Topic: EB Games Wii Pre-Orders - Extremely Limited Quantities?

[WindyMan]

Despite there being more than twice as many launch Wiis than PS3s, EB and GameStop may only be giving out the same amount of pre-orders for each console.  Updated with pictures.

In the hours before game specialty shops across the country are to open and accept Wii launch console pre-orders, Planet GameCube has discovered that Wii pre-order availablity may be as scarce as reservations for PlayStation 3 consoles.    

In talking with an amiable EB Games employee killing after-hours time outside of his store in the Southern California area, we have learned that his store, and quite possibly the whole EB/GameStop chain, will only authorize as many Wii pre-order sales as they were allowed to sell for the PS3.  In the case of this particular store, a maximum of 8 Wii pre-orders would be guaranteed to those willing to fork over the $50 deposit.  Two of these systems would be made available to store employees if desired, bringing down the public number to only 6.    

The store in question handed out about the same number of PS3 pre-orders.  This is quite curious, considering that Nintendo is planning to release at least a million Wii consoles at launch, while Sony will ship out no more than 400,000 in North America.  If there will be more than twice the volume at launch, why wouldn't twice the pre-orders made available?    

We should stress that this does not mean that every EB and GameStop will only have six Wiis to pre-sell.  The employee mentioned that a major factor which determines how many units a particular store would be allocated had to do with how many games (not just Wii games, all games) it could get customers to pre-order.  He cited one store getting 25 PS3 units to pre-sell based on "how many copies of Madden they got pre-ordered."  Other stores may be getting that many or more Wii pre-sell authorizations.  We won't know for sure until the dust settles at the end of Friday.    

Brick-and-mortar EB Games and GameStop stores will officially start selling pre-orders later today.  If you were planning simply walking in to one in the afternoon and expecting there to be plenty of systems available for reservation, don't be surprised if you get shut out.    

Update by Aaron Kaluszka    

Here are two pictures of the preorder lines in Berkeley, CA taken shortly after 10AM, after unlucky latecomers had already left.    

         

Being two of the larger EB Games stores, each store had 32 preorder slots, compared to a PS3 allocation of 16.  Approximately 50 people arrived early to stand in line at each location.  All confirmed customers were given a launch list to peruse while waiting.

[Smash_Brother]

Thankfully, no all-nighter was necessary.

[KDR_11k]

If you were planning simply walking in to one in the afternoon and expecting there to be plenty of systems available for reservation, don't be surprised if you get shut out.

But if you just walk in on launch day you don't have to worry?

[Jonnyboy117]

Yep!  This sounds to me like GameStop is intentionally trying to create mass hysteria for a system launch when it's not at all warranted.  Why?  Well, attracting curious gamers into the store to ask about Wii, which they've heard might be "sold out" weeks before launch, gives the store a chance to sell these people any number of other knick knacks such as strategy guides and warranty plans for systems they don't own yet.

With one million Wii systems around North America on launch day, I find it very hard to believe that any GameSpot store will be getting less than a dozen, or a FEW dozen, of them.  Think about how many copies they get for a typical new game release, how many shiny copies are in the display case.  Now consider that very few games ship in quantities greater than one million on the release date.

[Plugabugz]

Play.com are only allowing one per customer. Don't see what's so wrong with that.

[GoldenPhoenix]

I think alot of you guys are going to be in for a shock who think you will be able to walk into your local store on launch day thinking you will find a Wii.

[Shecky]

Quote
Originally posted by: Jonnyboy117
Yep!  This sounds to me like GameStop is intentionally trying to create mass hysteria for a system launch when it's not at all warranted.  Why?  Well, attracting curious gamers into the store to ask about Wii, which they've heard might be "sold out" weeks before launch, gives the store a chance to sell these people any number of other knick knacks such as strategy guides and warranty plans for systems they don't own yet.

With one million Wii systems around North America on launch day, I find it very hard to believe that any GameSpot store will be getting less than a dozen, or a FEW dozen, of them.  Think about how many copies they get for a typical new game release, how many shiny copies are in the display case.  Now consider that very few games ship in quantities greater than one million on the release date.

