That’s because most people who work at game stores actually aren’t gamers, or they’re very casual gamers, unfortunately. They also usually just go by their own lists of upcoming releases to stay informed about what’s on the horizon, and don’t necessarily have their finger on the pulse of the industry or gamers’ interests. There are some game store managers who truly love gaming, but most are folks who just specialize in retail, with video games just being a lucrative and appealing avenue for them to venture down, given the popularity of video games.

Just going by my own personal experience with game stores, of course. It’s amazing how many times I’ve dealt with a cashier or manager who didn’t know a damn thing about the industry and just gave scripted responses to every question a customer asked. Yes, I pay attention to those things, heh heh…

Don’t forget, this game is also being released on PSN this Tuesday, so another avenue is available for those who somehow don’t like or know about Amazon. It will reach plenty of people.

“Believe it or not there are still some people uncomfortable of purchasing material online.”

I know. But people really need to get past that. If one is so paranoid about their info being stolen online, why shop at a store either? What’s stopping an unscrupulous retailer from copying their customers credit card numbers, or fixing a card reader with a bug to capture personal information? Can’t live in fear. Deal with crap if it happens.

“When your trying to bring a product to market, the goal is to make it available in as many places as possible”

Naturally, but Rising Star is a smaller company. They had to do what they had to do. And they did the next best thing by partnering with the most popular e-retailer in Amazon, and advertising online where the majority of gamers are anyway.

It’s also not worth the resources or money it would cost to mass produce enough physical copies to ship to every retail store in the country for such a niche product in a niche genre. Double niche. There would be piles of unsold copies collecting dust, and that’s bad for the developer, the retailer, the consumer and just about everyone else involved. (Although it eventually may be mass produced, depending on it’s success, they may even have plans to branch out that way already.) The deluxe edition is a special product, limited in number for the most hardcore of fans while casuals can try the game as a downloadable if they’re interested.

When your trying to bring a product to market, the goal is to make it available in as many places as possible and make it easy to purchase – not to limit to one particular retailer let alone an online retailer. Believe it or not there are still some people uncomfortable of purchasing material online. And while I agree with you that the majority of gamers are aware of what is going to be released – that is a generalization that doesn’t hold true to everyone.

For example, I went into two video game stores today in Vancouver; no one working in the store was aware of this game even existing. Granted that’s not a representative sample, but it does speak to the fact that limiting a product to one retailer ultimately limits the amount of people who will be aware of said product.

I’m not being critical of the game or of the developers – I ordered mine from Amazon Canada some time ago – I just hope that enough people are aware of it and purchase it so, as you rightly said, the developers can continue on bringing products such as this out. I hope their decision ultimately was the right one.

How is it “difficult to buy”?

Obviously this game is in a niche genre, and Rising Star knows full well ahead of time that they won’t be selling millions, so to take a deal from a major online retailer like Amazon gives them an initial boost financially which can be poured into future projects. Smart.

Plus, almost every gamer gets their video game news online these days. Rising Star has done their job in advertising their product and they’ve let their customers know where to go to buy it. Anyone who wants this has read about it online, so obviously they have an internet connection, and can now hop over to Amazon and make that purchase.

Difficult to purchase? I guess… if you’re broke, yeah.

Oh, and I also echo the comments by a few posters as well – would love to see this come to the Vita! Sine Mora was fantastic on the Vita; so anytime more games of this genre come out for that system, it will always be a must buy!

And if Cave people are lurking – Vita users want your games!