Wal-Mart's GTAIV launch plans revealed

by Richard Mitchell { Apr 22nd 2008 at 2:30PM }

Joystiq reports that Wal-Mart's intranet -- known as 'The Wire' -- now contains the über store's employee guide for the Grand Theft Auto IV launch next week. The plans note that Wal-Mart plans to position itself as the easiest and fastest way to procure GTAIV. Specifically, Wal-Mart plans to play this image up by having plenty of copies in stock for the midnight launch at 24-hour stores and utilizing dedicated checkout lines for the game. Frankly, we think they're onto something, and we think anyone who has ever heard the dreaded words "did you pre-order?" when trying to procure a game elsewhere will agree. Oh, and the plans make it pretty clear that employees are not to sell the game prior to April 29, so don't go looking for the street date to be broken. Check out the gallery below for images of Wal-Mart's entire launch guide.

Gallery: Wal-Mart GTA IV plans

Tags: grand-theft-auto, grand-theft-auto-4, grand-theft-auto-iv, gta4, gtaiv, rockstar, take-two

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

xenocidic @ Apr 22nd 2008 2:44PM

Interesting, but I noticed a mistake on the 2nd page - shouldn't it say "...your store's opening time on April 29th" (not Apr 30).

D Boy Flex @ Apr 22nd 2008 3:26PM

Eh, thats walmart for you. Oh well. Interesting they are doing this. I guess it is no surprise bc if they didn't they would lose a lot of business. I preordered at gamestop a block from home and they are having a midnight release (Houston) so forget Walmart and attempting to purchase the game day 1 without a preorder. Maybe it will work though. When Halo 2 came out, it was sold out for like a day or two and then stores had more copies than people living in the city. I am interested how the game will actually take, if it will rock as much as everybody is planning. I for one am excited, thouroughly.

nook @ Apr 22nd 2008 2:52PM

I'll just head over to our 24/7 video rental. They had Halo 3 like a week before the release date and you could even buy it there as a used item on the next day. I guess they don't really give a s**t about launch dates^^

emirabal @ Apr 22nd 2008 2:55PM

Nook, where do you live, so i can swing by and check it out. As far as the article, meh, someone will get it out sooner.

nook @ Apr 23rd 2008 1:17AM

emirabal,

germany, two steps from the dutch border =)

SirMikael @ Apr 22nd 2008 6:34PM

I have to say - even though I'm very much against Wal-Mart in general - I like the gamer-friendly stance that they're taking here. Perhaps they knew damn well that this would find it's way online and that us gamers would be reading it prior to launch.

The line about making sure customers get in and out quickly so they can go home and play right away is what we need to see more of - not "Do you want to buy a controller? How about a memory card? Or maybe some Mountain Dew?"

ZeroCorpse @ Apr 23rd 2008 12:01AM

That won't happen, because retailers don't make much of anything on video game software. There's really no margin to it. The use the sale of big titles like this to get people to buy that Mountain Dew, memory card, or controller, because THOSE items have a significant mark-up and the store actually makes a decent profit from it.

So sorry. You won't get very many places that will be happy with just handing you your game and ushering you out the door so you can hurry home and play. They don't give a crap about your commute time; What they're in business for is to make a profit and they won't make much without the add-ons.

Besides-- You're going to drink and eat when you're playing GTA IV, anyway.

I guarantee you that despite the info above, Wal*Mart will be pushing extras upon you at some point, or at least counting on you throwing in some extra things with your purchase.