Kotaku
If you live in the United Kingdom, getting your hands on a copy of Grand Theft Auto IV at the end of this month may be a bit of a challenge, if retailers are to be believed. UK shops GAME, GameStation and Play.com have told trade pub MCV that they're already at or are nearing pre-order capacity. It's the kind of good sell-out news that's either drafted by the marketing department at Rockstar Games or designed by some clever ad men to ramp up pre-orders. Or it's true and you're screwed, UK!
It's good news for Rockstar and Take-Two's respective bankrolls, but it might be even better for Sony, as retailers tell MCV that GTA IV is "a real hardware driver already" for the PlayStation 3. Glad to see someone's making some money. Champagne and call girls for everyone!
Comments
Damn I hope for my case this doesn't reflect US preorders. I won't be able to preorder Gta 4 until this weekend.
Wow, this truly is GTAIV month.
I never buy from there anyway. Amazon all the way. The other ones all overprice. £45 for Uncharted? Fuck you, GAME. Amazon sold it for £35 since day 1.
/rant
I normally deplore preordering any games, because it just encourages Gamestop to, via their dead-inside employees, keep badgering me inccessantly about "Do you want to preorder anything. ANYTHING!? ANYTHING AT ALL PLEASE PREORDER DO OUR JOBS FOR US PREORDER NOW!"
But I just might do it with this one, for the sole purpose of it actually selling out. It may just happen this time.
/probably just go to Best Buy anyway...
GTAIV, I will have some good times with you.
No matter what, even with the split in consoles, I believe GTAIV is going to sell in the Halo 3 levels on the 360.
[vgchartz.com]
I have the incredible feeling Ill still be able to walk into Frys the day it releases and buy just like I always do with games that are "going to totally sell out".
"It's the kind of good sell-out news that's either drafted by the marketing department at Rockstar Games or designed by some clever ad men to ramp up pre-orders"
I wonder which it could be...
This isn't a ploy - my local Gamestation stopped taking pre-orders a week ago :(
I need to reserver this immediately I think. I can't decide If I want to get it for playstation or xbox. All my friends will be on xbox, I recon that is the best way to go.
@PapaBear434: That's the thing that's weird. Gamestop always has a problem of never having enough copies of popular games in stock but Best Buy never seems to have that problem unless they are limited editions. Limited editions usually sell out everywhere no matter the chain.
Hmmm, hardly surprising really. Especially with Game offering Microsoft points with all 360 pre-orders. All will be ok in the end though. I haven't pre-ordered GTA yet and to be honest I'm not going to, I've got too much of a games backlog as it is, so I'll wait.
It'll be tough for those who are desperate to get the game on release day, but it's nothing for those that aren't too bothered about waiting an extra week.
All will be ok. After all, the chances of the game sucking are practically nil...
Guess DLC isn't that important.
Thank God I preordered last week.
@Cruithne: Yeah same here, preordred a week ago, and if this is true then i am all the happier for it. cant wait.
I remember buying the very last copy of Vice City in Birmingham on launch day.
the last game i ever bought new without pre-ordering, calling up stores all day is not fun at all.
Hearing this confrirms my happyness that I am a stock holder in Take Two...Sucks for the Brits though. Thats why many stores offer pre-orders...should wait around to get such a big game.
This doesn't surprise me, I nearly didn't get San Andreas because it was pre-ordered out about a month before release. Luckily I knew a guy who worked at HMV and managed to get a copy from there on day 1. I was prepared this time and preordered it a month ago.
@NitrousO: Exactly. There were so many extra copies of Brawl laying around every store I went to on the release day.
@Accordion: Jesus I remember doing shit like that. Since back home we would always get so screwed over with shipments and such.
Will it be one of those cases where its in stores on the 29th or its shipped out on the 29th?
O noes, this will force Rockstar to...print more copies!
Is that even possible?
Grand Theft Auto always has a street date, and will be put out on the 29th. Of course there will be a midnight release at various stores too.
ps. Crazy UK.
I called in at my local Blockbuster on my way home, and they have stopped taking pre-orders on the PS3 version. Obviously it's anybodys guess as to whether the game is selling more on the PS3, or Blockbuster ordered less of the PS3 version...
