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Vivendi Jilts WoW CE Pre-order Customers
Draconix writes "Having pre-ordered the World of Warcraft Collector's Edition over a month in advance, I eagerly checked my email on November 22nd, expecting confirmation of shipment. Instead, I received a notice from Inside Mac Games, explaining that their order for the WoW Collector's Edition would not be filled. It seems, at the last minute, Vivendi Universal decided to ship a limited number of copies, and only to major players, such as Amazon.com. Doubtless, IMG is one of many stores who have had to inform their unsuspecting customers of this development. Of course, it is now too late to obtain it from one of the distributors that did receive it, so thousands of expectant gamers will come up empty-handed--denied what many had ordered months in advance. With Vivendi Universal already at odds with one of their developers, is more trouble on the way?"
Next, Vivendi will sue Blizzard over patch delivery systems.
There must be an ongoing wager as to who can get the most bad PR for Vivendi. "Hmm... I see your HL2/Steam and raise you a WoW ripoff."
Beware he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart he dreams himself your master. -Anonymous
A copy of the notice sent to customers would be nice. As of right now all we have is this guy's word that VU is screwing retailers/gamers. Not that I don't beleive it's possible, but the substance in this story is sorely lacking.
This could well be IMG starting to sell pre-order versions without having any gurantee of delivery and now trying to paint Vivendi as the bad guy for their cock up.
In this world of buy-anything from anywhere, any advantage such as semi-exclusivity on the sale is a bonus.
I am wondering how much Amazon paid for this... or if the publisher just screwed up?
#hostfile 0.0.0.0 primidi.com 0.0.0.0 www.primidi.com 0.0.0.0 radio.weblogs.com
That individual stores are getting very, very limited quantities of these delivered. Given the numbers I have been hearing from folks who picked theirs up yesterday, many retailers are getting 2-3 copies of the CE per store, irrelevant of their pre-orders, or the size of the store. So it seems likely that we won't be seeing them on the shelves and that some pre-orders won't be filled today. I pre-ordered the standard version, and according to my store, they have standard versions exceeding their pre-orders. So no problem there, hopefully.
I'd been wondering when this would happen. It seems the backlash against Blizzard might finally be about to kick off. This won't be the first time that a MMORPG developer has had fantastic press right up to just before the launch, only to have things go awry at the last moment. Anybody remember SW Galaxies? Remember how it went from being the game which would revolutionise the genre and bring in hordes of new players to being a laughing stock overnight?
The signs have been there for a while. We've been hearing reports from the beta for some time that the game isn't ready for release. After playing the stress-test and the open beta, this is also my own impression. It's not a disaster on the same scale as launch-day Galaxies, but it's severely lacking in content and has horrible issues with balance and the operation of PvP.
This particular piece of news just makes it seem as though Blizzard has decided to get a head start on kicking their customers in the teeth. For months, we've been hearing the fanboys tell us how wonderful Blizzard are and how high the quality of the game would be when it came out. Thing is, while Blizzard have a fairly good (but not perfect) record of delivering decent singleplayer and small-scale multiplayer games, releasing a MMORPG is an undertaking on a totally different order of magnitude. MMORPGs are vast games, in terms of content, complexity and number of players. The potential for something serious to go wrong and not be picked up (or, more damningly, picked up but not corrected) is significant. Nothing I've seen has convinced me that Blizzard have had the capacity to do this.
As of today, Blizzard are still, I suspect, gods in the eyes of most slashdotters and MMORPG-gamers. However, I seriously doubt that this reputation will still be intact this time next week. World of Warcraft will do well... it will shift a lot of boxes from shelves. However, I'd be surprised if it overtook Everquest. I'd be even more surprised if it overtook Final Fantasy XI, which is currently the largest of the non-Lineage MMORPGs.
If this is true, is there a list out there of who *does* have CEs? I preordered mine from GameStop and I was really looking forward to Blizzard's standard CE pack-ins.
Are those that ordered CEs going to get a Standard Edition and a partial refund? Or what?
I hope these two screwups somehow drive Vivendi down the road to ruin.
I guess I'll find out if the local EB I purchased it from got enough/any copies.
Amazon lists it as:
"Availability: This item is not stocked or has been discontinued."
I wanted to give Vivendi more of my money but they decided to leave it on the table.
I'll downgrade to standard edition instead of waiting a month for them to get their act together.
-==-
What does Blizzard's developing of a MMO (the best I've played so far, BTW) have to do with Vivendi's screwing of their own customers? Blizzard didn't make the decision to limit the number of CEs, Vivendi did.