Heh, most EB/Gamestop and various other employees seem to want to talk me out of a sale when it comes to consoles or games.  It almost always starts off as "I heard (or My manager heard) that XX was bad because of YY".

Not all the time mind you, but quite often.  Only once do I remember an actual EB employee using salesmanship.  Litterally putting several systems in positive light for some other customer in the store to the point that that they might be enticed to buy both.

[KDR_11k]

I think alot of you guys are going to be in for a shock who think you will be able to walk into your local store on launch day thinking you will find a Wii.

It worked for the 360 why shouldn't it work for a console that ships many more units?

[GoldenPhoenix]

Not sure where you live, but I definately did not see that anywhere around here (nor heard of it).  Not to mention the fact that with all the media attention Wii is getting, it could have MUCH more hype going for it than Xbox 360, tickle me elmo anymore? It isn't a new thing for a hot item to get snatched up quickly.

[Pale]

Quote
Originally posted by: Smash_Brother
As of now, I might be pulling an all-nighter...

Dammit, dammit, dammit...

You'll be able to do much less than that at wal mart on launch.  Down with gamestop stupidity!

[Pale]

Quote
Originally posted by: VGrevolution
I think alot of you guys are going to be in for a shock who think you will be able to walk into your local store on launch day thinking you will find a Wii.

I guarantee that if you show up at a Wal-Mart around 7pm, you will get a system.  I did that for GameCube (which did have a lot of hype back in the day) and was 13th in line.  The Wal-Mart I went on to got 75 units in and people that walked in at midnight still got one.  I hear they actually sold out around 1am.

Nintendo is shipping significantly more Wiis than they did GameCubes.  Hell, worst case scenario is you don't get one at wal mart, so go get in line the next morning at circuit city, best buy, or toys r us.  They won't be pre ordering either.

The only reason I can see for pre ordering is so you don't have to camp out.  If you have to camp out for a pre order, its' just stupid.  

[Ceric]

Quote
Source: Gamestop/EB about
With over 4,400 stores located throughout the United States and 15 countries

Now get this as of September 30, 2006 Walmart reports that they have only 3835 Stores, (That could sell games, add 109 more and you get the total number, the 109 are the Walmart: Neighborhood grocery stores.  There actually nicer then the Walmarts themselves.)

Quote
Source:  Walmart Stores Investor Tab
As of September 30, 2006, the Company had 1,123 Wal-Mart stores, 2,142 Supercenters, 570 SAM’S CLUBS and 109 Neighborhood Markets in the United States. Internationally, the Company operated units in Argentina (12), Brazil (296), Canada (279), China (66), Costa Rica (133), Germany (85), Guatemala (125), Honduras (38), Japan (391), Mexico (845), Nicaragua (36), Puerto Rico (54), El Salvador (59) and the United Kingdom (326).

I never thought that the Gamestop Empire had more stores then Walmart...

Ok anyway back to what I was doing...
So I have a combined total of 8235 stores at the moment.  Just for fun we'll say that Target, K-mart and Sears all have the same amount of stores as Walmart...
That gets us 19,740 stores.  Now we add the 700 that represent GameCrazy.. 20,440 and lets just say that the rest of the little stores combine to be the total of The Empire... so we are up to 24,840 stores.  

Quote
Source: The Hollywood Video Company Stuff
and more than 700 Game Crazy specialty retail outlets nationwide.

Quote
Source:  Toy R' Us investor stuff
the company sells merchandise through 587 toy stores

Now we add in Toy R' Us and we have 25,427.
Wiki says that KB Toys has about 605 stores so those added in make it 26,032.

