Following our story last month where Rising Star Games' MD Martin Defries said some UK retailers weren't interested in Muramasa: The Demon Blade, we decided to do a little ringing around of GAME and Gamestation stores to check on the preorder availability of this fantastic game and were rather shaken by what we heard.
Speaking to a manager at an anonymous store, we were told that despite there being a database entry and preorder code for the game on their till system, placing an order was no guarantee that the title would be available in the store on the day of release - or at all.
We were also told that as the title isn't regarded as a big release (understandable to a multi-format chain considering the other releases on November 20th) the decision could have been taken at Head Office level not to stock it at all, an unusual thing for a manager to say about a game two weeks before its launch.
A call to Gamestation's stock availability line gave us confirmation that the title will be available to purchase from their mail order, but they were unable to tell us whether stores would be stocking Muramasa until nearer its release date.
We also rang GAME's PR department to ask for confirmation on their decision to stock the game, and were told that the relevant person to speak with was out of the office and would be until next week. Inquiring if we should call back to gain an official confirmation, we were told that the PR company "would not be able to get that information" for us, and emails to their PR department went unanswered. Make of that what you will.
If you have your name down for Muramasa at your local GAME or Gamestation, we strongly recommend you give the store a ring and ask for confirmation that you will receive your title on launch day. If you can't get any concrete confirmation, we'd recommend you look elsewhere to get your hands on Rising Star's Japanese animated epic as it's looking highly likely at this stage that the UK's biggest games retailer won't have it on their shelves.
As we've said, GAME have been contacted and if we hear anything back from them, you'll be the first to know about it.
Comments (33)
Or just order it on play.com for £24.99 with free shipping.
http://www.play.com/Games/Wii/4-/10805911/Muramasa-The-Demon-Blade/Product.html
@Bass - I think you might have slightly missed the point of this news story, mate.
this is a crime. Lame that they arent stocking such a great game.
GAME suck a55! They could make this a 'big release', if they wanted to. They don't hesitate in stocking 'Me & My Stupid Pony'.
@Bass X0 - Drop me a line when Play.com open their first bricks and mortar high street store, won't you? Cheers.
@Damo - Text me when they've opened their 400th, please.
@Machu
What? Do you not want that game? That's the only thing that keeps me sane as the days I don't receive my pony vaguely promised on a forum rumor turn into weeks and the weeks turn into months.
Or has Prosody already given you yours...intrigue...
I gave up on play.com long ago given their delays due to posting from the Channel Islands and getting stung with customs charges for import DVDs from them.
I was all set to use my GAME credit to pick this up as I'm trying to cut my expenses before year-end; if it's not in the shop I guess it'll have to wait until January...
amazon uk £24.99...don't let me down!
(many of my play ds games from jersey never used to arrive!)
Even £24.99 seems a hell of a lot of money for a game aimed at such such a small user base. I'm guessing it won't be available from Blockbuster either if it's got this much saleability so renting will be out the window.
I'll wait until it hits bargain bucket prices, buy it and then flog it on Ebay later for profit. Other than the financial gain from lack of availability, Muramasa holds no interest for me anyway.
It's a wonder that Nintendo et-al still haven't learned that nobody really cares about Wii gaming anymore. Then again Nintendo were two years late on the Ambassador program and their potential new Wiiware demo idea is fashionably overdue. Frankly the ignorance surrounding software sales on the Wii is nothing short of astounding.
"It's a wonder that Nintendo et-al still haven't learned that nobody really cares about Wii gaming anymore"
This website stands as a monument to the contrary, Phoenix.
This is an absolute shame from every angle.
I still stand by my comment on the last article that the people in charge of these places are being pretty short-sighted. Sure, Muramasa might not be a big seller in the short term, considering it has neither brand nor much advertising behind it, but if they don't stock it then they're not even giving it a chance. The shovelware might be big sellers to the casual crowd, but soon enough those customers will likely move on either out of boredom or a new fad to follow, and the people who used to get their hardcore gaming fixes from Game will have already buggered off to online retailers or other stores that still do stock their kind of game. So in the long run, Game could stand to lose out pretty badly.