;)
It would be nice to find some way of creating a backlash against Vivendi without hurting Blizzard. Or without depriving myself of WoW.
If I can't get the CE I preordered, I'll get a normal copy. If I can't get either, I'll be pissed...
If you had super powers, would you use them for good, or for awesome?
vivendi are arsewipes. every time someone deals with them they get burnt. Every. Single. Time.
I pre-ordered from EBGames.com, and my order shipped early yesterday.
It sounds to me like VU doesn't like making money.
Not a Twitter sockpuppet... but I wish I was.
Anyone that played the beta and read the WoW forums (the posts during beta where wiped) probably has read the blizzard release announcement stating that there will be a limited number of copies avialable for release LONG BEFORE the actual release.
I preordered one, but wouldnt wait till 10 when ebgames open, so i bought one at walmart
I follow the SDK and GDN principles.. Spelling Dont Kount, Grammer Dont Neither
Even at Amazon, the CE is out. It seems Vivendi wanted to see their product on eBay, and nothing more. Not only is this bad business, it sounds like a scam, if you ask me.
ACs are modded -6. I don't read you, I don't mod you, I don't see you. Don't like it? Don't be a coward.
There has to be more to the story than is being told. There is no reason for VU to cancel orders of the CE (which presumably costs much more) unless they have a lower margin of profit on the CE (doubtful). I mean essentially people are saying that VU decided to ship fewer copies of the more expensive version of the game in order to sell more copies of the standard version? There really must be something we are missing here.
Showed up about 11:00pm last night, figured that the line might be half way around the building, Turns out the line went around the building twice, took up most of the parking lot, and then for good measure it went down the street a couple hundred yards.
Talking to the Fry's Employee, he said that they had 2 or 3 truck loads of games on the way, but doubted thier would be enough for everyone.
The poor guy seemed rather alarmed and stressed seeing several thousand gamers surrounding the store.
According to him, the line started forming around 1pm.
Although everyone seemed to be in a good mood, I didn't stick around.
there has been tons of 'collector's limited' editions of warcraft3 dying slow deaths in retail along with 'collector's editions' of star wars galaxies, neverwinter nights etc. the hardboxed ones will dry up soon, but i'm sure there will be tons of slightly less limited collector's edition.
I just picked my pre-ordered CE from Gamestop one hour ago. No problems, no lines, no worries. Of course, I also noticed that they had ample stock of Nintendo DS systems. I guess there isn't an overabundance of gamers in my area.
I was talking to my friends at the local EB Games on Thursday about the WoW collector's edition. While they did show it off to me (yes, they've had it in the stockroom for almost a week), they told me I wouldn't be getting one unless someone cancelled their preorder - the Collector's Edition has been sold out Canada-wide since (I believe) the 2nd of November.
Those of us who didn't hop on the bandwidth missed a big opportunity too - the collector's edition sells for $79.99 in Canada, while in the US it sells for... $79.99. Or $89. Or even $99. If I had known this situation would happen, I would have had twenty copies preordered and up for auction on eBay.
I still have hope however. Until all the WoW CE copies are picked up from my local EB Games outlets, I won't be buying WoW. The question is, should I keep it if I do get it? I could probably get a few hundred dollars for it on eBay, and that could pay for a few years of WoW... but I really do want the extras.
Le sigh. Maybe I'll get lucky and buy two.
I'm curious, how would I, as a consumer, revolt against a publisher without simultaneously revolting against the developers? Vivendi is making some very anti-consumer moves here, which ought not be tolerated.
t's a little off topic, but does anyone know if you require a CC for the 30 day trial that comes in with the game? I'm still waiting for my CC, but I would like to play while I wait ...
EB Games had my preorder at 10 am this morning. No line, no hassle.
...preordered my CE through GameStop. I know some of the guys who work at the local one (that happens when you're their best customer...) and they say they've already received all their copies, but that they were only give exactly enough CEs to cover the preorders; they'll have none to put on the shelves. I hear the regional manager is livid about it, too, so Vivendi isn't making friends anywhere!
Unless, of course, scissors can't cut rock...
