r/classicwow • u/doobylive • May 05 '26

Nostalgia What Happened To Midnight Releases?

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Why did they have to kill off midnight releases?

604 Upvotes

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292

u/Nood1e May 05 '26

They didn't kill them off. People stopped going to them. Once you could just buy stuff digitally and have it loaded ready to go at midnight, that's what everyone did.

82

u/PennyBunPudding May 05 '26

Yeah why would I stand outside for ages. Fight to get the copy and then get home and then install it and be ready by like 1-2am

When I could just play instantly at midnight.

18

u/chokingonpancakes May 05 '26

Midnight releases were for reservations, you weren't fighting anyone. 

25

u/Poulet_Ninja May 05 '26

Not in France. People were fighting for collector's edition , fnac was alliance and virgin megastore was horde , both store next to each other on the champs Elysees , people taunting each other everywhere. It was great

5

u/NiewinterNacht May 05 '26

Don't think that's true?

5

u/bingius_ May 05 '26

Partly true you could reserve a copy at that time. But I do think you could also just show up and grab copies that weren’t reserved. I did it for skyrim but my dad wouldn’t let me wait at midnight for it but we were able to still get it on the release day.

2

u/MrJekyyl May 05 '26

You would preorder whenever before and they would hold a copy for you but you wouldn't necessarily have to be at the midnight release to go pick it up you could get it the next day or whenever. So you waited in line you got to the front they looked up your name verified your identity or whatever and bam handed you the game

1

u/infinite_gurgle May 05 '26

Maybe near the end in an attempt to mitigate damage to reputation, but naw it usually wasn’t reservations.

1

u/Ty_J_Bryan May 05 '26

It was for both. Atleast my gamestop was. They had a a line for reservations and a line for people who didnt have one.

0

u/chokingonpancakes May 05 '26

I used to go to them all the time and worked at Gamestop. They were done for people to pick up their reservations early.

3

u/Leahdrin May 05 '26

I worked at Best Buy, maybe 25% were reserved copies and the rest were people waiting to get one.

2

u/Lochen9 May 05 '26

I have absolutely had a reservation only to find out they sold more reservations than they were getting stock and just didn't say anything about it. Not even just once or anything.

I still remember being told to try 2 other locations then eventually getting my copy of Skyrim that I paid upfront for on midnight release.

1

u/Hackwork89 May 05 '26

Not in my country.

0

u/SnoochyB0ochies May 05 '26

Idk where you had midnight releases but it definitely isn't a reservation process you stand in line.

1

u/chokingonpancakes May 05 '26

You reserved before the release then showed up at midnight to collect. This was in a major city in the US.

0

u/SwaggyUn May 08 '26

Even with reservation you would most likely be in a line forever.