Poll: Preorders... Why?

[Yopaz]

Pre-ordered Saints Row The Third for 3 reasons.
1: I know I am going to buy it anyway, why not preload it and have it unlock the second it releases?
2: Octopus gun.
3 Getting a car that can launch pedestrians (or yourself) as a weapon.

When I saw the preorder bonuses I asked Volition to accept my money. Though I did do that before that was announced...

I pre-ordered Rage ebcause it would give me the perks of the Anarchy edition with no extra charge, also I happened to have more money than I thought I had.

 

[Scarim Coral]

It's different in the UK since one of the retail GAME give you double reward points on your reward card when you pre-order therefore buying the game cheaper compare if you don't have the card. I only pre-order games that I want to buy beforehand and it usually a good game most of the time (I looking at you Alone in the dark).

 

[zelda2fanboy]

As to WHY stores ask you for preorders: you've obviously never worked in retail. Preordering means a much higher chance of customers coming back and spending the money in the store. It gets you to commit your purchase. This is all elementary business stuff. Any one out of school would know it.

Pre-orders are a great business practice. Millions of people willfully give you money, far in advance, for something. The businesses then get to collect millions of dollars that sit in their accounts and gather interest. Pre-orders are basically free money to video game dealers.

That's exactly what I said and that's not my question. I know why gamestop want us to preorder. Why do consumers preorder? Seems like an inherent bad idea for us.

Sometimes you already have a hunch whether you'll want to play a game or not. Take Portal 2 for instance, which I pre-ordered, and was absolutely worth my money. Trilogies are another example. If you've already played Mass Effect 1 & 2 and liked them, then there's no way you're going to miss out on part 3 and you may want to play it immidiately when it comes out, regardless of public opinion.
In the end your own perception of a game can be far more valuable than anyone else's opinion and sometimes it's also nice to take a chance knowing nothing about the game beforehand, just so that you can explore everything there is to it by yourself.

Whether or not the game is good is not the point. Best Buy will have it. Gamestop will have it. Toys R Us will have it. Target will have it. Kmart will have it. Why put money down on one retail outlet that could very well end up not having it? It limits your options as a consumer.

I preorder off of Amazon. They only charge you when it's dispatched and I almost always get it a day or two early. In that case, there's not much reason not to.

I preorder from Amazon so they'll be in the mail when I get home from work on release day. Don't pay a cent until it ships and I still have the game faster than going out of my way after work to some brick/mortar operation.

If you pre-order from Amazon, I know it is worth it. If I hadn't done the majority of my pre-ordering from Amazon, I wouldn't have a third of the XBox 360 collection that I have. Most of the time, Amazon will also give 10 to 20 dollars credit towards your next game purchase on top of the normal extras you get for pre-ordering.

Preordering from amazon isn't really "preordering" since you don't put any money down on it and it doesn't charge you until it ships. It's just ordering. If you don't sign up for amazon prime, you won't get free release day delivery, and even that is a little iffy from time to time from what I hear. Also, those credit and incentive deals are not limited to just preorders from amazon. KMart has a system in place where you can get $15 to $20 credit on new titles in their release week with no preordering required. Best Buy Gamers Club has a really similar set up. There's not that much difference between retailers in that regard.

 

[Palademon]

As far as I know, pre-ordering stuff form GAME here in the UK doesn't cost money, unless you're reserving a special edition. If you preorder any game you get double reward card points, and maybe some extra stuff.

 

[Ariseishirou]

I preorder because it means the game arrives right on my doorstep right on release day (or sometimes, as other commenters have pointed out, even before). Doesn't get more convenient than that.

My Dark Souls pre-order arrived this morning!

 

[C95J]

I pre-order every one of my games I know I will get. I like getting the pre-order bonuses, and the game sometimes comes a day early.

 

[Scrustle]

I do pre-order games to make sure I get them as soon as I can. I've never come across any situation where a game I want to pre-order has sold out before release, so I'm fine with that part. Also I never pre-order games at shops, only online. That way I don't have to put down any deposit (I get charged only when they dispatch) and I often get the game a few days before the official release too. It's a win-win situation that way. But I only do that if I think the game is worth it. Like for example I do want to get L.A Noire and Saints Row 3 but neither of them give me such a burning desire to play that they are worth full retail price to me, so I will wait until I can pick them up for cheaper. The SR3 pre-order goodies do look veeeery enticing but the game is still not enough for me to pre-order. I have several other games on pre-order right now which are all must-buys for me, and I can't really afford to go crazy ordering stuff right now, so I will wait. I just hope the pre-order goodies will be released for everyone later down the line. Most of the time pre-order bonuses dictate to me where I will pre-order a game, not whether I will or not. I would rather I wasn't forced to make that choice but I'm fine with them existing.