Now I know I'm missing stores and all thats what I padded the 4400 for.  I'm fairly sure that there are enough other retailers to fill that and that it is actually a low number.
Now we take that and divide 999800 by it (We know the World Store had at least 200 Pre-orders), so if Nintendo only sold through retailers using these low ball numbers each would get 38 Wii.  With about 10,584 Wiis floating, when divided it was 38.40657652120467117393976644130301 so I allocated the whole number as what each store would get then I times the decimal by 26,032 to find the number of unallocated units.

So yeah I think at most they could be allocated 38 Wiis if a full 1mil is available at launch day.
   

[Pale]

While I appreciate your Math Ceric, it doesn't account for the fact that a Wal-Mart in hickville NY got 75 Cubes on launch.  Nintendo won't do it evenly.  I remember hearing from some retail reps (this is all rumors) that Nintendo discourages pre-ordering on their systems (again, back at Cube launch).  They were told that they would get more units if they didn't pre order and that is why they chose not to.

If you can walk into a gamestop at normal hours and preorder, more power to you.  I just think camping out to avoid camping out is silly.  

[Svevan]

Pale calls it.

One million unites folks, and four million by year's end. We'll be swimming in Wiis, and a wise consumer will get one with little effort on launch day.

[couchmonkey]

This is silliness.  I think I may stop at an EBGames tonight just for LOLs.  But I have to agree with Pale:  I had absolutely no problem getting my GameCube at Wal-Mart, in fact both Xbox and GameCube were available at my local Toys R Us almost straight through the 2001 holiday season.

Now I expect Wii might be a "wii" (ho ho ho) bit more popular than those were, but I've also heard reports that the mighty Xbox 360 was still available well into the afternoon on its launch day - in spite of the fact that you could sell it on Ebay for more than twice its value.

Here's the kicker: I can either take this morning off just to reserve a Wii at EBGames, or I can just buy one on the Sunday that it comes out.  I think I'll save that vacation day to buy PS3s instead.

Maybe this is all a bigger deal in other cities, though.  I've certainly never heard of a midnight launch around here.  

[Jonnyboy117]

As I told Windy last night on AIM, I'm now actually tempted to pre-order at GameStop just to be a part of this hilarious, historic calamity.

[NWR_pap64]

Quote
Originally posted by: Smash_Brother
As of now, I might be pulling an all-nighter...

Dammit, dammit, dammit...

You mean an all nighter today or an all nighter in the November launch?

Nintendo already said that they will have over 11 million Wiis by the end of the year, so quantity shouldn't be a problem.

Hell, even I should be able to get a Wii during the holidays.

[NWR_Lindy]

The Gamestop by my house opens at 10am.  I went by at 10:35am today and their Wii pre-orders were gone.  At that point I decided that trying to get a pre-order was a waste of my time.  I'll grab one at Wal-Mart or Target when the time comes.

[Smash_Brother]

Reserved my Wii at 10 AM today after getting there at 7:30 to be 2nd in line.

Only 11 people actually got to reserve Wiis (I'd say 15-20 others were turned away). Will they likely have more on launch day? Yeah, sure, but I don't see the harm in nailing it down.

My GS will be doing a midnight Wii launch and I asked and ensured that, at midnight, they will have a bag of prepaid merchandise waiting for me (all I need to do is add an S-video cable and I'm set): Wii, 4 controllers with chucks, Red Steel, THDJ and Excite Truck (a roommate will be getting Zelda).

I walk in, no "line", they hand me my sh*t, I buy the cable and I'm on my way home (which is closer to GS than it is to Wal-Mart).

Now, I don't TRULY believe that there will be an issue in supply. HOWEVER, consider the amount of press and mainstream attention Nintendo is already receiving and they haven't even officially started running TV advertisements yet (at least not that I've seen). If 30 people show up at 10 AM to preorder a Wii in a sh*thole region of NH (a sh*thole state, FYI) with no formal advertising campaign being launched, then clearly Nintendo has done something right this time around.

When I bought my GC on launch day, it was me and my friend waiting outside GS in the mall, the only GS in 30 miles, and we were the ONLY two there to get our cubes, and this is after Nintendo had already begun its formal advertising.

