Kudos to Play.com
Tuesday, February 27th, 2007Waaay back when, I was on the lookout for the next decent FPS to play on the PC and came across S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl.
The graphics were stunning and the gameplay looked really interesting. I pre-ordered the game on Play on the basis that the game would be out later in the year.
That was the 18th March, 2004 and the game still hasn’t been released. Having briefly worked on a computer game dev team (for BREED), I know games get delayed (and any gamer will know of the Duke Nukem (taking) Forever debacle), but 3 years delayed?
Anyway, to the point of this post: I left the pre-order running with Play.com as it was one of their pre-order specials they often used to do for PC games at £17.99. The game still looks pretty good 3 years on, so I might as well get it at the cheaper price for my troubles.
I just pre-ordered another game, Crysis, through Play and checked my outstanding orders: they’ve switched me to getting the ‘Limited Edition Tin’ version of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. (wasn’t announced until recently) but at the same £17.99 price. Cool!
I have no idea whether Play consciously decided to ‘upgrade’ me for waiting so long, or whether it just happened that way in their system as they updated the product listings now that the game should finally be released. The standard and limited editions are the same price (£24.99) on Play now, so even though it’s clearly an easy thing for them to have done I commend them on it.
It’s the little pleasant surprises that keep customers happy and loyal.