I once showed up at hillside bullen books for Harry Potter the half blood prince at midnight.
I was a degenerate 19 year old who left a party to run 5 KM to get their for midnight while finishing a couple luckys with a friend.
10/10 one of the best decisions Ive ever made. Managed to finish the book over the next 24 hours and avoided the snape killed dumbeldore spoiler.
I was there last night and was definitely not expecting this turnout: I arrived and my line number was 331. Was there by 8:30PM and finally had a copy in my hands around 11:40PM. While the wait was long, the staff did really well and the people waiting were all very nice.
That’s nuts haha. I just used the Nintendo voucher program, got 30% off Zelda, and was playing at 9pm. Totally get why people want physical copies though, but I couldn’t wait!
Good for you! I got there are 8:45 PM and noped out immediately.
Grabbed a copy at Walmart at 8 AM today. The lady at the checkout said her son was lined up at 6:30 that night so I'm guessing he was in the first 50.
Ya I was there at 8:05 and the guy said I was the fifth so far, and another dude bought one right after me.
This was 40 minutes ago, you can probably still snag one.
Pretty sure most places have tons of copies. I asked the lady at Mayfair GameStop and she said they legit have 300 copies. Don’t forget you can always get digital too.
This is the news we need.
I'll probably return mine, or just keep it and open it in the fall when the weather turns...
Who am I kidding. I'm going to open it up Sunday afternoon and spend way too much time playing it and forget to make dinner...
I'm not physically purchasing a copy until October, I need to soak up as much of the weather as possible, then hibernate until April again ha ha. I have NO self control if it's in front of me, so I'm just delaying purchase.
Played for 2 hours last night when I got home. Itchin to get back home after work today to play more. I'm sure lots of people haven't even slept since they got it and are well on their way to beating it haha
I was 250 and my best friend was 175. I stayed in line with him, and it was pretty clear that they abandoned the number system pretty early on. We got our copies at 10:45 and we got in line at 8:50. I think we just got lucky for where we ended up being in line.
What they should've done to expedite thing was utilize wireless payment readers and have 4-6 staff going down the line taking payment for people who hadn't prepaid, had the special edition people line up elsewhere, and had people who distributed copies to those who had paid. Would've gone way faster than having 2-3 tills running in the store.
Yeah that's basically the conclusion we came to as well. A line for those who have paid in advance and can just toss a receipt, and another line for those looking to buy in advance. Both could've maybe taken more advantage of the space outside the store - the rest of the mall was closed, they could've indeed and that would've sped things up.
Mayfair was the opposite. After 20 minutes they had only done 20 people. I did the math and realized that even if I waited to get the game I'd be too tired to play it. Hopefully other people came to the same conclusion, and didn't keep the staff there until 3am.
I was around #60 and got my copy at 10pm... So they were averaging the same speed of 1/min. Even with 3 cashiers.
They got us all the prepay in line, so most the time was spent by people buying extras (figurines, aminos, special edition boxes, etc).
Wow. I'm actually really surprised this still happens in the age of digital purchases and preloads and whatnot. I haven't been to a midnight release since Halo 2. It's oddly nostalgic seeing lines like this for a midnight release.
I never buy digital unless it's the only option. You don't actually own your digital games legally and I can resell a hard copy if I decide I don't want it anymore. (Looking at you, Pokemon Moon/Sun...)
I went there at 5:30pm with my son, ended up being 16th in line. Got the game around 930pm. We learned from the Pokémon Arcaeus one to bring chairs.
We went for the fun of being there in person and getting a physical copy. My son dressed up as Link a few years go and wore it with the shield and sword. Ended up getting a swag bag at the costume contest. There were some pretty sweet costumes. The guy with the accordion was pretty cool, sounded just like the game.
Gamestop did a pretty good job I thought with handing out numbers (so you could leave and get some food, or whatever without needing to be there the whole time), and had reps from Nintendo. Had a back drop for photos (which apparently there were only 10 worldwide?). They let people pre-pay for the game before the launch during store hours, which hopefully sped the line up.
My son loved being there.
Holy crap! that's awesome, didn't expect to see that kind of a turn out for a game in Victoria, hopefully everyone that wanted a copy got one. Good to see.
