Retail struggles to complete Grand Theft Auto IV pre-orders

by Darren Lee Taylor - 2008/04/08 8:31am

High street and online retailers have confirmed that they are struggling to meet the exceptionally high demand of Grand Theft Auto IV pre-orders for April 29. Both the PS3 and X360 units are shifting some serious numbers, and Game, GameStation, Play.com and HMV have all confirmed that customers can expect delays and shortages to go on for weeks, months at a time to successfully complete their takings for the game.

Such a phenomonal wave of expectation and demand for the next GTA instalment has seen pre-orders hit well over the six million mark worldwide, with problems occuring in the shipping, handling and delivery of many gamers limited and regular editions of the title. Game recently sent out an e-mail to all of its international customers, warning them that they will not be receiving their limited edition orders due to package weight restraints setout by the company, and they will have to place an order for the regular editions instead. That said and done however, Game is also reporting that their standard edition of the game is also out of stock on its site, and in-store.

Play has also confirmed that it will not be able to meet demand, and has contacted all of its customers affected to inform them of such. It's not only GTA that launches this month, as Europe will also be treated to Nintendo's Wii Fit and Mario Kart Wii, both which are also sold out in many places, days before their respecting release dates.

It looks like unless you got in early, you may have to resort to high prices on eBay if you want to get your hands on a copy of any of the titles mentioned above in the next few weeks as developers rush more stock into the market to meet demand.