HotBloodGaming

While speaking at a panel at GDC, Cliff Bleszinski touched upon a myriad of different topics. It was very brief, but one of those topics was game preorders. Bleszinski feels that preorders as a sales metrics need to go. He said we should use other aggregates as a way to find out about games. Things like YouTube comments, news stories, and hits these things receive.

Preorders as a sales metric needs to fucking go, I’m done with this. We are no longer in a world where you can’t find a game. Okay like maybe GameStop will sell it every once in a while, but just go to Target or Walmart or Amazon day one. This is no longer the era of gold cartridges and chip shortages. Find new aggregates in YouTube comments, in news stories, in hits and lets use that.

Bleszinski is right, preorders as a sales metric should go. There are plenty of other ways to gauge how successful a game might be. Also, companies like GameStop hound the living hell out of you at the register to preorder something and say if you don’t “you won’t get it.” Bleszinski is right that games today are not that hard to come by — especially after they are released. You can almost always walk into a store like Target and Walmart and easily pick a copy up — if you didn’t preorder it at GameStop and they really don’t have a copy for you.

I’ve personally been told several times by GameStop employees “it’s got a lot of preorders, you might not get a copy on release day,” but walk in and get one without a preorder. Preordering is more a tactic for businesses like GameStop to ensure they will have your sale the day a game comes out — not to see how popular a game is. Keep in mind that not everyone who wants a game buys it day one either. All-in-all preorders are a silly way to judge a game’s success before it’s even released into the market.

http://www.hotbloodedgaming.com/2011/03/04/gdc-2011-cliff-bleszinski-preorders-as-sales-metric-need-to-fucking-go/

OMFG! I Agree completely! I am so tired of walking into Gamestop and someone tries to talk me into Pre-ordering a game, like if I don't Pre-order the world is gonna end and I won't get that shitty pre-order bonus...IF I WANTED TO PRE-ORDER A FUCKING GAME, I WOULD HAVE SAID SO WHEN I WALKED IN! Then they get all pissy when you say you aren't interested, and I can almost guarantee I know more about games than them, and they have the nerve to criticize my game/console preferences.

But, yeah. I don't think Pre-orders are a great way to gauge a games success anymore, I never really did in the first place.

He has a point about preorders, there's no real reason unless you're getting $20 in credit or something.  However good luck getting a retailer to order more copies because a video got a bunch of comments on youtube.

Also it's kind of funny to say this after they were giving free Gears preorders with the purchase of Bulletstorm at gamestop.

The man makes sense. I always saw it as a poor measure of how the game will end up in lifetime sales.

So you saying VGC should dump the pre-order chart then?

Wouldn't mind an analysis of pre-orders to week 1 for the last 100 games released to see if the ratio is so wildly variable that pre-orders really aren't useful as a sales predictor.

Waitin' for the Gamestop employees who members of this site to come in and defend their store.

OT, I agree with the little guy.

wait how are youtube comments and hits a better indication than pre orders, at least pre-orders show intent to buy the game. Everything else I agree...

Cliffy B is a god, we should all bow, #winning #tigerblood

All those extra cash the retailers get early has to mean something.

The whole "so many pre-orders you may not get a copy" line is so BS.

GameStop ships to each store enough copies to cover 1.5x the number of pre-orders.  So if they have 10 pre-orders, they get shipped 15 copies.  20 pre-orders?  30 copies.  It's a formula that they always follow, except for the biggest of games that they know will have extra long legs, then they'll ship even MORE copies (particularly Madden - that's a heavy walk0in title).  So if they have a lot of pre-orders, you're MORE likely to get a copy if you haven't pre-ordered.

Now, for niche games like Atlus's stuff, you probably wanna reserve.  But even then, I remember our store got in like 6 copies of record of Agarest War (the big box with the mouse pad and everythign) despite having maybe one reserve.  We couldn't find a way to sell 'em all.

Reserves are totally unnecessary these days.  I only do it for the free shit.