Question: do you have to pay for pre order games

Answer: Yes, Retailers like GameStop and Amazon.com discovered in the early 2000s that the pre-ordering mechanism helped with forecasts, as they could order a reasonable number of copies of new games based on pre-order interest, which, in turn, helped publishers to determine how many physical units to create. Then, pre-orders were usually placed by providing the vendor with a small percentage of the game's cost to hold their reservation (such as $5 or $10 on a $50 game), with assurances they would receive their copy on release day after paying the remaining balance. Retailers would be able to use pre-order money towards other investments, effectively accruing some interest on the pre-order fee.