Talking Point: Do You Ever Pre-Order Xbox Games Anymore?

Image: Gemma Smith / Pure Xbox

Earlier today, reports started to swirl about the biggest UK games retailer stopping in-store pre-orders in 2024, and the news has got us thinking about the practice and whether it still has a place in gaming these days.

At one time, pre-ordering new games felt like a much more worthwhile thing to go out and do. When physical discs were the main source of video game distribution, stores could actually run out of copies - especially before online shopping got so big. Then, there was the fact that loads of individual stores would offer up cool physical rewards for nipping in and pre-ordering a big new release.

These days though, most of that just doesn't happen. Digital distribution is a much larger portion of the overall game-selling market, so running out of discs is never really an issue nowadays - save for companies like Limited Run where that's the whole ethos of the operation. Then, you have subscription services piled on top of that that eliminate the event of buying a game entirely.