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Microsoft Pulls Black Ops III Digital Pre-Orders, Promises To Bring Them Back Soon
Black Ops III fans were thrown for a loop when the option to pre-order the game mysteriously vanished from the Xbox Store, but there's no need to panic quite yet.
ICXM reported the sudden disappearance, which has left the official Xbox page for the game prompting interested players to visit their local retailer if they're interested in pre-ordering. That caused a number of players to worry about what would happen to those who already pre-ordered the game, as well to speculate who the culprit was. Did Activision pull Xbox pre-orders in order to assuage their exclusivity deal with Sony? Turns out, not so much.
We reached out to Activision, who sent along the following response, clearing themselves of any responsibility:
"Activision did not remove the digital version of Call of Duty: Black Ops III from the Xbox Games Store. Black Ops III is ready for launch on November 6th and is the most anticipated game of the year. Black Ops III is available for pre-order or pre-purchase through our other retail partners worldwide."
We followed up with Microsoft, and while their statement doesn't explain what exactly the problem was, it at least contains some answers:
"Yes, the Call of Duty: Black Ops III pre-order offers have been temporarily removed from the Xbox Store, however we are actively engaged with Activision to return it as soon as possible. In the meantime, fans can pre-order Call of Duty: Black Ops III for Xbox One or Xbox 360 from any of a host of retail partners here. If you've pre-ordered the game from the Xbox Store already you will receive it when it launches on November 6."
Whatever the mix-up, it sounds like Black Ops III will once again be available digitally soon – and if not, those who already pre-ordered can take comfort in the fact that they'll still be playing the game on launch day.
We'll update the story if and when the Xbox digital pre-orders go live again.
[Source: ICXM]
Our Take
This seems like more of
a technical hiccup than anything else, but I don't fault fans for being
concerned – digital purchases are uniquely capable of simply vanishing at the
whims of the publisher or platform holder, which is a hard pill to swallow for
any consumer. Kudos to both Activision and Microsoft for promptly addressing the issue – hopefully a fix to the problem is delivered with equal speed.
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