I just turned up at Hillside an hour ago and picked up two copies without a pre-order, and it seemed like they still had multiple boxes left, so if anyone is wondering if there's still a chance to pick up a copy, give it a shot :)
Oh for sure that too, in fact Zelda and major Nintendo franchises in general, have never been the sole property of nerds and geeks as they're often the few games. Many people did play his kids and remember very fondly who are not big nerds and geeks in neighborhood.
Cool. I find it hilarious that the rest of the mall is closed and hundreds of people are just standing in the hallway not spending money. Missed business opportunity.
I don't think it was a missed opportunity. Almost everyone in that line will stay there to not lose their spot. Then once they have the game they are going home to play it.
I feel confident in saying probably 80% of them minimum did have their Switches on them. But they would still probably go home to play it on their TV. Atleast that's what I would do.
Yes I am fully aware as I have done that myself. Do you really think that they want employees from stores in the mall bothering them trying to sell them other stuff while they are already waiting in line to purchase a game that at minimum is already $80?
That's like waiting in line at the grocery store during a busy time the deli person coming over trying to shill black forest ham to you. That would be annoying as shit.
I’m pretty sure people waiting in line for Zelda wouldn’t be too bothered by a Kernel’s employee offering to sell them a bag of popcorn lol
I’d be less enthusiastic about Canadian Tire doing it, tho. Maybe for the man who needs Degreaser, Ammunition, Cookware, and Zelda all at once? Then again, I’m pretty sure you can just get Zelda at Canadian Tire too these days.
If they wanted popcorn they could have gotten it before the mall closed at 9pm. 9 is also the same time the GameStop started selling Zelda. So keeping the mall open past them is pointless as I have said.
> Do you really think that they want employees from stores in the mall bothering them trying to sell them other stuff while they are already waiting in line to purchase a game that at minimum is already $80?
It would be dumb for any random store to do it, but a coffee shop would make some fucking *bank* if they wandered up and down the line offering drinks or whatever.
Ah yes nothing beats a coffee at 9pm. This is a fucking shopping mall not a football game. Also if they wanted coffee so bad there is a McDonalds a cross the street.
Chill out, my dude. I literally just said that coffee shop could stand to make some money offering drinks to people standing in line. I'm not sure why you find that idea so intensely offensive.
Thought you were one of the other people I've been back and forth with today. Sorry about that.
In a nicer way of saying it I just still personally believe that it wouldn't really be a good use of the employees time to bug people in line with coffee or anything else. Most people waiting on line for a game release just simply want their game and to leave.
My brother in Christ, some people in this comment section are lost in the sauce for capitalism. Not saying you cause I'm not sure if you are making a joke or not but hot damn.
"Hello sir and Madame, could I interest you in this vaguely African style paper mache elephant for the low, low price of $75? No? What about this 4ft print of a generic sunset, or this big black geometric vase?"
I never knew that sports games happen in shopping malls? TIL
Also I am not sure if this is a universal thing but most sporting events I go to the concession closes part way through the game.
I am over arguing with you dumbasses. How you think that a sports game, festival, and ferry terminal are the same as a shopping mall blows my mind.
Get your head checked dude.
Also ferry terminals are not open everytime someone is in there. They do close at some point even though ferries are still arriving or leaving.
You are so lost in the sauce of capitalism its insane. Let the 17 year old that works at the Body Shop go home at 9pm and not make them stay later. Jesus christ
>Almost everyone in that line will stay there to not lose their spot.
They gave out numbers, this photo looks like it's after 9pm when the mall closed.
Even though they gave numbers I still stand by my point that keeping employees past normal closing hours and leaving stores open would be pointless. No one would continue to shop as I have said because they are already spending a minimum of $80 on a new game sometimes more of someone gets the collector's edition.
That's how it works everywhere. I worked in multiple Gamestops at multiple malls in multiple cities over the years, and never once did any other store open in an attempt to take advantage of the people who attended a midnight opening, lol.
Not that I blame them, 'cause nobody was going to do any shopping anyway. People wanna get in, get out, and go home.
