Pre-Orders: In Defence of The Devil
22 11 07 - 13:16 I think it's time we all cuddled round the LCD and think things through a little bit. Video game pre-orders are often a fiery (though rarely controversial) topic. There's no shortage of arguments against pre-orders but you don't really see any arguments for pre-orders... which I will now present. I worked at a game store while I was in art school. I worked at one of the good guys, a smaller indy store - the kind that don't exist anymore. We didn't push pre-orders or magazine subscriptions. We'd offer strategy guides... but only for games that really would need them. We didn't really do that much to maximize our revenue. And that's why they're now gone.Like it or not pre-orders are part of the game, now. What the consumer needs to do is embrace what is good about the pre-orders and find a loving commited relationship with a store (and it's staff) where YOU can use the pre-order in your favor.
Article The First: Why'd they do dat.
The reason game store employees push for pre-orders so hard is it's part of their job. They're required to in order to keep their job. I'm not suggesting that we the consumer have to like it. I'm just suggesting we accept it. The stores won't stop forcing them to because it's good for the store. It's a free loan for the store and if someone dies in a car wreck after placing $10 on a game that won't be out for 6 months, the next of kin might never know to come and get it - PROFIT. That's not an exaggeration mind you. There's a significant amount of money that these stores can make on merchandise that is never picked up. They're only bound to hold the title for a few days, after that your money is just floating in the folds of corporate America.
Furthermore they use pre-orders as a gauge to see how many of each title to order. Wanna know why? Because the people ordering the games are genuinely stupid. They don't know anything about video games. At all.
Article The Second: Why we care.
When I was a gamestore employee the Dreamcast was in it's prime and the PS2 was just coming out. So I know about what numbers we received in the store for those two systems. Check out these titles on eBay: Project Justice and Gun Spike for the Dreamcast. If you see either of them for the US system you'll see one of two things. You'll either see them around $50 (retaining their initial value is always impressive) or climbing steadily towards the $100 range. Remember Gitaroo Man? Until that was reprinted it cost $100 or more. There's a simple reason for that, really. Because stores didn't order them. If a store doesn't order a game then a consumer can't possibly buy it, can they? We got 1 (one) copy of Gun Spike for the Dreamcast - I worked there and didn't get a copy!
The Joystiq family of sites has an article up about how poorly Zak and Wiki for the Wii sold. That might be true, but guess what... I talked to 4 different stores in my area. All of them got whatever was pre-ordered plus 2 copies. If no one pre-ordered, then they got 2. Sales aren't through the roof, huh? Really? Wonder why that is. I pre-ordered mine because I knew I wanted it, but equally as important I wanted the game to succeed. Taking myself out of the post-order equation means that there'd be another copy for someone to buy. This is more than karmic, it's just smart. More copies available for sale means a better chance the game has of racking up the big sale numbers publishers need to see.
Article The Third: Make it work for you.
Since we've established that the store clerks have a vested interest in pushing a pre-order and laid out a few reasons why it might be good for you to pre-order the occasional title... There's some common good that can come from this. If you go to one store steadily you can build a relationship with that store. Ask the clerks if they have any promotions that they need to push pre-sales for. Put $5 down on that title (remember, you can always move that to another game or just get your cash bacK), help them out a little and make a friend. Reward the good clerks with pre-orders. They will appreciate it and you'll get even better service. You'll find that extra pre-order bonus or t-shirt in your shopping bag. You'll get frank and honest answers to your questions, heads up on new promotions or price changes... You'll get an ally in that store. At the end of the day, if you help these guys do their jobs - they'll help you.
Use pre-orders to reward and enforce good customer service, use the store credit you accumulated from pre-orders to purchase games you actually want (preferably ones you pre-ordered) and you can make the situation a little tolerable because you'll quickly see that that particular store won't try and hoist pre-orders on you every time you stop by.
Pre-orders are not going away any time soon. Might as well learn to work the system.
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