Yes, the above quote is about the music industry, and not the gaming industry. But do you see the parallel? Maybe these are ideas that most people already know, but people who see money (probably precise dollar amounts in every individual item they see) all around them can see opportunities as they come about. That's the job of CEOs and the staff around them for conglomerates like Vivendi. The gaming industry became an enormous cash cow, and so bigger companies wanted to get a piece of the pie, just like what happened in the music industry. Now that Vivendi is in, their priorities change. It isn't about Blizzard anymore, it isn't about the consumers anymore. Priority rests in the satisfaction of shareholders. You can bet that every move they make is done solidly to improve the proverbial bottom line, if they have to strangle the life out of the employees under their thumbs. The worst part is that developers get stuck in between us (as consumers) and the conglomerate, so should we try to squeeze back, they're the first to feel it and the first to suffer for it. What do we do? I don't know. But I think maybe, even if I don't have any specific information on why Vivendi is doing this, that maybe it has provided a little perspective.
___ In the words of Gen. Douglas McArthur: "I'll be right back."
I picked up a copy at the Best Buy here in DC, which had a pile of them heaped on a table.
BTW, I tried to pre-order the CE at my preferred Gamestop back in late September yet was denied as they sold out already. Huh? I never heard of a CE game actually being limited in production, at least upon the initial release. I mean I can STILL buy Quake 3 in the tin from some stores!
Just during lunch I went to go pick up my reversed copy. I over-heard and was later told some interesting things. The manager was talking to someone about WoW, I could just tell. Sure enough after he hangs up he tells me to tell all my friends to buy the game today if they wanted to play. He claimed this initial shipment is it, VU/Blizzard (or whoever) is not allowing a second batch of games to be sold until Feb. 2005. After they sell the small amount of un-reversed copies that is it. Normally I would discount this immediately, yet one of my friends from 500 miles away said he heard the same thing from his store.
So any truth to this statement? I already picked up my copy but I'm curious.
If my experience is any indication, you should be fine if your preorder was through EB (in the US, anyway).
I pre-ordered one CE and three SEs just 10 days ago through the EB website, for pickup at my local store on launch day. (Discover Mills EB in Lawrenceville, GA - suburb of ATL.)
They called this morning to let me know all my stuff was awaiting pickup and I snagged it during lunch. Got the CE with no problem. It did sound like you were SOL if you didn't pre-order, though. Demand was extremely high.
YMMV, of course.
You think you've got it bad?! The clowns at Vivendi only distributed 200 - for our entire COUNTRY.
EB Games got 40 units for its complete shipment nationwide. I ordered a month in advance, two copies, from a major online retailer here - who received only 60 copies, and couldn't fulfil either of those orders.
I posted about this [worldofwarcraft.com] on their forums, but got no reply, when I found out before launch day.
It really blows! I really wanted the art book. And what with the region locking of accounts, it looks like I can't buy one from eBay either (there are a few copies there, going for nutso money).
I know exactly one person (personally) in my country who's managed to get their order filled. Vivendi have told retailers here that they won't be re-releasing this pack either, or any of the product within it seperately.
For my money: whilst I'm not into piracy per-say, I really hope someone scans and copies the products and rips 'em out to a torrent or ed2k source. I mean, ffs, 200 for an entire country is a joke.
I went to my local hastings (not sure if thats a store thats just around the northwest or all over) about a week after I heard that EB had sold out of all their pre-orders of the collectors edition.
I asked them if I could pre-order it, and they said no, but I could special order it. They told me that they were getting about 70 copies of the collectors edition in, and I just had them hold one of them for me when it came in.
This morning at about 10:30 I got a call from them and it was in, and I went and picked it up. My friends went to hastings last night at midnight (they were having a harry potter deal) and they weren't able to get any of the collectors editions.
In any case im real happy I was able to get it, great box, worth the 80 bucks in my opinion.
According to VU/blizzard they made 75,000 copies of the CE. Now considering they have an indication on how many they would sell based on pre-orders how many think that VU went and said "We could sell 100,000 copies but lets limit it to 75,000"?
BTW check out ebay, people are selling the CE in the $200+ range.
I'm not looking to buy this particaulr game.
I've noticed a trend that hold true here as is does in other hobbies. When a new and/or limited item first comes out, their are people who'll sell the item on eBay, often for great sums of money. After fir first "few" (relatively speaking) auctions end, people realize that the item isn't really worth the insane amount first being paid and prices drop to a more reasonable amount for several months after the release.
Then, when the exceitment cools to a more managable level, one or two items at a time will appear on eBay, for reasonable final bids, odd exceptions and shill bidding excluded.
I've seen this pattern over and over again in my collecting. Have patience, at some point, what you're looking for will be posted on Ebay for a honest, not gouging price.
When in danger or in doubt, run in circles, scream and shout.