Game Releases and what it all means!

[CWLGAMER01 39]

A lot of rumors are going around about pre-orders/pre-sales/downloading, etc.

I want to address these rumors and educate everyone on this system as best I can. I have worked in the retail side of the gaming industry for over 10 years. I have worked for Target, GameStop, EB Games, and Play N Trade. I just want to share my knowledge of the trends relating to releasing a game.

A few definitions that will help you:

                Developer – the company programming the game (Monte Cristo, Maxis, are good examples)

                Publisher – the company that publishes the game for the developer ** Sometimes it is the same as the developer** (Electronic Arts, Activision, Microsoft)

                Distributor – the company that distributes the game to retailers **Sometimes the publisher will work directly with a retailer if they are large enough – most of the time they only work through distributors who in turn sell to a retailer. They are sometimes also known as a fulfillment service if the publisher is distributing the game themselves** (Video Products Distributors, INGRAM, TMP Direct)

                Retailer – the company you purchase the software from. (GameStop, Amazon, Wal-Mart, Direct 2 Drive, etc)

                Consumer – the person making the purchase from the retailer.

First we have 2 types of releases. First is a “street dated” title with a “firm” date to be released. Second is a “release dated” title.

Let’s begin with the street dated game. A street dated game has a date set by the publisher/developer that dictates to retailers when they may place the software of the shelf and make it available to consumer to purchase. Games that have “firm” street dates typical will arrive at the store a few days before the street date. Most game do not use this method but it is becoming more common now due to fairness in competition between larger stores (GameStop/Best Buy/etc.) and smaller, mom-pop type stores (Play N Trade). Some examples of street dated titles include Halo 3, Gears of War 2, World of Warcraft, Grand Theft Auto IV, SimCity 4, etc. These games all arrived at the retail store several days before the actual street date. Typically if the date falls on a weekend as a rule of thumb -- then the software has a street date. Most Nintendo developed/published titles (i.e. Mario, Zelda, etc) all have street dates and typically the date will fall on a Sunday. Violations of street dates can cause a lot of trouble for retailers and game distributors. Most of the time the retailer can be fined and even made to where they can no longer have street dated titles ahead of the street date.

Now let’s look at the games I call “release date” titles. These games can be sold when they arrive in the store – it’s that simple – really. Most games fall within this category. A game company (developer/publisher) will set a date when they are attempting to get the coding finished for the game. It may be May 2, 2009. What happens is the game is then released on May 2 – but it must ship from the developer/publisher to the distributor and then to the retailer. What this means is the May 2^nd date is the release date and the in store date would be May 3, 2009. Sometimes however the retailer is not large enough to buy directly from the publisher and must by from a distributor – that adds another day so now the “in-store” date becomes May 3^rd.

From what I can tell Monte Cristo is using a “street date” system to set a time when servers come online and a “release date” for the software (since they say October 8-9). This means the game is shipping now to mail-orders, distributors, and retailers. If you ordered the game directly from their website they are using a fulfillment company to send the game (TMP Direct) so you should get yours before October 8-9 or before servers go live. If you ordered via download that also should be available before or near servers going live. The main thing to remember is they are trying to get the software to pre-orders before the street date/release date. A pre order however does not mean you get to play the game early. It just give you a chance to have the game on the release date/street date.

Please ask questions if you have them – but I hope this help clear up a lot of issues with distribution…..

 

Thanks!

[JakeMD 107]

Excellent help, thanks for posting this!

[Craig-Abcvs 1,595]

Thank you for a sensible explaination.

OK we don't need a new topic stated by every one who wants to talk about the release so please standby...

Incoming threads...

[Lunnatic 0]

Ok, so there i was working and i got a phone call from the wonderful UPS man, your game has arrived! YAY!!!

Anywho i rush home, install, and get a message saying the game is being released on the 8th and 9th, hmmmm thats funny because before the site went down so they could feed the hamsters it alwasy said the 7th and 8th, and i assume everyone pre-ordered on the pretext that it would be released on 7th/8th. I know its only a day, but i read a post earlier where a guy had organised a day off owrk for the 8th which was now changed

Other than that, cant wait

[TBD-TooBusyDisorder 0]

I never heard of the game being available on the 7th; I've only heard of the 8th and 9th. Strange...

Anyways, like you said, it's only a day. Hold your horses.

[Lunnatic 0]

Aye too true, but im sure there was the 7th. anywho, i wonder will it go live from midnight GMT, as in like 40mins from now?