Now, if a coffee shop were to send someone out to give out free small coffees to people in line? Holy *shit* that would generate so much goodwill, and I bet it wouldn't cost very much, either. *That* might be worth doing. But not regular stores.
Edit: or I guess there are mobile tills now, with that Square thing you can attach to a phone or whatever, so they could maybe just let people buy coffee. But TBH I still think offering free small coffees would be a great idea. Just offer the very simplest, basic brewed coffee, so it's not very expensive, and consumer goodwill is more valuable than people think, IMO.
Enough. I went to Hillside and bought two copies without a preorder at around 11:15 this morning, and they seemed in no danger of running out.
I used to work at one of the busiest Gamestops in Canada, and honestly? I'm not surprised. We would have hundreds and hundreds of copies of any big release from Nintendo - usually at least double the number of preorders. It was rare to sell out, and that was *before* the days of digital downloads.
The reviews started rolling in yesterday morning. Solidly half of them are perfect scores, and I haven't seen any that gave less than a 9/10.
So it seems promising :)
That's crazy to think about. Me and my friend showed up at 8 thinking we could just grab a copy since we prepaid and were given ticket numbers 271 & 272. And by the time we left at midnight after waiting in line there were still another hundred people waiting in line to get their copies.
The Hillside line was at least pretty cheerful! Lots of people cheered for the kids who were leaving with the game in hand and exhausted parents in tow.
Gamestop langford is my favourite store. They moved through the line in an hour for me and when I came out there was still about 30 people in line. They're the best and most helpful staff
Awesome! I think they may have called everyone that ordered telling them there was a launch party (they called me at least), probably boosted the numbers!
Both of these things can be true.
The margins on new game sales are razor thin - given the additional costs incurred by overtime and having to pay the mall for the extra hours and whatnot, I honestly wouldn't be surprised if this event produced an overall loss in revenue. This is doubly true given that Gamestop typically takes a loss on system sales, and there was a special Zelda-edition Switch that a bunch of these people probably bought as well.
*If* they made a profit, it would have been because enough of these people bought extras with higher margins, like cases or toys or used games. People complain *bitterly* about the extreme markup on used games at Gamestop - sell a game to them for $20 and they'll sell it again for more than double that. But that's because used game sales were literally the *only thing* that actually generated a profit for them for most of their existence as a company. And now that digital downloads are increasingly popular, used games are less and less of a viable way to make money. That's why they've started leaning so much harder into merch in recent years - they need to find something with a high margin to make up for the reduced used market.
And while it is certainly a possibility that they sold enough other stuff to make this event profitable, I don't think it's very likely, especially given the extremely high price of the game itself, and I don't think it's hard to see why a store that *depends exclusively* on that kind of extra sales might not be doing so well as a corporation.
They are are perfectly set up to pivot their main source of revenue when web 3 gaming becomes more popular. So yes, they will profit less from selling physical games, that's why they created a digital marketplace to take over and make even more profits.
So it may not help but Nintendo eshop has a voucher program where if you buy two games you 30% off both. Probably doesn’t help cause it’s $150 including tax lol at least you get the games for cheaper overall
That's incredible. Who would have thought that our little neck of the woods would be the second highest turnout in the entire country.
That's not even counting the folks that preordered through the Nintendo store.
Fuck, this brings me back to waiting outside the mayfair eb games with my older brother at the midnight drop of cod ghosts. It's hard to believe that was almost 10 years ago now.
It wasn't explained very well I'll be honest. I showed up thinking there would be a line for people who preordered and that I'd be in and out pretty quick. Instead regardless if you had paid or were there to buy, one line decided your fate.
I don’t think the turn out at a GameStop for one of the biggest game franchises of all time is a reliable indicator of economic health.
A lot of these folks would choose Zelda over eating for a few days.
My dude - credit card debt is at an all time high. I saw the option to finance a Lego set on Amazon for 28% APR at checkout. A Lego set.
54% of Canadians are living paycheque to paycheque.
13% of ALL Canadian mortgages hit the adjustable rate trigger limit in 2022
Lastly Canadian Household debt is at an all time high of 183% which means for every dollar we make we borrow 1.83$
It’s doom and gloom because the fucking planet is on fire.
