MrSerrels said:
Is that how it works though?
I would have thought that the retailers hold the cash, and that pre-orders were used as an indicator of how much stock retailers would buy from distributors nearer release. Hence why publishers are happy to pay for advertising in store.
serrels go look at Gamestop US financials on the NASDAQ
specifically references preorder cash
sure its US, but EB works the same no doubt.
Of course preorders help gauge interest in a title for retailers to see how much they should order. But there is no doubt that $10 is working for them.....
lets take it to the next step, the 3DS.
They required at least $50 deposit on those and 31k were sold week one.
so
lets say 20k were preordered
1,000,000 dollars in preorders
so at 6.50%, 65,000 interest (per annum of course so less...) for doing nothing....
the retailers wouldnt hold all the cash. Financial reports are prepared for head office by store managers. That finance (especially when you consider EFTPOS) is dumped into a head office account eventually you would think and the stores run on a balance that is used to run the store rather then profit profit profit just sitting in an account.