First come, first served.

[Tycho]

I had prepaid to reserve a copy of TOTK, and the "gift" months before the release date. However when the time came to pick it up I was told that since Nintendo sent about half as many "gifts" as reservations, the store had run out, I got nothing! Never pre-ordering anything again!!! First come, first serve limited supply is one thing for a spontaneous promotion, like a table at a Con, but when there's a monetarial expectation, that you get goods rendered, it's unacceptable not to deliver on a promise.

 

[Bowsette Plus-Ultra]

I'm glad you learned the never pre-order lesson. I wish everyone would.

 

[VikzeLink]

I'm glad you learned the never pre-order lesson. I wish everyone would.

I mean, that depends on the store. I've never had any problems with pre-ordering here in Sweden, as all the places I've done it at ALWAYS set the things you pre-ordered aside for you. No one else can get it, it has your name on it.

 

[Bowsette Plus-Ultra]

I mean, that depends on the store. I've never had any problems with pre-ordering here in Sweden, as all the places I've done it at ALWAYS set the things you pre-ordered aside for you. No one else can get it, it has your name on it.

For me it's mostly the matter of paying for a game in advance. I despise the practice of pre-ordering video games, because it rewards publishers for doing nothing. It's especially egregious if you're pre-ordering something digitally, since there's no limit on the number of digital products.

 

[Daku Rinku]

I remeber the days when the Pre-Order always garanteed you a copy of the game. Back in the golden age of gaming.

 

[VikzeLink]

For me it's mostly the matter of paying for a game in advance. I despise the practice of pre-ordering video games, because it rewards publishers for doing nothing. It's especially egregious if you're pre-ordering something digitally, since there's no limit on the number of digital products.

I get that, and I'd never pre-order something that I don't know anything about. But Nintendo-stuff (and especially Zelda) feels like it's a safe bet that it'll be good and you're just ensuring that you get what you want

 

[Bowsette Plus-Ultra]

I get that, and I'd never pre-order something that I don't know anything about. But Nintendo-stuff (and especially Zelda) feels like it's a safe bet that it'll be good and you're just ensuring that you get what you want

For me it's all or nothing. No game developer is beyond reproach. I used to think Bioware was the king of RPG Mountain, but then Mass Effect 3 came out and it was a fast and sudden descent.

It's mostly that you just shouldn't pay for something in advance. When you pre-order a game you're rewarding a publisher for doing nothing. If people stopped pre-ordering then we'd see a marked decline in publishers pushing out unfinished products they hope to patch into a finished state later.

That and game stores are almost always guaranteed to have a copy of the game you want. If you walk into a game store during the launch of something like Tears of the Kingdom I can promise you they have more than enough copies in stock to sate everyone likely to enter their store.

 

[A Link In Time]

Preorders should absolutely be honored, and it's a shame that some companies don't adequately prepare for the demand. For as shady as companies like Limited Run Games are, at least they honor preorder guarantees even if it takes them an incredibly long time to ship out certain games.

 

[GrooseIsLoose]

I had prepaid to reserve a copy of TOTK, and the "gift" months before the release date. However when the time came to pick it up I was told that since Nintendo sent about half as many "gifts" as reservations, the store had run out, I got nothing! Never pre-ordering anything again!!! First come, first serve limited supply is one thing for a spontaneous promotion, like a table at a Con, but when there's a monetarial expectation, that you get goods rendered, it's unacceptable not to deliver on a promise.

Same thing happened to me. Canceled the order, and bought it. Waiting for my aunt to bring it over

 

[Ganondorf]

For me, I always assumed the pre-order ONLY meant you were putting down a payment for the GAME... not any other bonuses (assuming physical goods & not digital which should not be limited in quantity until the redemption period online is over, blah), because those supplies are always hugely limited in every store. To get your bonus, you had to pre-order & make sure you got there physically to ensure any other bonuses, as stores only got a limited quantity. Usually only like 5-10 of those things, I've noticed. Massive "collectors" stuff with statues, even less so, a location may only get like 1-3 of those huge boxes depending on where you live, if any, depending on their suppliers.

I never assume I am going to get my bonus extra unless I show up extremely early & then they still somehow tell me I can't get it when nobody else has shown up. I've never assumed I HAVE to get any bonuses unless it's a download code that is SUPPOSED to be inside my game & for some mysterious reason isn't... due to Gamestop I know removing those in some cases. Confirmed from my roommate who used to work there, they WILL do that & that majorly sucks. It especially was common with 3DS Pokemon games with bonuses. However... here's the thing. Sometimes employees just do not care. They set aside stuff randomly, say, the 20 units of stickers+keyring they get to 20 people & the 50 other people who pre-ordered just get their game because that's all they got! OR... they hand them out to first come, first served, as you said. I've certainly shown up a few times for a game, didn't even know they had a bonus, & an employee gave it to me anyway. This happened with Pokemon a lot. I never preordered them since they always were in huge supply where I live due to the popularity of Pokemon. I also didn't really think about how I was functionally "taking away" someone's pre-order bonus because an employee shoved a journal, Lugia figurine or sticker sheet in my bag when I was buying my game a day or two after release. Sometimes stuff just happens? I dunno.

Anyway I never think that a pre-order absolutely guarantees me any sort of physical goods bonus because that is just kind of silly to assume to me personally. Maybe it guaranteed it like 10+ years ago, but absolutely not now with now limited those always seem to be at any location? I'm sorry you missed out.

 

[Vanessa28]

I hardly pre-order a game. The only time I did was with MM3D which came together with my 3DSXL and with HW legends for the 3DS. Over here there are plenty of copies available when a game is released. Same with TotK. My husband ordered it for me 1 week prior to the release date and no problems at all.