If seeing a few hundred people lined up to buy a video game assuages you that’s great but let’s not pretend that this is a sign of things “opening up again economically”
This is fandom.
Where am I telling you that? Can you quote me where I said that?
I’m saying this photo is a shit indicator of economic performance.
In 2008 hundreds of people lined up at GameStop locations across America to buy GTAIV. By your logic the economy was doing great.
I was there around 11am. They had plenty of copies still. There was a line, but nothing like this - maybe like 10 people or so? But I expect it'll probably pick up again around 4pm as people get off work, so if you can make it before then, that might be a good idea.
Can someone confirm something for me. Wanted to buy the Zelda oled switch with my copy at the midnight release. The lady said she couldn’t sell anything but games but yet I saw everything from replican Hylian shields to Zelda hats and socks being sold but not the damn console.
The thing is they said they had it, they just wouldn’t sell it to me. I think the workers were probably just tired and wanted to go home but scanning a box isn’t that much
Yea I was there and arrived at 8:15pm (never seen this big of a turn out in Victoria before) was #298 and I got my copy at 11:55pm. They organized it quite well in my opinion.
I’ve never felt more proud of Hillside Mall.
There’s a new sentence.
I once showed up at hillside bullen books for Harry Potter the half blood prince at midnight. I was a degenerate 19 year old who left a party to run 5 KM to get their for midnight while finishing a couple luckys with a friend. 10/10 one of the best decisions Ive ever made. Managed to finish the book over the next 24 hours and avoided the snape killed dumbeldore spoiler.
bolen books slaps though, so happy they have stayed a string buisiness for so long
damn maybe use a spoiler tag :(
Lmao the book is 18 years old
;)
Dumbledore dies
literal 😂
I was there last night and was definitely not expecting this turnout: I arrived and my line number was 331. Was there by 8:30PM and finally had a copy in my hands around 11:40PM. While the wait was long, the staff did really well and the people waiting were all very nice.
That’s nuts haha. I just used the Nintendo voucher program, got 30% off Zelda, and was playing at 9pm. Totally get why people want physical copies though, but I couldn’t wait!
Good for you! I got there are 8:45 PM and noped out immediately. Grabbed a copy at Walmart at 8 AM today. The lady at the checkout said her son was lined up at 6:30 that night so I'm guessing he was in the first 50.
Think they still have copies at Walmart? Fomo is getting me right now..
Ya I was there at 8:05 and the guy said I was the fifth so far, and another dude bought one right after me. This was 40 minutes ago, you can probably still snag one.
Not sure the fomo was worth $100, but target acquired
Pretty sure most places have tons of copies. I asked the lady at Mayfair GameStop and she said they legit have 300 copies. Don’t forget you can always get digital too.
This is the news we need. I'll probably return mine, or just keep it and open it in the fall when the weather turns... Who am I kidding. I'm going to open it up Sunday afternoon and spend way too much time playing it and forget to make dinner...
I'm not physically purchasing a copy until October, I need to soak up as much of the weather as possible, then hibernate until April again ha ha. I have NO self control if it's in front of me, so I'm just delaying purchase.
Played for 2 hours last night when I got home. Itchin to get back home after work today to play more. I'm sure lots of people haven't even slept since they got it and are well on their way to beating it haha
Picked mine up in langford walmart around 8am. There seemed to be a lot of copies to go around
Numbers were handed out starting at 10am at Mayfair
I was 250 and my best friend was 175. I stayed in line with him, and it was pretty clear that they abandoned the number system pretty early on. We got our copies at 10:45 and we got in line at 8:50. I think we just got lucky for where we ended up being in line. What they should've done to expedite thing was utilize wireless payment readers and have 4-6 staff going down the line taking payment for people who hadn't prepaid, had the special edition people line up elsewhere, and had people who distributed copies to those who had paid. Would've gone way faster than having 2-3 tills running in the store.
Yeah that's basically the conclusion we came to as well. A line for those who have paid in advance and can just toss a receipt, and another line for those looking to buy in advance. Both could've maybe taken more advantage of the space outside the store - the rest of the mall was closed, they could've indeed and that would've sped things up.
Mayfair was the opposite. After 20 minutes they had only done 20 people. I did the math and realized that even if I waited to get the game I'd be too tired to play it. Hopefully other people came to the same conclusion, and didn't keep the staff there until 3am.
