best as you can.

But those low blows are besides the point. Here's the point: there are perfectly logical reasons to preorder, and if the contract is broken, shit does fly, though I agree that it either hardly ever does and that when it does, it's hardly ever that bad.

Thank you. I would see a shrink, but I make minimum wage and I spent all my money on preorders.

 

[Creator002]

I don't pre-order vey often, but I've only ever had EB not have my product ready once, and that was with Assassin's Creed II. I've currently got Halo: Anniversary on pre-order and have $30 left to pay.
I can see the sense in pre-ordering, especially for a popular game. That way you're (almost) ensured a copy on release and also for the bonuses (which, if the content is already on the disc, shouldn't be a fucking pre-order bonus).[footnote]The bonuses should be pure DLC available to anyone. Free for pre-orders, a small price for non-pre-orders. Just my view on that.[/footnote]

 

[Michael Logan]

I preorder because then I get the game 50-60% cheaper. Also sometimes I get cool stuff aswell!

Where can I get a game 60% off in its release week? Seriously, I want to know.

Sweden! Technically I did trade in Enslaved to get the game cheaper, but I paid like 10$ for that, and just for preordering I got a gift card with 15$ on!

 

[Sexual Harassment Panda]

At the point that I'm convinced that I'm going to really like a game, I pre-order it and then forget about it...refusing to watch any more trailers or footage.

I've been playing games for a long time, and can hazard a pretty darn good guess at the quality of a game based on a bit of in-game footage. So far I'm yet to be burned by this system. The only times I have bought crap have been when it was a 2nd hand game that got decent enough reviews and that I was buying despite my gut feeling telling me not too.

A drought can make a man do strange things.