Link to the article. I really like how they've dealt with this topic; the distinction between the 3 kinds of pre-order, and how they address each one. I think it worth noting that there's a 4th kind of pre-order that they don't mention: the one which involves putting no money down. This is something strictly between you and and the retailer, and is the only kind of pre-order I've ever made. Is this uncommon in the US? But anyway, what do you think about pre-ordering and how it's taken off as a practice? The increased use of pre-order figures as important popularity gauges is an interesting result, and quite noteworthy in itself.
Usually in the US you have to put down like... 5$ in most cases, sometimes its different, but I've never see one you didnt have to put anything down on.
It's only on some games here. I remember when I pre-ordered CEA they were taking deposits for another game but didn't want one for Halo.
I almost never preorder a game. To this day, Halo 4 was the only one and I did so 2 days before release. I don't really see the appeal.
The only games I pre-order in-store are ones that I'm going to the midnight launch for (Skyrim). The rest of my games are ordered the Saturday before release via Internet, as the shipping schedule coincides with my classes nicely.
Can I ask what changed with Halo 4? Was it the pre-order bonuses? I actually think it's interesting that they didn't touch on that in the article. That's gotta be a factor in the whole scheme, or at the very least an indicator of how much they want you to pre-order. Yeah, I pre-ordered Halo 4 because I felt confident that shopto would get it to me a day early. They did, and that's definitely going to be a factor in pre-ordering future games.