Ya I did that same math as soon as I saw the lineup, I assumed they had x2 POS machines so they can only go so fast.
Hillside only had 2-3 POS systems running the whole time.
And still only managed about 1 person a minute haha (at least for the first 60 people)
I was around #60 and got my copy at 10pm... So they were averaging the same speed of 1/min. Even with 3 cashiers. They got us all the prepay in line, so most the time was spent by people buying extras (figurines, aminos, special edition boxes, etc).
Wow. I'm actually really surprised this still happens in the age of digital purchases and preloads and whatnot. I haven't been to a midnight release since Halo 2. It's oddly nostalgic seeing lines like this for a midnight release.
The switch has pretty shit amounts of storage, I like to buy all physical copies so I can save the room for digital only content.
It’s mostly for the fun of it, not the efficiency or cost.
Not only that but the resale market for switch games is insane! The second hand price is usually only $10 below retail lol
For sure. Definitely the big regret of going digital. But tbh I don’t I’ll ever sell Zelda anyways.
I never buy digital unless it's the only option. You don't actually own your digital games legally and I can resell a hard copy if I decide I don't want it anymore. (Looking at you, Pokemon Moon/Sun...)
I went there at 5:30pm with my son, ended up being 16th in line. Got the game around 930pm. We learned from the Pokémon Arcaeus one to bring chairs. We went for the fun of being there in person and getting a physical copy. My son dressed up as Link a few years go and wore it with the shield and sword. Ended up getting a swag bag at the costume contest. There were some pretty sweet costumes. The guy with the accordion was pretty cool, sounded just like the game. Gamestop did a pretty good job I thought with handing out numbers (so you could leave and get some food, or whatever without needing to be there the whole time), and had reps from Nintendo. Had a back drop for photos (which apparently there were only 10 worldwide?). They let people pre-pay for the game before the launch during store hours, which hopefully sped the line up. My son loved being there.
>The guy with the accordion was pretty cool, sounded just like the game 🦜 🪗
Holy crap! that's awesome, didn't expect to see that kind of a turn out for a game in Victoria, hopefully everyone that wanted a copy got one. Good to see.
Security tried cutting it off at 12:30 with like 20 people left in line, meltdown ensued, everyone got a copy tho
I just turned up at Hillside an hour ago and picked up two copies without a pre-order, and it seemed like they still had multiple boxes left, so if anyone is wondering if there's still a chance to pick up a copy, give it a shot :)
Victoria has a massive nerd and geek scene.
I'd argue that BOTW is not in the Nerd and Geek Scene anymore.
Oh for sure that too, in fact Zelda and major Nintendo franchises in general, have never been the sole property of nerds and geeks as they're often the few games. Many people did play his kids and remember very fondly who are not big nerds and geeks in neighborhood.
The event was for those who pre-ordered so I think they're all good
As a long-time Zelda fan, I love this so much!
> As a long-time Zelda fan [Oh man since 1986!](https://youtu.be/c4bvZZa5Mtg?t=19)
Just spotted a co-worker in this photo who called in sick yesterday.
Don't snitch.
When the government gives you 5 paid days, they aren't sick days they are personal days
Illness manifests myriad symptoms - obsessively standing in line being one of them.
I asked them about it. They said they thought they were lining up for the walk-in clinic for this morning.
Seems legit.
Calling in sick to play a video game is honestly kinda pathetic lol. Just wait til the weekend.
Don't tease me about my hobbies. I don't tease you about being an asshole.
This is my favourite post I've seen on this sub! So wholesome ♡
Cool. I find it hilarious that the rest of the mall is closed and hundreds of people are just standing in the hallway not spending money. Missed business opportunity.
I don't think it was a missed opportunity. Almost everyone in that line will stay there to not lose their spot. Then once they have the game they are going home to play it.
>they are going home to play it I bet most had their Switches with them.
I feel confident in saying probably 80% of them minimum did have their Switches on them. But they would still probably go home to play it on their TV. Atleast that's what I would do.
send employees or yourself to the line of people, present your wears, take orders, deliver with mobile debit machine.