[hanskamp 1]

I could type what was in my confirmation e-mail:

We're pleased to confirm your pre-order of Cities XL Limited Edition.

We will send you your download links for the game via email the moment they are available then, on the day of release, the 08/10/2009 at 00:01, you'll get an email with your activation key.

The first bold part is from the confirmation e-mail.

The second bold part is not, but came from me, to emphasize my point here.

I will wait until 01:00 (GMT + 2) (I live in the Netherlands, so it is 2 hours later than GMT). If I haven't received anything, I will go to sleep, and see at 6:45 whether things arrived.

[hanskamp 1]

BINGO! I just got mail with the URL and the Activation Key!!

[dewdew 0]

I ordered here in the US, and no key for me yet no game for that matter either

[Craig-Abcvs 1,595]

Remember guys...

No posting of Activation keys anywhere on the public forums!

[Abc987 3]

Here's a quick question for the OS or anyone else that thinks they might know.

Does the amount of time before the release date you preorded the game affect when you'll get it? In other words, I ordered mine just now (The day/2 days before release). Does that mean that someone who preordered several months ago will get their copy a wee bit sooner than I will? I presume it will just be the same, and things will only differ due to shipping difficulties, but I can't be sure.

Also, I live in the U.S. Does that mean that the copy should arrive on the 9th? Or will it be here on the 8th? Or either? Thanks for any help.

[CWLGAMER01 39]

Originally posted by: jrhnemo

Here's a quick question for the OS or anyone else that thinks they might know.

Does the amount of time before the release date you preorded the game affect when you'll get it? In other words, I ordered mine just now (The day/2 days before release). Does that mean that someone who preordered several months ago will get their copy a wee bit sooner than I will? I presume it will just be the same, and things will only differ due to shipping difficulties, but I can't be sure.

Also, I live in the U.S. Does that mean that the copy should arrive on the 9th? Or will it be here on the 8th? Or either? Thanks for any help.quote>

Typically it does not matter when you pre-order a game because the store/fulfillment company is awaiting the shipment and they will in turn send those out once they come in.  This can matter however on "tightly" allocated product..... Which I describe below.  The retailer prefers you do it sooner than later as "most" of the time pre-orders determine what allocation that particular store will get.  The major players in the retail side of the game industry have many formulas they use to determine how many games they "should" sale at release based upon pre-orders.  They in turn can show this number to the publisher/distributor to get better pricing or even get what we call a ”Gift with Purchase” item to be given away to pre-order customers.  An example may be GameStop store 10 has 100 pre-orders of Madden 2010.  Store 25 has only 50.  In this case store 10 would receive perhaps 100 to cover all pre-orders and an additional 50 to account for walk-in customers.  Store 25 on the other hand may only get 60 total.  50 for preorders and 10 for walk-ins.  This is one reason you are always bombarded about pre-ordering game -- the store management team’s performance is tied to sales which in turn is tied to pre-orders/pre-sales.

The end result of pre-ordering helps all parties involved.  It helps forecast better demand for the software so the publisher knows perhaps how well the sales will be, helps retail to better plan allocations to separate stores and budget needs based on sale through, and the consumer comes out on top because of any extras that may be included plus the guarantee of the game at release.  Some titles are what we call "allocated" meaning only enough to cover pre-orders.  And the dreaded "under - allocation" occurs when there are not enough items to cover all pre-orders (happens mostly with systems and hardware however - it can with game also).

CitiesXL preorder incentive was $10.00 off limited edition for pre-ordering -- that’s in addition to the items included -- because the game will revert back to $49.99 upon release more than likely.  Some games have these incentives while some do not.  A game like "Call of Duty" may not have the incentive because it has a very loyal install base already.

As far as the US release -- the date they have indicated seems to correspond to their time zone (Paris, France I believe) so if that is the case -- then we will be able to begin play at 12:01 Paris time on the 8th.  Just IMO...... not a fact!!

Does this make sense??

Any other questions??

[Lunnatic 0]

Has anyone actually been able to play the game yet? Ive got my copy through snail mail and installed and everything, the 0:01 on the 8th came and went with no server up and the website still down so i assume we must wait until 0:01 on the 9th for them to come up and become playable??

[gnomonite 0]

I have a question.

I ordered my game from the citiesXL website on the 7th of Oct. How do game studios plan for last minute pre-orders? How do they make sure the fulfillment company mails the pre-ordered game to the person so that it reaches no later than the release date?

