Xbox One pre-orders now sold out at GameStop retail locations

By Michael Rougeau June 19, 2013

gamestop sells used digital games — Image used with permission by copyright holder

GameStop is no longer accepting pre-orders for Microsoft’s Xbox One console because the retailer reached its limit last weekend, store employees tell Polygon. GameStop knows in advance how many consoles each individual store will receive when the Xbox One launches in November, and every single unit in every store across the country has been spoken for.

News of the cleared out brick-and-mortar stock was blasted out in a nationwide email sent to store managers, though Xbox One pre-orders are still available online at GameStop.com. PlayStation 4 pre-orders, meanwhile, are available both online and in retail stores. At least one store manager suggests that the allocation numbers differ between the two consoles, with fewer confirmed Xbox One units resulting in faster pre-order drains.

In the past, various console and other gaming hardware manufacturers have been accused of creating artificial shortages to increase hype. Microsoft could plan to do just that, though there’s no proof that that’s the case. Such a move will be a tough sell too if GameStop managers continue to transparent about allocation numbers. It’s also just as likely that Sony is simply anticipating higher sales, and is allocating more units to retailers as a result.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Michael Rougeau

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Mike Rougeau is a journalist and writer who lives in Los Angeles with his girlfriend and two dogs. He specializes in video…

Gaming

Try one of gaming’s best trilogies before it leaves Xbox Game Pass next week

Hitman 3 Dubai level.

Xbox Game Pass might not be losing a lot of games at the end of January, but the most significant loss is a big one. On January 31, the subscription service is losing Hitman: World of Assassination, which is one of the best stealth gaming experiences out there. Technically, it is a collection of three games’ worth of content, plus an excellent roguelike mode.

Few games can make you feel as clever or as idiotic as IO Interactive’s Hitman games, so World of Assassination is a must-play if you enjoy stealth gameplay and want to see those mechanics explored to their fullest. While the base games are short enough to blaze through in a few sittings, there's way more content here than you could reasonably get through in a week. You better get cracking if you want to try it without paying for the full package.

Gaming

Persona 3 Reload leads a surprisingly strong batch of Xbox Game Pass additions

A character uses a bow and arrow in Persona 3 Reload.

Microsoft unveiled the next batch of new Xbox Game Pass titles, which are dropping between January 18 and February 8. Of the seven new titles coming to the video game subscription service over that time span, four are new games being added on the day of their release. The most noteworthy of those games is Persona 3 Reload, Atlus' highly anticipated remake of an RPG classic.

Persona 3 was first released for the PlayStation 2 in Japan in 2006 and came to North America just a year later. While its sequels would go on to garner a bit more immediate acclaim, Persona 3 provided the solid foundation that they all built on. It is darker than those future entries, though, as you'll go from living your life as a Japanese teenager to shooting a gun at your own head to summon a Persona in stylish turn-based battles. Persona 3 is considered one of the best RPGs of its generation, and this remake brings the experience to modern platforms with a visual overhaul that makes it look more like Persona 5.

Gaming

These Activision Blizzard games need to come to Xbox Game Pass this year

Sekiro easy mode mod FromSoftware Souls games gameplay difficulty

In October 2023, Microsoft completed its acquisition of Activision Blizzard, and by the end of the year, the latter company's CEO had departed. Now, this will be the year where we’ll see how Activision Blizzard functions when fully integrated into Microsoft. The most immediate change for those who play games will likely be Activision Blizzard titles coming to Xbox Game Pass, Microsoft’s subscription service.

Microsoft and Activision have explained that because of the tribulations the acquisition encountered, it was impossible to have Xbox Game Pass additions prepared almost immediately after the acquisition, as it did with ZeniMax Media. In the coming months, I expect we’ll finally start to see Activision Blizzard games trickle onto the service, even if we shouldn't expect it from this week's Developer_Direct. As Activision Blizzard is one of the oldest game publishers out there, having released hundreds of games, there are plenty of titles to choose from. I’ve cherry-picked the ones I want to see most.
Diablo IV