This is what Microsoft have to be careful of. Sony selling its system means that MS failed to get them all in their side, but of course it IS the UK we're talking about. Don't they love the Sony brand?
@shab:
I didn't even know Blockbuster offered pre-orders. Do they actually sell you the game?
I bought a 360 today from Zavvi because I got so worked up about GTAIV. I'll be going back in to preorder GTA and get the 3 months Live Gold membership next week I think. Hopefully though this might make me jump into action at the weekend.
Though Xbox360 Pro + Halo3, Mass Effect, PGR4 and Lost Odyssey for £210 get in.
Not to start another console war, but wouldn't this be the first time a PS3 game won't be easily available to customers on release day? It seems (at least here in Canada) that every time a new game comes out, the XBox version sells out while the PS3 version fills the shelves.
So I'm guessing they already have their unit allocations. That, or they're just playing it safe and stopping preorders at a reasonable number.
@ goldwings: No, we don't love Sony. However, we do hate consoles that fail at the drop of a hat....
@NitrousO: yeah same, whenever there is a new game, on release day i always go into GAME and they've got loads of copies in that glass cabinet and tones more in the back
@ NeoStarr: It seems to be the opposite here [of late anyway.
@NeoStarr: Well, think about it for a second. What other PS3 game (exclusive or not) that's come out was a big as GTA IV is?
I preordered mine the other day at Target, you get a free GTA 4 skin for the 360 or PS3
@shab: Ah touché
Well I pre-ordered mine about 2 years ago with Play.com, so if they give me any shit about not having enough copies I'll be really pissed.
I pre-ordered with Play.com just over a year ago.
I've heard that soon they will stop taking pre-orders soon.
EA, should have paid more for T2...now sit in the side line and cry cause you can't have T2.
@ goldwings: To a certain extent your initial comment was correct, a lot of gamers in this country show brand loyalty toward Sony. On the other hand those loyal to the 360 are FEROCIOUSLY loyal...
Our UK chums really like their GTA4 and PS3 together.
Perhaps it's time for a group hug.
@NeoStarr:
in France Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 on PS3 was out of stock in the 2 first weeks.
it'll be sad if it succeeds on the PS3 because CLEARLY, Sony's boss said (before the launch of PS3) that they DO NOT need GTA and that GTA is finished.. Let's just hope that it'll push console sales for the 360, where Microsoft actually put efforts to secure GTA.
@reptile168: Like they did for the majority of their exclusives, bt ferociously throwing money around.
@reptile168: Microsoft didn't do anything to secure GTA, Sony didn't give Rockstar the money they asked for to be exclusive, so Rockstar made it multiplatform. All MS did was pay 50 million to get exclusive DLC.
360 version is going to sell great, so will the PS3 version. Europe favors the PS3 in majority of territories, it's simple as that.
how the hell can they be low on GTAIV if the damn game isn't out yet? Hell has T2 even started printing the game yet? Oh and screw this for now, I'll wait for the PC version.
this is going to sell more than HALO 3 because its on both platforms
Bwahahaha! Pre-orders make Cola happy. Happy, happy, happy.
MORE GOOD NEWS FOR US BRITS.
i call BS on this claim. think about it: we are no longer in an era of catridges...it's not like publishers lose money on overproduction of disks like they lost money on overproduction of cartridges...not to mention the amount of time to produce disks...
*hugs pre-order ticket for GTA4*
@bubuli: They still have to actually produce the discs you know. A huge game like this I can see selling out no matter what. Unless they printed 7 billion discs.
In the unlikely event that you can't get this on opening day...would waiting a week kill you? Toughen up, people.
Its definately true, but I doubt all pre-orders are going to be collected. When I went in to buy GoW:CoO they offered 10% extra on all trade-ins if, and only if, I pre-ordered GTA4, when I protested saying that I had no interest in it what-so-ever, they informed me that I had no obligation to buy and this 10% offer applies until the game comes out.
Now with Rock Band pushed firmly out of my grasp, hours of senseless mayhem and destruction doesn't sound too bad. I just hope I can collect my pre-order.