[CWLGAMER01 39]

Originally posted by: gnomonite

I have a question.

I ordered my game from the citiesXL website on the 7th of Oct. How do game studios plan for last minute pre-orders? How do they make sure the fulfillment company mails the pre-ordered game to the person so that it reaches no later than the release date?quote>

Good question.

Most people confuse the actual pre-order and what it means.  Pre-ordering gives the publisher direction on how many copies they need at lunch basically..... this is putting in simple.  You have many different "layers' to this process as I outlined above.  What happens (and I am being basic here) is the developer will give the finalized code (we call this going "gold") to the publisher to print the disc and place them into packaging it has designed (the packaging may been chosen months before or could even be modified before lunch).  They print "X" amount of games based on current pre-order trends and their own projections of sell through.  The easy part is a game that only has a disc and basic material with it.  They can print these in one factory.  When you add an accessory to the mix it becomes worse because "often" times the two items (game disc or accessory) will be made in two different factories and may even be in different countries.  A great example of this would be hardware (Wii, PS3, etc) while a game example would be (Wii Fit, Mario Kart Wii).  This is one reason these times are slightly more difficult to find at release and after.

So the short answer to your question is -- The publisher will have a certain amount of copies above any pre-orders they have and projected will be the optimal amount for the market.  The other factor is the actual "cut-off" for preorders -- this would be the date right "before" actual arrival of the game.  For instance let’s say you walked into a GameStop at 10AM on Wednesday May 2 and GameStop is getting a brand new game in you want on that day -- but the game has not arrived in the store yet because UPS delivers at 11:15AM.  You "could" pay the $5.00 and "pre-order" the game at that time and wait for the game to arrive at 11:15AM.  The manager may tell you not to worry however because they have "plenty of copies".  The thing to remember is "pre-order" just means you have interest in the game and are "planning" to purchase it from this particular place.  Some people fill more comfortable knowing that their pre-order actual means you have a copy reserved for you -- but in the end it means -- really one thing -- a way for the store/fulfillment company/ publisher to "project" sell through upon release and interest in the game.  Because of this -- the retailer will order enough copies so everyone pre-ordering will get one...... hope this helps.

What they do not want is to oversaturate the market place -- so another reason everyone looks and likes for you to pre-order games.

"Over saturation" has occurred before in the Video Game industry and that’s why publishers are less eager to over saturate today.  This caused the video game crash of 1983 in North America -- ended the second generation of gaming and the market did not recover in North America until 1987 (although it was Nintendo and Sega that turned the tie - both Japan based companies).

Quote from Wikipedia:

There were several reasons for the crash, but the main cause was super saturation of the market with dozens of consoles and hundreds of mostly low-quality games. Hundreds of games were in development for the 1983 release alone, and this overproduction resulted in a saturated market without the consumer interest it needed.

 

The American video game crash had two long-lasting results. The first result was that dominance in the home console market shifted from the United States to Japan. When the video game market recovered by 1987, the leading player was Nintendo’s NES, with a resurgent Atari battling Sega for the number two spot. Atari, never truly recovering, could not manage to match the success of its 2600 console and finally stopped producing game systems in 1996 after the failure of the Atari Jaguar. Japanese control of the North American market continued for over a decade.

As far as your second question -- this is the marvel of "free markets" and competition.  If the process works properly (the capitalist process) then you end up with a fulfillment company that has competition and cannot afford to "mess" up your particular order.  The other factor is also the actual "delivery" system (USPS, DHL, UPS, FedEx, etc).  These companies are the step between the fulfillment service and you when you order for home delivery (also for retailers for it to arrive inside the store). 

Many times retailers will have an entire office dedicated to this process to ensure no hiccups are there.  It is just one of "many" pieces of the process that goes into the actual release of software.  Most managers in the specialty game stores (GameStop) are privy to the importance of their customers getting the games as soon as they release.  I spent many of day on the phone with FedEx or UPS reciting tracking numbers to find out where my stores boxes where.......  it also helps to go in and know your manager so they can give you "insider" information about when they expect software to arrive.  You must understand the system works quickly and is efficient but sometimes things happen beyond the control of the store or the publisher for that matter.

Either way you can be assured that the publishers/retails take this very seriously as they do not wish to loss a customer -- especially in the retail side because competition is so high....... not so much on the publishing side -- because we will buy a game we like..... Make sense???

[Craig-Abcvs 1,595]

 

--Liv