According to a tweet they've already sold out of Netrunner at GenCon.

3m Dennis Twigg ‏@Veredium
Netrunner sold out by 10:05! #gencon

I hope everyone who wanted to play in the release tournament got there copy…

And posts some spoliers here

We want more…

BGG reported the same thing.

There are stories of people walking away with five copies of the game.

If anyone knows the total number of units sold, that would be nice to know.

Word is there were no limits. BGG says 1 guy bought 25. So when I showed up a while ago they were all gone. Not even one left for me to play in the tourney I paid for but there will be plenty on eBay for double the retail price. Very bad form, FFG.

Amuk said:

That is ridiculous. You don't sell 25 copies to anyone, because they are scalpers. You especially don't sell it at an event where you know there is demand and you know you are going to sell through. You sell one copy per person and if they want more you apologize and tell them they will have to wait for retail.

I really hope that's not true.

EDIT: Gah, this just irks me the more I think about it. An event like GenCon is not where people should even be picking up a playset. They should be getting one. It should be about the buzz and the excitement for everyone. I've worked at a place with pretty stringent anti-scalping policies and it is totally worth it. Having something in stock for more people more than outweighs the temporary shot in the arm of cash you get in that one instant. And with A:NR it's not even like they would have had to wait that long… twenty minutes later and they would be rolling in the same amount of bank!

If they sold tournament tickets in advance - they should have saved copies to sell to people with tickets at least…

Bungo_Underhill said:

I was just thinking the same thing. They should have had that many copies on hold, with the premise being that you had to pick them up by a certain, reasonable time, before the tournament, with the cost of the Core Set being built into the Tournament ticket.

After that, whatever. If they want to have Lord of the Flies rules with regards to selling unlimited copies per customer, so be it. At least the people who paid to play in the tourney are taken care of, and won't have to deal with some kind of refund issue later. I can't imagine how disappointed I'd be if I was going to GenCon, being pre-registered for a tournament for a game that isn't even out yet, on the promise that I'd have a short span of time to buy it, learn it, and try to play my best, only to discover that they sold them all.

For shame…

Then again, I'm not there, so maybe that's what they did after all.

Maybe they have some reserved for those who bought a tournament ticket. It's pretty dumb that you can run a tournament with a requirement to play that may be impossible for entrants to have.

A simple system setup would be that entrants are part of a reserve list with reserved copies and are marked down as purchasing a copy for the tournament to guarantee their ability to play.

When people mentioned this to the booth, what did the seller say about this?

Shockwave said:

so your the one that grabbed 25 copies?

are you selling any of them? I willing to put down some money

sorry everyone for taking part as the early consumer that runined the tournament.

Bomb said:

When I mentioned not being able to play in the tournament he said he was sorry.

So my question is, when does it hit the shelves for stores? Obviously this was just the first wave of sales. I just want to know when I can expect to have my local game store order it for me

At past GenCons, FFG brings in new stock each day. They have "sold out" of an item on thursday but then have the item back on the floor on Friday. I couldn't attend this year, but for those of you their you might want to ask if they will have more Netrunner on future days.

Bohemond said:

I asked if they expected to get more and he said only if they have a mislabeled box.

The answer we got as to what we were supposed to do with our tourney tickets was that GC would give us a refund.

FFG has some pretty odd notions about customer service. And by off I mean moronic.

Bohemond said:

That's a good idea. I don't know when the Netrunner tournament is, but the booth must be able to reserve incoming copies for tournament players. Seems silly they have a tournament but with no guarantee you will have the materials to play.

That's like running a baseball tournament but selling the only baseballs available from a booth outside the stadium. Anyone can ****** them up and price gouge!

Amuk said:

They really need to do a lot of work on their Quality Assurance in all aspects.

Amuk said:

I can't say anything that hasn't been said, but man, that sucks! I can't believe FFG didn't think about that. It's not like reserving copies hasn't been discussed on the FFG forums. People were talking about it on the X-Wing forums since they announced the tournaments at GenCon. It should have been very easy for them to save those copies for those who paid to play in the tournament.

"It was badly done, FFG. Badly done indeed!"
--adapted from "Emma", by Jane Austen

Assuming that individual sets are not reserved for those who registered for the tournie, if I bought a plane ticket to go to gen con, took days off work to play in the tournament, and didn't get a core set because some people bought multiple copies, and therefore wasn't able to play in the tournie, I would be very "not happy".

I kinda doubt they wouldn't have reserved copies for tournament entries. Can someone confirm?

http://yfrog.com/oexixtaj

Bungo_Underhill said:

Well, that's something, I guess. Still, there's a lot to be said for getting the cards ahead of time so you can actually practice the game a little before the event. It's good to see that FFG has everyone's bases covered for participation, but the whole thing could have been handled so much better. When they inevitably do something like this again, hopefully they'll have learned a lesson on inventory control.

Christian T. Petersen has a word on the sell-out:

Hi All,

Chris from Gen Con here. I wanted to pipe in and give you all some concrete information and facts.

- FFG expedited pallets of the game from LA to arrive at the show. The primary shipment is enroute to FFG still.
- We brought more copies of this game than any game we've ever brought to Gen Con (except for X-Wing, which we have here at the same show).
- We did not, mistakenly, place a limit on these. It should be said that FFG has never (in our recollection) placed limits on Gen Con sales.
- Rumors of hoarding are greatly overstated. A few people bought 6-8 copies (about 5 people is my information). Most of the people buying 3-4 copies were simply doing so for a friend in order for the friend to avoid the huge line. There was NOT a 25-copy sale.
- Half the copies were sold from 9am to 10am when the "VIG" gamers are let into the hall. Per Gen Con rules, we have to be open for business for this crowd (who pay for this priviledge). So, in fact, the game sold out on 70 minutes, not 10.
- We are overnighting loaner copies, so that anyone who registered for the Icebreaker tournament (and was unable to buy a game) will have game materials.
- We are looking at options to get more copies driven in from afar (but we cannot promise that we'll be successful).

We are, of course, very sorry for the gamers whom wanted a copy, and came early, and that did not get copies. Fortunately the game will be broadly available in 4 weeks or so.

This does not imply that we did not make a mistake here, but I think the facts should assist in curbing the speculation.

Best Wishes,

Christian T Petersen
CEO
FFG

Boardgamegeek.com
http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/842745/sold-out-in-10-min/page/5
Subject: Sold out in 10 mins / Android: Netrunner

Good on ya, Christian… See, prompt and classy. No worries.

Oooo, and we have a "leaked" release data! muhaha.

I see that for the Icebreaker Tournament that they will loan a set for those who missed out.. Wouldn't that mean those who did manage to buy multiple sets would have a card advantage over those with, presumably, the single loan set?

I honestly don't get FFG's intention with the no limit trading at Gen-Con. Surely the prupose of selling at a con is to maximise your exposure in preparation for the official release. If the game can be played with one set, then why not limit the sets to one per customer? Those who do want multiple sets could simply wait- they would have at least had the benefit of owning a copy of the game before release date. Only if they weren't shifting games could they relax the rule, but honestly, how could they not predict this would sell out?

Treguard said:

Maybe, but they won't have the all-important spite advantage.

We'll take those lemons and grind the juice into their eyes.

An FFG guy here at their booth did just confirm they'd have cards for tourney players, as stated above. And was *much* more customer friendly than the one we talked to yesterday. So, in fairness, I should credit them with a reasonable follow up to yesterday's not so stellar performance.

I'll take them at their word that the 25 box purchase was a BGG exaggeration. And I am glad I won't have to return my tourney ticket at a loss.