Cybsled
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You can't read too much into Gamestop allocations. Even 20 years ago, places like EB and GS's per-store allocation was a factor of 1) How much purchasing was able to secure from the vendors 2) anticipated demand 3) how much the home office was sending out to each district/store. They would also funnel more product to stores/districts that were strong profit generators or forecasts (ie, preorders), which is why they would always try to convince virtually everyone to PO (insert product here). Plus, with COVID and depressed store retail numbers, it's quite possible they held more back to support online sales vs. sending the majority to brick&mortar like they did in the past. My guess is it is a combo of:
1) Company financial woes in general (GS has been hurting)
2) PS5 seems to have more buzz than XB at the moment, so they may be anticipating more sales of PS vs. XB (there really isn't much margin on consoles, all the money is in the accessories and games, especially used).
3) Brick and Mortar stores having decreased profitability due to the current physical retail environment (COVID+the general push towards online that was happening even before COVID)
4) Pushing more people to pre-order (this was their model 20 years ago, I imagine it hasn't changed lol). I suspect there will be a magical batch that appears shortly before or after launch and those who pre-order stand a better chance of being next in line even if PO exceeds current projected inventory per store.
1) Company financial woes in general (GS has been hurting)
2) PS5 seems to have more buzz than XB at the moment, so they may be anticipating more sales of PS vs. XB (there really isn't much margin on consoles, all the money is in the accessories and games, especially used).
3) Brick and Mortar stores having decreased profitability due to the current physical retail environment (COVID+the general push towards online that was happening even before COVID)
4) Pushing more people to pre-order (this was their model 20 years ago, I imagine it hasn't changed lol). I suspect there will be a magical batch that appears shortly before or after launch and those who pre-order stand a better chance of being next in line even if PO exceeds current projected inventory per store.