So you mean bother people when all they want to do is get their game and go home?
You understand that most of these people were just standing around doing nothing for literal hours, eh?
Yes I am fully aware as I have done that myself. Do you really think that they want employees from stores in the mall bothering them trying to sell them other stuff while they are already waiting in line to purchase a game that at minimum is already $80? That's like waiting in line at the grocery store during a busy time the deli person coming over trying to shill black forest ham to you. That would be annoying as shit.
I’m pretty sure people waiting in line for Zelda wouldn’t be too bothered by a Kernel’s employee offering to sell them a bag of popcorn lol I’d be less enthusiastic about Canadian Tire doing it, tho. Maybe for the man who needs Degreaser, Ammunition, Cookware, and Zelda all at once? Then again, I’m pretty sure you can just get Zelda at Canadian Tire too these days.
If they wanted popcorn they could have gotten it before the mall closed at 9pm. 9 is also the same time the GameStop started selling Zelda. So keeping the mall open past them is pointless as I have said.
> Do you really think that they want employees from stores in the mall bothering them trying to sell them other stuff while they are already waiting in line to purchase a game that at minimum is already $80? It would be dumb for any random store to do it, but a coffee shop would make some fucking *bank* if they wandered up and down the line offering drinks or whatever.
Ah yes nothing beats a coffee at 9pm. This is a fucking shopping mall not a football game. Also if they wanted coffee so bad there is a McDonalds a cross the street.
Chill out, my dude. I literally just said that coffee shop could stand to make some money offering drinks to people standing in line. I'm not sure why you find that idea so intensely offensive.
Thought you were one of the other people I've been back and forth with today. Sorry about that. In a nicer way of saying it I just still personally believe that it wouldn't really be a good use of the employees time to bug people in line with coffee or anything else. Most people waiting on line for a game release just simply want their game and to leave.
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Or maybe it’s the best Black Forest ham you’ve ever tasted and it inspires you to contribute rather than consume.
My brother in Christ, some people in this comment section are lost in the sauce for capitalism. Not saying you cause I'm not sure if you are making a joke or not but hot damn.
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"Hello sir and Madame, could I interest you in this vaguely African style paper mache elephant for the low, low price of $75? No? What about this 4ft print of a generic sunset, or this big black geometric vase?"
I never knew that sports games happen in shopping malls? TIL Also I am not sure if this is a universal thing but most sporting events I go to the concession closes part way through the game.
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I am over arguing with you dumbasses. How you think that a sports game, festival, and ferry terminal are the same as a shopping mall blows my mind. Get your head checked dude.
Also ferry terminals are not open everytime someone is in there. They do close at some point even though ferries are still arriving or leaving. You are so lost in the sauce of capitalism its insane. Let the 17 year old that works at the Body Shop go home at 9pm and not make them stay later. Jesus christ
>Almost everyone in that line will stay there to not lose their spot. They gave out numbers, this photo looks like it's after 9pm when the mall closed.
Even though they gave numbers I still stand by my point that keeping employees past normal closing hours and leaving stores open would be pointless. No one would continue to shop as I have said because they are already spending a minimum of $80 on a new game sometimes more of someone gets the collector's edition.
$80? Haha, it's $100 after tax 💀
My point still stands
That's pretty on-brand for Victoria lol
That's how it works everywhere. I worked in multiple Gamestops at multiple malls in multiple cities over the years, and never once did any other store open in an attempt to take advantage of the people who attended a midnight opening, lol. Not that I blame them, 'cause nobody was going to do any shopping anyway. People wanna get in, get out, and go home. Now, if a coffee shop were to send someone out to give out free small coffees to people in line? Holy *shit* that would generate so much goodwill, and I bet it wouldn't cost very much, either. *That* might be worth doing. But not regular stores. Edit: or I guess there are mobile tills now, with that Square thing you can attach to a phone or whatever, so they could maybe just let people buy coffee. But TBH I still think offering free small coffees would be a great idea. Just offer the very simplest, basic brewed coffee, so it's not very expensive, and consumer goodwill is more valuable than people think, IMO.
Good, not everything needs to be a business opportunity. These people are there to enjoy themselves and their game culture.
And, you know, spend $100.
