Preordering a game: Amazondotcom or Walmartdotcom?

[Fiery Diamond]

So I'm looking to preorder Tales of Arise, which comes out on the 10th. Yeah, I probably should have done so earlier, but I didn't realize that the game stores I was hoping to purchase it from on release day had gone out of business. Anyway. Because my local Walmart is useless when trying to find out whether they will have a video game in stock or not before the actual day, I'm planning to order online. I'm trying to decide between Amazon and Walmart. I was originally going to do Amazon, but I saw something unusual on Walmart's website, so I wanted to know what experience people have had with preordering on the two sites.

Question: If you preorder, does it SHIP on the release day, or ship to ARRIVE on the release day (assuming you preorder enough in advance)? I would have assumed the former, but Walmart's website says "Arrives by September 10," which is release day. I'm also having trouble confirming that it's the physical disc (I'm assuming it is, which is what I want, since it doesn't specify digital download). Can anyone with experience with preordering from these websites clarify for me?

Thanks in advance, playgrounders.

[Rynjin]

If you want to preorder a game (which you shouldn't) it's always best to preorder for in-store pickup if you want to make sure you can play it day-of.

[tomandtish]

OFFICIALLY, if you're preordering a physical copy of something with a release date, it ships on the release date. There are potential liability issues with it getting out early, and you can never guess how quick (or not) something is actually going to ship.

Having said that there have been times when I've gotten items (usually books) before the release date. But never from wither of those two.

[Anonymouswizard]

My experience with Amazon preorders, except for one book witch went missing, is that they ship to the final warehouse a day or two in advance, and then it arrives on release day (although I know that occasionally it arrives sightly before or after).

I believe, officially, that before it's in the van they're just moving stock around, not shipping it.

That said over only pre-ordered books from smaller companies via them, I don't know if bigger corporations can get them to delay shipping to release date.


Do you remember the kerfuffle when a load of course of The Testaments (I think that's the name? The Handmaid's Tale sequel) arrived a couple of weeks before the release date? Sure, some of those were legitimate advance copies*, but the majority were just the result of Amazon making a mistake when trying to deliver on release day

* Whoever wrote the BBC radio adaptation must have had one, forinstance.

[Fiery Diamond]

Thanks for your replies!

I think I'm gonna go ahead and do amazon, simply because I already have an account with them and I'm still a little unsure about Walmart's stuff.

As for the first person to reply: Walmart appears to specifically not have that available for preordering this item, oddly. Also, I'm betting you come from a high-population area - I wasn't originally going to preorder until I discovered I might have to travel at least 45 minutes away from my hometown to find a place that would probably have it (and I get lost super easy, and don't actually know the location of the potential store). All the closer stores closed due to Covid. My local Walmart probably won't have it on release day, and even if it does there's no way for me to find out in advance since the employees here never know what games will be shipped to them beforehand (lack of communication or not, that's the way it is).

[Rynjin]

Also, I'm betting you come from a high-population area - I wasn't originally going to preorder until I discovered I might have to travel at least 45 minutes away from my hometown to find a place that would probably have it (and I get lost super easy, and don't actually know the location of the potential store).

Depends what you figure is "high population". ~500k people in the county, I'm about an hour out from the nearest major city.

Definitely higher population than some places I've lived, but a lot lower than others.

[Fiery Diamond]

Depends what you figure is "high population". ~500k people in the county, I'm about an hour out from the nearest major city.

Definitely higher population than some places I've lived, but a lot lower than others.

Well, given that my county is approximately 30k and I don't even know where the closest "major city" is (probably not in my state, actually - I'm relatively close the the state border, and I know nothing about the cities outside my state and all the big ones in my state are on the other side of my state), I'm gonna go with "Yes, that's high population," at least by my standards.

[Rynjin]

Well, given that my county is approximately 30k and I don't even know where the closest "major city" is (probably not in my state, actually - I'm relatively close the the state border, and I know nothing about the cities outside my state and all the big ones in my state are on the other side of my state), I'm gonna go with "Yes, that's high population," at least by my standards.

I will say my experience was not appreciably different living in a county with a population of 24k (it...MAY have been higher before they bulldozed half my hometown to put in a 4 lane highway?), so it may be a state thing. Worst case scenario I'd have something shipped to Panama City and drive about 40-45 minutes to pick it up.

I'll be honest, it's a little odd for me to talk to someone who lives in a pretty small town area who's not sure where they "go to town" for stuff (shopping, entertainment, everything really). I've never lived in the midwest (where I'm guessing you are?) so I might be underestimating the isolation of those states.

[Peelee]

OFFICIALLY, if you're preordering a physical copy of something with a release date, it ships on the release date. There are potential liability issues with it getting out early, and you can never guess how quick (or not) something is actually going to ship.

Having said that there have been times when I've gotten items (usually books) before the release date. But never from wither of those two.

Really? When I pre-order stiff from Amazon (usually Star Wars books), they nearly always arrive at my house on release date exact.

Though your comment did remind me of that one time my friend and I got a copy of Guitar Hero Metallica like a week before release. Disconnected Xbox LIVE for that, I tell ya.

[Rynjin]

Sometimes they're on time, sometimes they're late. When I was working for a gaming news site I know I needed to swap to getting physical releases from stores (for consoles) because you can consistently get them in-store day of (or right before store close the day before) release day, where Amazon sometimes ships it to you like 3 days later.

It mostly depends on how huge of a release it is.