Where Did You Buy Victoria?

[unmerged(17248)]

Ordered it Online After Release Because I Could Not Find It in a Store

I looked for it everywhere & no luck. I finally bought it online (I know, I should have done that in the first place, but I like to have it in my hands the same day). None of the stores I frequent even knew what I was talking about.

As a side note, I was at the mall last night buying a present & what do you know? I found not 1, not 2, but 3 new copies of Victoria at EB Games. I talked with the guy there & he said that they received their first shipment of 4 games this past Tuesday - February 3, 2004 or 3 February 2004 if you prefer .

Jono

 

[Kalle dussin]

I preorded it online, and it was deliverd 1 or 2 days before the release date. I am not complaining.

 

[Gwalcmai]

What's the choice for "drove some 90km to a city across the border because it isn't published in my country"? (I did have other motives to go there) I found it in the store shelves the day after it was published, and it was only the second store I visited (the first was a department store, and they had moved the PC game section of the store to another building somewhere. I didn't feel like hunting it down to see if the game was there when I was sure the other store carried it).

Anyway I ordered it on the web too - it only arrived in Danish stores one month after official release date so I ordered it from a Danish web shop!

Huh? Mork actually bought the game the day before the release date. Maybe the other danes were so fast that they scooped the copy out of every store before you got there?

edit : overestimated distance

 

[unmerged(21828)]

I had to order my copy from the States. Let's just say there wasn't too much output of Victoria games in Canada.

 

[oldsoldier]

Could not wait for Koch to pull their finger out in UK so imported it from USA (Chips and Bits)

 

[unmerged(17173)]

I bought it at Electronics Boutique in the Maplewood Mall.

Was there a falling out between Paradox or Strategy First and Best Buy? I have not seen one copy of Victoria on their shelves ever.

 

[unmerged(24432)]

I ordered it from www.dvdboxoffice.com. Usually, I buy games from www.amazon.co.uk, but the appallingly late release date forced me to buy the North American version. I'm not complaining, though, as it was half the price as that offered by Amazon.

 

[Kurek]

Have Not Bought It Because I Cannot Find It in a Store

More like can't find it in my country, still waiting for the game to be released over in merry old England

 

[unmerged(9563)]

Got it for Christmas, from EB. (Actually my mom got it, but when I Asked her she said EB).

 

[unmerged(6618)]

Imo. there is only one way to interprete the results of this poll:

Ask exactly the same participants how they usually buy games of other producers (to compare with foreign games) or how they bought earlier paradox games (to measure any corporate progress).

1. same participants : Participants of this poll are more likely 'hardcore addicts' tending to preorder or desperately seek for a game than victoria players who didn't participate. Comparing polls of other players about other games would make comparison even more difficult.
Some participants voting for 'preorder' might have preordered all of their previous games (because they're used to) , or some who bought online did so for the first time because they couldn't find the game anywhere in the shelves.

2. games of other producers : this comparison would indicate if availability of victoria was better or worse than games of foreign producers

3. earlier paradox games: Did the (inter-)national availability of paradox improve over time ?

It would have been helpful if this poll was extended at the beginning in order to allow any meaningful comparison.

-------------
ps: i voted 'Ordered it Online' - it was the 1st time i did so although I'm absolutely opposed ordering software online

1. I bought it in a store, after some long searching. Checked EB regularly for two weeks (Canada), finally by chance I found it in a Future Shop (lone copy).

2. I usually buy them on a whim, and even then, rarely. I sometimes know what will interest me by browsing reviews online or by past series. If I am very bored and looking for a strategy-esque lite game I'll pop into a store. Have not done it in a while though (since I was younger). I go to a basic brick and mortar store.

3. Oddly enough, a lucky stroll through Toy's R Us (!) netted me EU. It looked cool and right up my alley so I picked it up. I played it for 6 months, and never bothered to check the forums. Finally I did and got the great mods and patches (it was already the US version, so patched to 1.06 I believe). I could finally play Venice! And there I found out EUII was being sold in a month's time. So I walked into an EB and picked it up, 2nd day it was officially out I believe.

 

[unmerged(17724)]

Bought my at Software ETC. I was really upset that I could not find it at Electronics Boutique or Walmart (where I purchased HOI for a reasonable price). You guys need to get it more stores.