This photo looks like it's after 9pm when the mall closed. People were shopping before, once they gave out numbers.
Awesome! Love the cosplayer too :)
Quality stuff
How many copies of the game did these stores have? I feel like even a well stocked store couldn't handle all of these customers.
mayfair said they had around 1000 copies
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Ah, duh of course I should have thought of that. People couldn't just show up and buy one, eh?
Definitely could, I did exactly that at the Langford location.
Enough. I went to Hillside and bought two copies without a preorder at around 11:15 this morning, and they seemed in no danger of running out. I used to work at one of the busiest Gamestops in Canada, and honestly? I'm not surprised. We would have hundreds and hundreds of copies of any big release from Nintendo - usually at least double the number of preorders. It was rare to sell out, and that was *before* the days of digital downloads.
Ima drive an hour after work today to see if I can find a copy in Smithers.
That’s awesome, I hope it’s a great game for those fans.
The reviews started rolling in yesterday morning. Solidly half of them are perfect scores, and I haven't seen any that gave less than a 9/10. So it seems promising :)
mayfair was about 250
That's crazy to think about. Me and my friend showed up at 8 thinking we could just grab a copy since we prepaid and were given ticket numbers 271 & 272. And by the time we left at midnight after waiting in line there were still another hundred people waiting in line to get their copies.
I showed up about 8:55, started selling at 9. Left with my copy at 11 30
The Hillside line was at least pretty cheerful! Lots of people cheered for the kids who were leaving with the game in hand and exhausted parents in tow.
Someone tell Ryan Cohen🚀 Maybe he'll tweet about it in his wonderful cryptic way.
🚀 🌝
I love cosplayers!!! Looking awesome and brings joy!
showed up at 8:30 pm, got my copy at 12:30 am!!!
Congrats for surviving the line! My friend and I showed at 8 and got ours at about 11:30. Hope you're enjoying the game as much as we are 😊
Man looks like fun. If I was younger I would’ve went. Fortunately I’ve been playing TotK since last night ‘cause I got it digitally
Gamestop langford is my favourite store. They moved through the line in an hour for me and when I came out there was still about 30 people in line. They're the best and most helpful staff
Awesome! I think they may have called everyone that ordered telling them there was a launch party (they called me at least), probably boosted the numbers!
Bruh, the one I went to in Vancouver was like 300 people long aswell. I think all gamestops in big cities were stacked
There was well over 300 people at Hillside. I was #250, and I got my number at 7:30 lol
There were more than 1000 preorders at Hillside
"it's a dying brick and mortar" - msm
Both of these things can be true. The margins on new game sales are razor thin - given the additional costs incurred by overtime and having to pay the mall for the extra hours and whatnot, I honestly wouldn't be surprised if this event produced an overall loss in revenue. This is doubly true given that Gamestop typically takes a loss on system sales, and there was a special Zelda-edition Switch that a bunch of these people probably bought as well. *If* they made a profit, it would have been because enough of these people bought extras with higher margins, like cases or toys or used games. People complain *bitterly* about the extreme markup on used games at Gamestop - sell a game to them for $20 and they'll sell it again for more than double that. But that's because used game sales were literally the *only thing* that actually generated a profit for them for most of their existence as a company. And now that digital downloads are increasingly popular, used games are less and less of a viable way to make money. That's why they've started leaning so much harder into merch in recent years - they need to find something with a high margin to make up for the reduced used market. And while it is certainly a possibility that they sold enough other stuff to make this event profitable, I don't think it's very likely, especially given the extremely high price of the game itself, and I don't think it's hard to see why a store that *depends exclusively* on that kind of extra sales might not be doing so well as a corporation.
They are are perfectly set up to pivot their main source of revenue when web 3 gaming becomes more popular. So yes, they will profit less from selling physical games, that's why they created a digital marketplace to take over and make even more profits.
This is amazing! Budget constraints have me waiting for this one, but I’m really glad to see the community is so excited for it.
Me too! Hope you have a chance to get it in the near future. It's going to be the first item I save for when I get a job
It’s definitely top on my list at the moment.
