Should I preorder or buy in store on March 20?

[Khaelis]

yeah! i was going to buy the same day, but when i found that out..
had to preorder everything i want lol but thankfully, i get to pay bit by bit as the release day comes
rather than all at once! that's kind of the pro to it, i guess!

Preorder is basically just a reservation and that's pretty much it. Doesn't really have many benefits at all... It's just bad business if you won't stock extra for walk-in purchases. What's stopping a purchaser from going to the MANY other stores that likely will sell you the product just for walking in?

The EB Games I went to is literally across the road from WalMart, and its open TWO hours earlier. If EB Games adopted this policy... what would stop me from going to WalMart?

GameStop's business model really confuses me...

 

[shendere]

Preorder is basically just a reservation and that's pretty much it. Doesn't really have many benefits at all... It's just bad business if you won't stock extra for walk-in purchases. What's stopping a purchaser from going to the MANY other stores that likely will sell you the product just for walking in?

The EB Games I went to is literally across the road from WalMart, and its open TWO hours earlier. If EB Games adopted this policy... what would stop me from going to WalMart?

GameStop's business model really confuses me...

unfortunately for NY there's only ONE walmart, and it's reeealllllyyy far and requires driving to get there, and not many new yorkers drive as we use public transportation! so walmart isn't an option for most of us here. gamestops are everywhere tho, so that's what we work with. best buy, target, those too, but i don't really shop there for games, just once in a while when i pop in and there's something i like or some cool sale. gamestop isn't the BEST, but i don't think they're that bad either! they often have preowned sales which are usually super good. buy 2 preowned, get 1 free, ps4, switch, xbox, and the prices for lots of cool preowned games aren't that bad unless you're trying to buy newly released preowned things. that sale happens often and you can grab 6 new games for the price of 3 or sometimes less, depending what you get. preordering isn't bad but it sucks when it's forced on you, but at least you usually get free bonuses with your preoders and a guaranteed copy, as well as a pay any amount as you go till release date. so it's helpful when you're on a budget or have many games you want to buy at a time, and budgeting is super important living in the city.

 

[Khaelis]

unfortunately for NY there's only ONE walmart, and it's reeealllllyyy far and requires driving to get there, and not many new yorkers drive as we use public transportation! so walmart isn't an option for most of us here. gamestops are everywhere tho, so that's what we work with. best buy, target, those too, but i don't really shop there for games, just once in a while when i pop in and there's something i like or some cool sale. gamestop isn't the BEST, but i don't think they're that bad either! they often have preowned sales which are usually super good. buy 2 preowned, get 1 free, ps4, switch, xbox, and the prices for lots of cool preowned games aren't that bad unless you're trying to buy newly released preowned things. that sale happens often and you can grab 6 new games for the price of 3 or sometimes less, depending what you get. preordering isn't bad but it sucks when it's forced on you, but at least you usually get free bonuses with your preoders and a guaranteed copy, as well as a pay any amount as you go till release date. so it's helpful when you're on a budget or have many games you want to buy at a time, and budgeting is super important living in the city.

Main reason I stopped pre-ordering and going to EB Games is because they never HAD the bonuses. Like, what do you mean you didn't get your stock? Eventually just went, 'screw it, going to WalMart on release days".

My city has two EB Games, and both are over an hour away from me. WalMart, Toys R Us and Best Buy are all within walking distance of these two EB Games as well.

I haven't pre-ordered a game since Omega Ruby lol, all walk ins.

 

[shendere]

Main reason I stopped pre-ordering and going to EB Games is because they never HAD the bonuses. Like, what do you mean you didn't get your stock? Eventually just went, 'screw it, going to WalMart on release days".

My city has two EB Games, and both are over an hour away from me. WalMart, Toys R Us and Best Buy are all within walking distance of these two EB Games as well.

I haven't pre-ordered a game since Omega Ruby lol, all walk ins.

i think ebgames is like a sister store of gamestop, if you ever get to purchase from a gamestop directly, you might find it more beneficial to you! i dont remember if ours ever did much of bonuses in the past as i never preodered things at that time when we did have an ebgames, but our gamestop has never failed with the goodies tbh! or the good sales and membership savings!

 

[Khaelis]

i think ebgames is like a sister store of gamestop, if you ever get to purchase from a gamestop directly, you might find it more beneficial to you! i dont remember if ours ever did much of bonuses in the past as i never preodered things at that time when we did have an ebgames, but our gamestop has never failed with the goodies tbh! or the good sales and membership savings!

Eh, its more so that both the EB Games in my city are just poorly managed. Employees are great, but the people who own em... not so much. I dealt with one manager from the one near the WalMart and she did not look like she wanted to be in that store at all, lol.

I just get bad vibes in those stores lately, so I opt to just go to WalMart or Toys R Us now.

 

[shendere]

Eh, its more so that both the EB Games in my city are just poorly managed. Employees are great, but the people who own em... not so much. I dealt with one manager from the one near the WalMart and she did not look like she wanted to be in that store at all, lol.

I just get bad vibes in those stores lately, so I opt to just go to WalMart or Toys R Us now.

aww, i'm sorry to hear that! i hope one day you can have a good experience in them again!
even if in another city/state! <3

 

[Khaelis]

aww, i'm sorry to hear that! i hope one day you can have a good experience in them again!
even if in another city/state! <3

Considering the cost of moving in Canada is outrageous, I don't see that happening any time soon. :y

 

[GnomeSlice]

I'm going to preorder on amazon

 

[JKDOS]

Why can't you pre-order and pick up in stores?

 

[Wisteria Rytsar]

If you want to get a physical copy, go in person to your local Gamestop and make a preorder. That will guarantee you a physical copy of the game on release.

 

[aikatears]

before I thought why not and got the digital on the switch I have still a pre order at gamestop for the game, to be pick up on 20th already pay in full...that copy going to a friend. But you can order it and just pick it up before store is close and I think you have two days (I think that was what I was told last time I asked) to pick it up.

 

[Xara]

as others have suggested, maybe preorder it online and select the ?pick-up? option if there is one. at least that way you?re guaranteed a copy as you never know if the game might sellout.

 

[miraxe]

I pre-ordered my special edition Switch at Gamestop, but I have a $50 Target gift card, so I'm just going to buy the game at Target. I haven't seen games sold out on day one in YEARS. It usually only happens on Black Friday, where the stores only get x amount of games to put at the discounted price. I think a lot of people do digital purchases these days anyway, so that cuts back on the amount of people buying the same game at the same time. It also helps that a lot of stores had the pre-order bonuses, so a lot of the people who were already going to buy the game have their copy reserved.

 

[shendere]

i'm just a bit worried if the people who preordered it from sites online (amazon, etc) if they would be arriving on time like release day or sometime that week? sometimes things are delayed, especially with the virus panic so there's been lots of mail delays. i'd feel better preordering in store to do in-store pick ups. sometimes online won't have the option but you can always call and ask your local gamestop/target/etc to see if they have availability in store.

 

[Carson]

I pretty much always pre-order at my local GameStop, this time both the console and game. I already paid the console off so I'll be picking it up sometime this Friday and will set it all up next week. My store is doing a midnight release on the 20th so I'll be picking it up as soon as it's out. I really never pre-order by mail because I just don't like having to wait for it to come in and leaving it up to the US Postal Service gods, I find it much easier, efficient and fun to go grab it myself as soon as it's on-sale!