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The State Of Wii Preorders

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the state-of-disorganization dept.

1up has a hilarious article up looking at the state of Wii Preorders across the U.S.. Despite the fact that preorders began (and likely ended) this morning at EBs and Gamestops across the country, the employees of the megalithic game store were less than fully prepared. From the article: "WEST VIRGINIA: GameStop #1330: 'We don't know. I mean, we're gonna be doing reserves. We're just waiting for them to tell us we can.' WISCONSIN: EB Games #4626: 'It looks more like we'll just sell that one. Because there will be 2 to 4 million units available on launch day, and EB/GameStop will be getting 70% of them that first come first serve would be doable. Even a smaller store like ours could be getting upwards of 50 units day one.' WYOMING: EB Games #4294: 'Any day now, man. Any day now.'" Despite my wife's best efforts, I missed out on a preorder by three people in line. Stupid cross-country trips.

3 of 160 comments (clear)

  1. Nursery rhymes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    This little gamer went to Gamestop.
    This little gamer went to EB.
    This little gamer got a preorder.
    This little gamer got none.
    This little gamer cried "Wii Wii Wii" all the way home.

  2. Re:Monday for Canadian Wii preorders by HappySqurriel · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I honestly don't know what EB Games is up to ...

    Back in 2001 I pre-ordered a Gamecube at Futureshop and when I walked in they must have had (at least) 50 Gamecubes in a pile and everyone who pre-ordered ended up with a system; today, the Wii is launching with (about) twice as many systems as the Gamecube did and EB Games are averaging 10 systems per store for to pre-order. It seems that something is off to me, either EB Games is getting screwed on the number of systems they're getting, or they're purposefully limiting pre-orders.

    Which brings me up to my other question ... Why could I pre-order a Gamecube in July in 2001 at Futureshop, and a month before the system launches I still can't pre-order at Futureshop or Best Buy?

  3. Three reasons by ivan256 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Three reasons.

    1: Interest on $50,000,000 for a month (You really think the costs of running the pre-order operation for a day are going to exceed $4 million?)
    2: Gets the customer into the store two times, increasing the opportunity for additional sales
    3: Requires the customer to provide personal information that they can sell