I very rarely get new games at retail anyway. The last game I bought at retail was Dissidia some weeks ago and that was only because I didn't realise the date it was coming out until the day before. Maybe this is self-centered but as long as I'm able to get the games I want at decent enough prices then I'm happy regardless of how I am able to get them. I wouldn't buy games in a store just to support certain titles being sold at retail when I can get a better deal online (which I usually can).
Errrm Pheonix, are you aware of the huge sales and massive success of Nintendo recently? Where have you been?
I would normally online pre-order from GAME themselves, but in this case I've got a big chunk of credit and one pre-order already for November so I figured I'd just get this at retail. It's not a massive game, but according to VG Chartz worldwide sales are 150K which isn't too bad for a core Wii title. I cannot understand why GAME wouldn't stock this.
Lets hope they pick up some of them here.
I wont buy it but i will probably rent it to give it a try.
@Bass: I appreciate where you are coming from. But, If it is only available online and in certain retailers, it will inevitable struggle, as only those who were previously interested in the title will go looking for it. When in store, all sorts of people will buy it in passing. If it's not there, they will never know it even existed. Tis a real shame, as companies like Rising Star just won't bother in the future, as it will no longer be viable to take such risks.
@token girl: I don't need to buy such games, I just borrow them from my niece. And I'm sorry to say, all Prosody's ponies got turned into glue.
The bastards. Still, I need to start buying games online anyways. It's the only way I'm going to get anything on my wishlist for the Gamecube, or Gameboy series.
From all the stories I have read about this game I believe it will become one of the great all time cult classics.
I shunned the high street stores a few years back now and order all my games online, the majority from Play or Amazon, I have never experienced the delay's mentioned above and on more than one occasion have received a game the day before the release date. Its about time more people updated their game buying habits and let high street game stores sink in to the abyss they deserve to. Did I mention games are nearly always cheaper online and you don't have to put up with the BS game store employee's are forced to subject you to. (Rant over)
GAME must be the Euro equivalent to GameStop/EB Games here in the states...because I am always frustrated with the store. Whether it be higher priced games, horrible trade-in values, etc. The only thing the place has going for them is certain pre-order bonuses...main reason I most order my stuff online now.
Just pre-ordered my copy from play seems this game will become a rare, cult classic, shame though it deserves much more praise. I'm happy though 3 80%+ reviewed games come out this week (A Boy and his Blob, Rabbids Go Home & NFS:Nitro) and yet people still say there are no good games on the Wii, there loss I guess.
Very disappointing on GAME's behalf.
@Phoenix: Pointless trolling - the highest form of fanboyism!
I''m guessing this is bad news for over here as well! I hope I can snag a copy somewhere...
Considering all the crap on the shelves in the Wii section at GAME you would think this would sit proudly in the top spot for a few weeks. I guess this tells us a lot about the average Wii consumer on the street. Blah
@Sean Aaron. You can use instore credit on GAME.co.uk but given the retail stores are not stocking the game I'm not confident about the online side getting stock (they did fail me on Final Fantasy V advance* which I would say was in a similar boat). That said, they've shipped A Boy and His Blob today and I would say that is similarly low profile.
tl;dr. Looks like i'll be sticking with Amazon after all (which shouldn't be shipping from the channel islands so is a good alternative if you want it for £24.99 but not have to wait a week). Saving £1.25 (though the rewards points) would be nice but I'll live without.
*-Release day; they had not shipped so I bought the last copy on Amazon.co.uk for the same price and canceled the GAME order. GAME did stock about a month later though...
Um, how do I do that Starwolf? I've just tried putting Muramasa in my basket and going just short of completion and nowhere can I see any option for that. I can use my reward points, but that's it.
I got it wrong. For some reason I confused instore credit with reward points. I meant to type reward points. I keep forgetting the two are not the same thing
Anyway, thinking about it I just want to blame the following for this: Assassins Creed 2, New Super Mario Bros Wii, LEGO Indiana Jones 2. Though the GAME policy of have at least 20 dummy copies of each of the above doesn't help either.
@Machu
Nooooooooooooooooooooo.... Curls up into a fetal position, crying, with DSi and copy of "My Stupid Pony"
I'm not suprised - when I asked about King of Fighters the staff didnt even know what that was...
Do they do this a lot, not stock certain games that is, what do they have against this game in particular?
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