This time, Nintendo has people rushing to preorder despite the fact that they've made no REAL drive to get the Wii into the mainstream public eye. 20+ people at this Gamestop which is new and hasn't been around more than 2-3 months and there are 2 other GSes and an EB in driving distance which people could just as easily have preordered at.

I would NOT use the Gamecube launch as a guideline regarding how the Wii launch will pan out: everything is already moving MUCH faster than anticipated for the Wii (despite similar warnings about shortages from the GS newsletter, the PS3 didn't have this many people lining up for it).

I expect to see even more increase in demand for this thing once Nintendo rolls out its actual ad campaign and I wouldn't be at ALL surprised if it gets pushed into "Furby" or "Tickle Me Elmo" status this xmas.

My advice: better safe than sorry.

Even if the Wii doesn't skyrocket in popularity, I'll still have it in a convenient bag I can immediately walk out with and little to no line to worry about and that's worth preordering in my mind anyway.

That said, I'm sure you'll get one during Nov, even if the launch shipment sells out.

[davidctaylor]

GOOD *GOD* EBGAMES SUCKS!

Ok, I've got that off of my chest.  I've had bad experiences with the Waco TX store before, but I decided to give them another chance.  I got there about 5-10 minutes before the store opened.  There were only 7-8 people there waiting.  I got in line and stood patiently.  When I got up to the front they asked if I had my coupon.  I'm thinking: WTF?  It turns out that a guy from the store had handed out these little homemade coupons about 2 hours before the store opened to everyone hanging out outside.  He had 1 coupon per pre-order.  So those of us that showed up at the time the store opened to stand in line were out of luck.  The people that got coupons could come back and actually complete the preorder whenever they wanted to.

Here's the problem I have with this:
1) I called EBGames' corporate office and this is NOT their policy and they were unaware of this.
2) It was in no way advertised that we needed to come early to get a coupon.  It was almost as if the jerks working there told all their buddies and other Ebay hounds.  I'm not going to speculate beyond that, but it just seemed suspicious.
3) And it REALLY pisses me off that I ended up standing in line for 30 minutes before the jerk asked about a coupon.  You'd think he would've told people standing in line about it.
4) I had called EBGames every week for a month and talked to them YESTERDAY and was never told about the coupons.

I was promised a call back from the district manager.  Corporate was not happy to hear about these goings on and told me they would check into it.  I'll get back on and post a follow-up whenever I hear something.

Nevertheless, I will *NOT* be going back to EBGames.  They have done nothing but piss me off.
 

[Neodymium]

Quote
Originally posted by: Smash_Brother
As of now, I might be pulling an all-nighter...

Dammit, dammit, dammit...

I'm so unbelievably upset.

[Smash_Brother]

Quote
Originally posted by: Neodymium

Quote
Originally posted by: Smash_Brother
As of now, I might be pulling an all-nighter...

Dammit, dammit, dammit...

I'm so unbelievably upset.

Just to clear it up, I didn't pull an all-nighter, but I was right to head to GS at 7:30.

[Smash_Brother]

Quote
Originally posted by: KDR_11kIt worked for the 360 why shouldn't it work for a console that ships many more units?

Umm, what?

Last I remember, the 360 suffered shortages all over the place and wasn't even that popular at launch.

The Wii has more units, but people who don't know what a console IS know about the Wii and know about it despite not ever appearing on a TV commercial anywhere yet.

[couchmonkey]

We shall see about all this.  If I have trouble getting a Wii on launch day I will eat my words, but at this rate it's too late for me to get in on preorders anyway.

Note to pap64: Nintendo did not say it will have 11 million by the end of the year.  Analysts said it could.  That said, if those analysts know anything then Nintendo could increase shipments this year if it turns out to be a huge hit.

[KDR_11k]

Germany (85)

Not anymore AHAHAHAHAHA!

I never thought that the Gamestop Empire had more stores then Walmart...

The reason is simple, Wal-Mart operates at most one store per town while Gamestop sometimes has 2-3 per city.