 

[zelda2fanboy]

Its simple if you didnt preorder you dont get a copy. Those stickers most likely have a code that you have to enter in online so they will know exactly how many copies of battlefield 3 they need. They will then honor those preorders and if you come in on release day without one and they only have enough copies for preorders your shit out of luck.

EB games does the exact same thing. If you preorder you are guarenteed a copy of the game and if you dont well its all up to chance then. There have been plenty of times where if you didnt preorder you cant get a game. Take dead island for example. For the first week it was sold out in every single store around me. If you didnt preorder you were not getting a copy of it.

Then you have to look at the collectors editions and preorder bonuses. If your planning on getting the game on day one or the first week or so you might as well preorder it because then you get free bonus content.

If that truly were the case (Dead Island, really?), wouldn't that be a terrible practice for businesses? If they're only ordering enough copies to fulfill preorders then they are losing out on free money from consumers who didn't preorder, but still want the game. These things aren't that difficult to produce. If you're gamestop and you find out that the preorder numbers for a particular title are really high, you're not going to order the exact number of preorders you've got. You're going to want to get way more copies than that. You do not want to run out. If Target's got a promo going where there's a game/soft drink tie in, you better believe that they are going to be getting in enough copies of the game so that they are not going to run out, until maybe after Black Friday.

It's a really simple concept - the head distribution center for Gamestop receives so many copies of a game. It doesn't make sense to send every store the same amount of games - some are larger than others, some have a higher volume of customer and therefore you take that into consideration.

So they don't really take the amount of preorders under consideration? This makes more sense to me.

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.

Pre-ordered Saints Row The Third for 3 reasons.
1: I know I am going to buy it anyway, why not preload it and have it unlock the second it releases?
2: Octopus gun.
3 Getting a car that can launch pedestrians (or yourself) as a weapon.

I pre-order off of Amazon occasionaly (in fact, I'll be preordering skyrim in a week or so). I do it because:
1: Getting it on release day
2: pre-order goodies (like the Skyrim cloth map)
3: I get to play it on release, but still get a physical copy.

I don't know. For me, digital bonuses or tchotchkes really don't hold enough benefit for me to give a store my money and walk out that day with nothing. Maybe if the bonus was a physical object, on the shelf the day I preordered, and I could walk out with something in my hand besides a piece of paper, I'd consider it.

 

[AgentBJ09]

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...

So then, what's the point of your thread beyond the fact that a preorder was open up to one day before launch and you thought it was dumb that the sale clerk actually used logic? After all, you asked for that game, so I can see plenty of reason for him to ask if you wanted to preorder and pay it off all the way or at least put 5$ down on it.

Either you must associate with one odd store given how often I see you in Gamestop threads complaining about small events like this one, or you just have thing against the company for reasons I can't imagine.

 

[DuelLadyS]

I preorder for free bonuses, or simply to avoid having to make sure I don't spend the money for Game X on something else prior to release day and not be able to get it... if I have the extra $60 3 months out, I have no problem paying now while I can afford it. Then if I'm broke come release day, no big deal, it's paid for. Yes, techincally I could just keep that money aside- and I do that for many a thing. Quite simply, you get a lot of things 'earmarked' and you end up with either an account-balancing nightmare or paranoia that something will happen to your cash stash. I'd rather let GS get the 5 cents interest and not have to worry about it.

As for having your reserved game sold... never come up before, surprised you've had issues. I imagine though, that the fit I'd be throwing might get me a free gift card, so there's another reason. That's assuming I even bother with said store again- Amazon always comes through, after all.

To be fair though- yes, preordering the game the day before it comes out is really, really stupid. At least do it early enough that the store can order a copy for you from the wherehouse, or it's pointless.

 

[Zyst]

Usually because of the bonuses offered. Why "Ebay a code or two" when I can pre-order a game I Already know I Will like (Read: Skyrim, MW3)

 

[Jesus Phish]

When I know I'm going to get it on release and there's some sort of benefit to having a pre-order on it, such as unique content/collectibles. Also if I want a collectors edition I'll pre-order it and put a deposit down on it if needed.

 

[Treeinthewoods]

I have no idea what shitty GameStop OP visits but I've never had a single issue getting my reserved copy of any game. I pre-order for useful bonus stuff (I love my Weathered 10mm Pistol in New Vegas) and just to be sure the game is available for me whenever I feel like picking it up after work.

