Luke Plunkett is an idiot.

The opinion written in this blog is of MY own, and not the company I represent, or anyone else.

Alright, many of you probably don't know who this person is, but he has gotten under my skin with a recent article from kotaku.com (http://kotaku.com/5909105/stop-preordering-video-games-please?tag=gamestop) about the way to help fight back against the video game industry, and their business practices. This gentleman obviously does not like GameStop (full disclosure, My employer), however, he goes a step farther, in blasting them and THEIR practices about requesting customers preorder games, and stopping the insanity of the bonuses people receive by doing so. He also states that "many" titles have gone over the 1 million preorder mark. 

In an industry where the consumer is increasingly NOT going to somewhere to speak to a person, and is trying to avoid social interaction with the likes of Amazon, GameStop has been a company where they have done everything in their power to drive people back to the stores.

Just using raw information (and available data on the internet, nothing insider about this), GameStop sells downloadable content MORE than the manufacturer of the product (Sony, Microsoft, etc).

GameStop does not ask for exclusives on the titles coming out, the publishers GO TO THEM....know why? Because GameStop sells MORE of their games than anyone else. Sure, sometimes, the developer wants someone to BUY the incentive (Robin from Bestbuy for Arkham City), and GameStop turns down the offer, and takes a simpler option, but exclusives are not going anywhere if you stop preordering, they will just become MORE RARE...MORE COLLECTIBLE...and cost the consumer MORE MONEY...you know, like the Golden Lancer that was given away at GameStop for Preordering Gears of War 2.

Exclusives make you go somewhere...look at specialty retailers in any field. Certain movies are only available on Blu-Ray from BestBuy...so you HAVE to buy it there. Comic books have variant covers ONLY available at Comic Shops so that you support the direct market, and not buy them somewhere else, and video games have it to make you want to buy it sooner, SO THE PUBLISHER PRINTS ENOUGH...remember Dead Island last year and how hard it was to find.

Here are some facts...

only 8 titles EVER have been 1 million or more presells before 2012, with Halo 3 being the first, and the most recent being Modern Warfare 3 (again, no data is being used from 2012)

Publishers offer the bonuses as a way to appease the retailer, but the retailers in question all PAY for the incentives (normally between $4-6 each pass)

Retailers order based on what is preordered (math here: if you have 10 preorders on Madden, you will only get 15 copies with a 150% order vs. reserve, thus decreasing stock, restock, and overall sales in an already struggling industry. Most games would not have a 150% OvR, either, for untested titles, ie Dead Island, there may have been a 110%, meaning no extra copies and out of stocks A LOT...remember SKYLANDERS last year?)

As much as websites like Kotaku BASH GameStop particularly, their customer service scores, based on an outside firm doing the research, is about 10% over the CORPORATE WORLD AVERAGE in making people enjoy their time in the store, and recommending to others.

Here's y problem with this person. He just wants someone or something to be angry with, and probably because he wasn't going to buy TWO copies of a game to get both golden weapons. Face the cold hard truth here...consumers ALLOWED microtransactions to be a success, and therefore, it's here to stay. Call of Duty Elite sold more than 4 million subscriptions for something MOST would claim consumers should have been given for free (and in previous generations WOULD HAVE BEEN).

Luke, WE as gamers ALLOWED the business to change, and it's fluid. It will not go back to where it was, it can't. That doesn't exist anymore. Preordering allows you to get what you want from where you want. If you change your mind, get your money back...it IS that simple.

Quit blaming a retailer for changing with the time, and start blaming yourself.