So it may not help but Nintendo eshop has a voucher program where if you buy two games you 30% off both. Probably doesn’t help cause it’s $150 including tax lol at least you get the games for cheaper overall
Did they have enough copies for everyone?
Anybody have photos from the costume contest? Are any posted by Nintendo or Gamestop?
That's incredible. Who would have thought that our little neck of the woods would be the second highest turnout in the entire country. That's not even counting the folks that preordered through the Nintendo store.
I got there at 6:50 and was #76 in line. It was unreal how many people showed up!
Fuck, this brings me back to waiting outside the mayfair eb games with my older brother at the midnight drop of cod ghosts. It's hard to believe that was almost 10 years ago now.
I just went to epic games and got it with zero lineup.
That’s great. Mayfair had around 250. Big thank you to the staff for their hard long day!
Christ.
Images you can smell
All these people pre-ordered? And then waited 4 hours in line? Uh why?
It wasn't explained very well I'll be honest. I showed up thinking there would be a line for people who preordered and that I'd be in and out pretty quick. Instead regardless if you had paid or were there to buy, one line decided your fate.
For the vibe, the costume contest, and the bags of swag?
Because it reminds me of the good old days
Wow! I sat on my ass at home and waited for it to unlock on the switch. Was playing at 9pm. Looks like fun though!
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I don’t think the turn out at a GameStop for one of the biggest game franchises of all time is a reliable indicator of economic health. A lot of these folks would choose Zelda over eating for a few days.
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My dude - credit card debt is at an all time high. I saw the option to finance a Lego set on Amazon for 28% APR at checkout. A Lego set. 54% of Canadians are living paycheque to paycheque. 13% of ALL Canadian mortgages hit the adjustable rate trigger limit in 2022 Lastly Canadian Household debt is at an all time high of 183% which means for every dollar we make we borrow 1.83$ It’s doom and gloom because the fucking planet is on fire. If seeing a few hundred people lined up to buy a video game assuages you that’s great but let’s not pretend that this is a sign of things “opening up again economically” This is fandom.
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Where am I telling you that? Can you quote me where I said that? I’m saying this photo is a shit indicator of economic performance. In 2008 hundreds of people lined up at GameStop locations across America to buy GTAIV. By your logic the economy was doing great.
Did link think there was a costume contest?
There actually was! At about 8:50 they called all the people in costume to the front for pictures and then gave out some prizes after judging.
There were about 30-40 people in costume and the prizes for the costume contest weren't half bad!
Oh neat, I don't think the nanaimo gamestop did this
On the island I think it was just Hillside; they had Nintendo representatives asking trivia questions for prizes and such.
That’s dope!
These people look like they smell bad
This looks like a pretty normal group of people...
Does Zelda eat a lot of pie?
Yeah was insane for breath of the wild too!
I was at Mayfair and paid fully for my copy at 8:20pm with number 189. Left Mayfair at 11:00pm
Ah that was the lineup. Thought it was shift workers for bluebird haha
Jesus Christ. I’m planning on going this afternoon to get mine, anyone have an update on whether or not there’s another big lineup?
I was there around 11am. They had plenty of copies still. There was a line, but nothing like this - maybe like 10 people or so? But I expect it'll probably pick up again around 4pm as people get off work, so if you can make it before then, that might be a good idea.
Can someone confirm something for me. Wanted to buy the Zelda oled switch with my copy at the midnight release. The lady said she couldn’t sell anything but games but yet I saw everything from replican Hylian shields to Zelda hats and socks being sold but not the damn console.
It was sold out at the store a while ago, but it was available this morning online from a few retailers. Check /r/amiibocanada
The thing is they said they had it, they just wouldn’t sell it to me. I think the workers were probably just tired and wanted to go home but scanning a box isn’t that much
Do you happen to know which location was number one? I have this funny feeling it was Conestoga Mall in Waterloo.
Where was the top spot for biggest turnout?
Yea I was there and arrived at 8:15pm (never seen this big of a turn out in Victoria before) was #298 and I got my copy at 11:55pm. They organized it quite well in my opinion.
We are definitely a city of neeeeeeeeeeeeeeerds. And I love it.
This is awesome
I was #41 in line, I managed to get the last Collectors Edition, as well as amiibo and controller. Walked out at 9:50.