What I don't get is paying the game off in full. That is silly, I put the minimum down and even though I have the money to pay it off I keep that in my bank account as long as possible because it earns interest.

So, pre-order for good bonus stuff and only put down the minimum amount = profit. Paying it off in full = silly. Not pre-ordering = missing out on some cool free stuff (Black Hole Gun and Zidane anybody?)

Really, what the hell kind of crap business takes pre-orders and doesn't honor them? I guess a mistake could happen but they'd be legally obligated to make sure you got your game in the end, as well as all your bonus content.

People are a little paranoid I guess...

 

[Ham Blitz]

I preorder pretty much any game I am for sure going to buy the day it comes out, especially if the game is popular. I mean, if I am going to buy the game on the release day, why not enjoy that added in game bonus they throw in?
On a side note of popularity, I am extremely happy I preordered Dead Island for the 360. The game was (and still is) awesome, and after that first day, it was impossible to find the game for weeks pretty much anywhere in my town, because as soon as it game back in stock it was quickly sold out. One person at my local gamestop said (while talking to some people who game in while we were waiting for Gears 3 midnight release) that the game sold out within three hours of them getting it back in stock.
Edit: On a side note, I have never had any problem with gamestop selling my preordered games.

 

[Epona]

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

That's a damn good point. Next time they ask me if I want to pre-order something, I'll ask them if they wanna give me a game that I can pay for in a week or two.

Its simple if you didnt preorder you dont get a copy.

You've been lied to and the sad part is that you believed it.

If you have a local Gamestop then you probably have a local Wal Mart, Best Buy, Target or Kmart. They won't all be sold out.

 

[ultimateownage]

Because you get a guaranteed copies and some bonuses. If the price is unlikely to go down, and with PC games it really isn't, why not? I order games online anyway.

 

[Raiha]

because it helps game companies limit the costs of over production. hopefully some of that money will go back into game development.

 

[Yopaz]

Pre-ordered Saints Row The Third for 3 reasons.
1: I know I am going to buy it anyway, why not preload it and have it unlock the second it releases?
2: Octopus gun.
3 Getting a car that can launch pedestrians (or yourself) as a weapon.

I pre-order off of Amazon occasionaly (in fact, I'll be preordering skyrim in a week or so). I do it because:
1: Getting it on release day
2: pre-order goodies (like the Skyrim cloth map)
3: I get to play it on release, but still get a physical copy.

I don't know. For me, digital bonuses or tchotchkes really don't hold enough benefit for me to give a store my money and walk out that day with nothing. Maybe if the bonus was a physical object, on the shelf the day I preordered, and I could walk out with something in my hand besides a piece of paper, I'd consider it.

I will admit that it seems useless, but I prefer digital distribution over buying hard copies, so the case is different for me than you, so I guess that's one point where we simply don't click.
Getting novelty items for use in game such as the octopus gun in Saints Row 3 just adds a little to the crazy. It's not much, but I have waited eagerly for that game so I would have preordered it so I could buy it the second it's released rather than waiting for the next day to buy it and maybe find out it's not in stock. I had to go to 4 stores before I found Pokemon White on release date. Also I'm not exactly paying for nothing. Rage isn't released before Friday, but I installed it yesterday. Still, each one to his or her own.

 

[Tallim]

Think of it this way. When you put money down "in store" for a pre-order that's extra money the business makes from you by way of interest. It's not much but add it up across the whole company for each pre-order and it's free profit for them essentially.

 

[Kyogissun]

>why pre-order

Because not 'all' gamestops are so crooked as to sell copies that have been reserved. Just because you hear over the internet and from friends that this has happened doesn't mean it happens at every store.

I'm the same with the 'bad customer service' situation at gamestop, in the past 5 years, the only problem I had as them mistaking my reservation of a guide for Pokemon Black and White as a regular edition versus a collectors edition. Had someone else pick up my copy of Black and the guide, they gave said person the regular guide by mistake, went in later that night and exschanged for a CE guide.

But why pre-order? Because I want to secure my copy, I want to go ahead and pay for it in the store with real money so that way when I go to pick it up, I don't have to be carrying cash on me that 'any' shmuck can use at their own leisure. Plus, I pay it in advance so that way if the time comes around I don't have to worry about paying full price for the game or paying at all.

And again, even though I've seen it be proven otherwise, it secures a collectors edition item at launch in case they have a limited amount from the get go.