 

[Spruce]

I ordered it through the Nobilis web store (Nobilis is Vicky's French distributor). However, not any copies of Vicky were available in the main French gaming shops such as Virgin or the FNAC ... even if HOI and EU2 were still displayed in these stores.

in the Benelux there wasn't a single store that had Victoria - on the shelve - nor HOI, it's a very disappointing trend,

I ordered it online to get the game, the issue is that the hard core fans have no issues in getting this game, they read all about Paradox games on the internet, they can even master 75% of the game before they even have it,

the problem is getting new customers - so you better have those good reviews - and looking for a new "audience" with fair expectations in combination with some decent advertisement,

one of my best friends who played EU1 and EU2 for many months was looking like a sheep when I informed him I had bought HOI and Victoria from the same company,

in Belgium HOI and Victoria weren't reviewed due to "not published in store",

so like i said dozens of times = no release - no reviews - no market potential - less sales - nobody wants to publisch these kind of games - no realease - no reviews - etc,

the funny thing is that Victoria is like a niche sportscar - without airco and electric windows - that costs as much as a mainstream family car,

yet nobody buys it, funny and disappointing

 

[Duuk]

2 Copies:

Bought one online (ebgames.com) because every store I called said that either 1) They had never heard of it or 2) they had no idea when/if they were getting it (EB). BTW: EB was the only one to acknowledge that the game existed.

After I ordered it online (overnight) the "local" EB called me the next day and said it was magically in! They had just told me they wouldn't have it for 3 more days. But my order online was already in a "Shipped!" state (overnight doesn't mean overnight to EB, it means "next business day"). I bought it from the store so I could play over the weekend.

I think I just sent my other copy to my brother in law.

Distribution was a massive failure on Vicky.

 

[unmerged(14180)]

I preordered on DVD box office.

They themselves got the game out in a fairly timely fashion, but Strategy first certainly took their sweet time in getting thing to the warehouse.

Strangely, the game is available in many stores here in Sydney.....but virtually none of the clowns in the shops know what the game is about!

I had a long talk about what game i am currently playing, and i pointed out Victoria and said how good the game was, and how good the support for it is.....

"oh really? I've never heard about it, it just came in one day and we put it on the shelf"

He then proceeded to talk about how cool it is playing Medal of honour online with his friends in deathmatchs......

I then pressed shutdown.

 

[unmerged(15243)]

I had to go to 3 EB Games stores before finding it on the shelf of one way out in the suburbs. Nowhere in the city was it for sale either then in November, or now. Most people I called to see if they had it had never heard of it, it wasn't even in their database, and two people actually thought at first I was talking about some softcore software made by the lingerie catalogue "Victoria's Secret". When I finally found it, it was tucked into a corner of the store, spine showing only, and even though it was a brand new release they only had 2 copies.

To this day, months after release, not a single computer/software/electronics store carries this game. Only 1 or 2 game store chains have it, EB and Gamestop, and never more than 1 or 2 copies, and most of their stores have 0 copies.

So even though I was specifically looking for the title I had to make dozens of phone calls, check dozens of websites, and travel 20 miles outside of one of the major cities in the world just to find the game. This pretty much precludes any casual/impulse sales for people who are just scanning the shelf at CompUSA or wherever looking for a good strategy game.

-Andy

 

[unmerged(6826)]

I voted for bought online after release, however I have seen it in stores-EB games

 

[unmerged(15145)]

Online from SPS systems, got it day after US release

 

[unmerged(14078)]

Bought it in one of the big home-electric/electronics-shops in Skärholmen area. Or to be exact, me and my older brother were out to buy some last christmas stuff and we found the game there and he bought it for me as christmas present. He had been looking for Victoria in several shops before the day, but didn't find it...

 

[Vissarion]

Voted nearby shop, although I got it as a christmas present.

 

[unmerged(2669)]

Too true

Could not wait for Koch to pull their finger out in UK so imported it from USA (Chips and Bits)

Likewise, although I went to dvdboxoffice.com

So, ordered on-line after release because I couldn't find it a local store because, hah, it isn't going to appear in a local store for months.

Please, please do not use Koch ******* Media, or whatever pseudonym they're lurking under, again. Mind you, they're so crap it must, surely, only be a matter of time until they go bust and leave Paradox no option to do something else to distribute in the UK.