It's quite simple, really. 4/22 is the SHIP date, not the release date. The warehouse SHIPS it out on the 22nd, and stores will have it on the 23rd. But if you preorder, they will ship you one from the warehouse also, meaning you also get it on the 23rd.
Thanks for that explanation. That resolves <i>part</i> of my problem, but not all of it, unfortunately.
So no, they do not have it in stock, but they will ship it straight to your door instead of having it shipped to them, then turning it right around and shipping it to you.
Hmmm. Sounds like a process called “drop-shipping”, if I am not mistaken. That’s good to know, and it makes me more likely to preorder my most-desired titles!
Nevertheless, I’m afraid I still have some bones to pick:
If you visit gamestop.com today, for example, you get a lot of confusing information about <i>SW: TCW</i>, to wit:<ol>
<li>In the tables on the lower right-hand corner, it lists the game under “Coming Soon” but with yesterday’s date—does that make any sense to you? Don’t you find that unclear and sloppy of them?</li>
<li><i>SW:TCW</i> really belongs in the “Just Arrived” category, doesn’t it? Unless, of course, it is like you say and they haven’t got it in inventory, even though it is available to be drop-shipped to you, the customer. A mite confusing, no?</li>
<li>On the bottom-middle of the page, it says again that <i>SW:TCW</i> “ships 4/22,” begging the question, “Well, today is the 23rd. So did it ship yesterday or not?!”</li>
</ol>Among the things that annoy me about this is the constant use of the present subjunctive instead of the past tense for events that occurred in the past. The language does not accurate reflect processes that are underway, completed, ongoing, and expected in the future—and worse still, their grammar is lousy.
Why don’t they adopt a color-coded system like this?
<ul>
<li>(black) <b>NOT AVAILABLE</b> Not available and we know of no plans for future development.
<li>(blue) <b>IN DEVELOPMENT</b> Game is being developed but has not been published.
<li>(purple) <b>GONE GOLD</b>
<li>(yellow) <b>AVAILABLE FOR PREORDER</b>
<li>(green) <b>INVENTORY</b> We have stock in inventory for shipping.
</ul>
or something like that?
If I had to guess, I would attribute this to gamestop’s laziness and inattention, plus the lack of a date-sensitive database informing the content of the website. Looks to me like they do it manually, which is more subject to human error.