Your GameStop "Reservation" For GTA IV May Be Meaningless [GameStop]

[GamePoster]

We really hope that if you were one of the bazillions who threw down a tenner on a reserved copy of Grand Theft Auto IV at your local GameStop or EBGames, that you've already acquired your prize. If not, we wish you good luck and godspeed! An employee writes to us today about what he calls "some disturbing marching orders from corporate" that basically say that your pre-order doesn't guarantee your copy won't be sold to the next walk-in customer. In fact, "we are being told to specifically disregard our reservation customers, who have payed a deposit on this game in exchange for a guarantee of availability, for walk-in customers."
As you read, remember this is business, it's nothing personal. The alleged "marching orders" are after this.

GTA Walk-in Goals Attention District Managers:
As you are aware, GTA IV is going to be a huge seller for all retailers. We expect that this is going to be advertised in all the major Sunday circulars, and this is going to bring an influx of new customers to all stores.
Hosting midnight events gives us a huge advantage over our competitors ONLY if we commit to taking care of these new customers during this launch. In order to reward you and your stores for committing to selling to walk-in customers, we will be providing a walk-in goal for each store and DM on the regular editions only for GTA IV.
Your walk-in goals are calculated by multiplying your anticipated reservations by your historical Reservation Pick-up % on like titles. This amount is subtracted from your launch allocation to yield the amount of product that you can have set aside for walk-in customers. See below for the walk-in goals that have been set for your market. The number one district manager in each region in actual walk-in sales vs. goal will receive a $500 cash prize. The number one store in each region in walk-in sales vs. goal will be rewarded with a free copy of GTA IV regular edition for every associate on that store team.
Happy Selling!

Happy selling? I'm sure they're just beaming with joy! Hey, to some degree, we can understand. What the hell's taking you so long? Get over to GameStop already? On the other hand, aren't you going to burn bridges with your repeat customers, GameStop?
We hope that if you did put your money down for a pre-order that you've already picked up your copy. We also hope that you'll remember this the next time your pushed to pre-order from your lovable GameStop wage-slave. Thanks to our friends at GameStop for the heads up.

</img>
</img> </img> </img> </img>


More...