Um, yeah.

A reason why SR may not be doing great.

I'm looking really hard for SR4, so that I might pre-order it with my (digitally) shiny Amazon gift certificates.

But I see neither SR4 nor SF.

Umm....<pokepokepoke>

Dude. Does the word "August" ring a bell?

~J

Pre-orders?

For an item four months distant?

~J

They're probably just behind; SR4 was solicited 'late' -- chain bookstores usually want 8 months warning, which is one of the reasons why so many game products are announced so early and then end up getting pushed back.

Amazon is almost always an unreliable source for accurate RPG info, especially as most RPG companies don't deal directly with them, but deal with another organization [often Diamond Comics] who handles soliciting the products to Amazon.

Yeah, and, when no information exists for Amazon to setup pre-orders with, they aren't above just pulling dates from their arse (see most MMO releases)

SO when might we expect SR4 on Amazon to pre-order?

I'm not sure -- getting them the information and babysitting them isn't part of my job; that's what Studio 2 does for FanPro.

Don't order from Amazon. I and quite a few other Dumpshockers have had major problems with getting RPG orders from them. I've never had a problem with Barnes and Noble, and most of the time I've seen Stiggybaby pimped a lot around here.

Amazon sucks when it comes to rpg books. They are late, don't deliver everything they promise and are far behind any rpg book dealer who ships books. Like stiggybaby, for the us people out there. I can't complain as germany has some great internet shops.

Warning -- Long explanation of the book industry ahead:

This is due to the nature of the publisher/distributor relationship in the books and gaming industry. Books are generally distributed through two major distributors (Baker & Taylor and Ingram). Comic books are generally distributed through a company called Diamond. All three of these organizations are VERY large. Gaming distributors are much, much smaller. When chain book stores set up their distributor agreements, they normally go through these three companies.

The only one of those three that most game publishers can get an agreement with is Diamond. But, since Diamond sells comics, they don't maintain a standing inventory for most stuff. They have a philosophy of turn everything around within a month of receiving it. Don't warehouse anything. Since RPG's are too small of a niche for book distributors, and don't match the model of a comic distributor, and RPG distributors are too small of a market for chain book stores to deal with, it creates a bit of a problem for purchasing them through major media outlets.

Back in the early '90's, when gaming books sold dramatically higher volume than they do today, TSR had a relationship with Random House (very big publishing house) and FASA had a relationship with Contemporary Books (smaller, mostly artistic/philosophy books). The gist of that relationship was to get their products into the book distribution chain and thus get them into every Waldenbooks, B.Dalton's, etc. Clearly WotC has maintained this sort of relationship. Unfortunately, based on stocking practices at my neighborhood book shops, it would seem that FanPro has not chosen or not been able to set up a similar agreement.

I like ordering my books through Barnes and Noble. They tend to have a better selection than Amazon, and seem to ship RPG books faster.

I'm just grabbin' one from the booth at Gencon. Instant gratification !!

Critias: I hate you. Must you rub my nose in my immobility?

<sobs>

TAKE ME WITH YOU!!!!

Ya see, I'm getting around that problem by having a friend who is going to Gencon grab a copy for me. Almost instant gratification.

I have to echo: never pre-order anything through Amazon. It's guaranteed to take you two to four weeks after release before it gets to you.

Wait until it's actually shipping, give it another week, and then order it. You'll get it in 2-3 days.