I love video game pre-orders. (In fact, I’ve made a whole system around them.) The deals retailers make to lock in sales before the release date are a great way to save some cash. But it’s unusual to see a pre-order promotion as convoluted as this one for MLB 13 The Show.
The Typical Pre-Order Promotion
Normally these pre-order promotions are pretty straight forward. If you pre-order a game from a certain store, they will give you some sort of bonus: some DLC, extra booklets with info about the game, and so on. And if you pre-order from Amazon, they’ll sometimes give you an Amazon credit which you can use to buy other stuff (or more games) from Amazon.
MLB 13 The Show: Who Wants Two Copies?
Amazon’s pre-order promo for MLB 13 The Show (release date 3/5/13) takes a different approach. Instead of just giving you a credit, Amazon will take $20 off your order total when you’re placing the order.
Instant savings!
But wait. To qualify for this promo you have to purchase a copy of MLB 13 The Show for PS3 and a copy of MLB 13 The Show for PlayStation Vita.
I can’t imagine needing two copies of a game on two separate consoles [Update] If you love baseball so much that you want the quality of the PS3 version at home and the mobility of the PS Vita version so you can play it whenever you want, this is a good deal for you.
If you aren’t that interested in buying the same game for cross-platform gaming, or if you don’t have both a PS3 and a Vita, I suppose this deal could make sense if you were buying a copy for yourself and a copy for a friend. You can pool your money and save a little bit that way.
An Alternate Plan for the Second Copy
There is one other possibility for this promo. You could buy both the PS3 version and the Vita version to get the $20 discount from Amazon. Then when you get the games, you could turn around and sell whichever version you didn’t want and pocket the profits.
It’s up to you, but if you want to get in on this deal, you’d better do it quick. Release date is 3/5/13, less than a week away, and then this deal will be gone forever.
Click here to order your copies today.
And if you want more of my thoughts on working the game market to play more and spend less, sign up for my Video Game Pre-Order Madness System.
You’re missing the point and benefit of having a ps3 and vita. Cross save features allows continued play when you need to leave home or don’t want to turn the ps3 on. I for one love to play baseball on my vita while watching the braves. Being able to sync saves and play on the ps3 is an added bonus. Now paying full price for both games is steep so thanks amazon for the discount.
That’s an excellent point. Thanks for bringing it up. I’ll update this post directly.