Silent Hill f fans who missed out on Steelbook pre-orders despite ordering early are slamming U.S. retailer GameStop and speaking out against opportunist scalpers.
Players were tempted to pre-order the physical edition of Silent Hill f ahead of time by the “free” addition of a striking Steelbook case for orders placed with Amazon in the UK, and GameStop in the U.S.
However, as orders began arriving across the States this week and fans stopped by stores to pick up their freebie, it became clear that GameStop did not have nearly enough Steelbook cases to satisfy demand.
Silent Hill f Review – An Occasionally Unsatisfactory Return To Form.Watch on YouTube
“Is anyone else having trouble trying to acquire their Silent Hill f steelbook?” asked one customer. “Preordered from GameStop months ago and went today just an hour after opening and they’ve run out of all four steel boxes they had in stock. All four. Called every GameStop in a 50 mile radius and NONE other store received ANY shipment of steel boxes at all.”
“Everyone is getting the shaft,” someone responded. “Stores that even got allocation were at like 10% or less compared to their pre-order number.”
People ruin everything
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“I went to a GameStop earlier today as they opened, and they only got one,” commented someone else. “And I was the second guy in line. Supposedly, they should get another shipment. But it’s really stupid that there is a shortage of Steelbooks, and on top of that, online preorders require you to go in store to pick up the Steelbook. I wish Amazon US or Best Buy had the Steelbook, ’cause at least they would ship it with the game. I guess I’ll check in and see if they ever get more in the upcoming weeks.”
Other players claimed GameStop employees confirmed to them that each store received only a handful of Steelbook cases irrespective of how many pre-orders the stores logged, with some saying their local store “didn’t even get a single Steelbook…”
“I work at GameStop. We got a total of nine Steelbooks… for 30+ preorders,” explained another commenter.
If this all sounds very familiar, that’s because it is. When Silent Hill 2 Remake pre-orders began shipping in the UK in October 2024, GAME customers similarly received their game without the steelbook sweetener they’d hoped to get when placing their orders, and it took several weeks for GAME to fulfil delayed shipments. This time around, however, Konami partnered with Amazon UK to distribute the Steelbook pre-order bonus, which seems to have been more successful this time around.
What’s particularly galling for some fans, however, is the number of Steelbook cases that have made it onto online auction sites like eBay. Despite being given away for free, the collectible case is being auctioned for anywhere from $30 to $205, both with and without the game bundled alongside it.
In a thread entitled “people ruin everything” with hundreds of upvotes, one fan wrote: “What [is] really disappointed me even more was going on eBay just to see what resellers were up charging for the cases, ruining it for other people by being greedy. I know [the] Silent Hill franchise ha[s] always been expensive, I’ve gotten my fair share of games over the years, but for people to sell a case for more than market value is sickening.”
With most retailers advertising the freebie as available “while stocks last”, however, there’s very little customers can do, as demonstrated by this email response from GameStop customer care, who told one player that “even with online pre-orders, the Steelbook must be claimed in-store” and “these items are extremely limited and available only while supplies last.”
We’ll reach out to GameStop and update as/when we hear back from the retailer.
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Whilst slow to get going and a little cumbersome early on, I had a good time with it in Eurogamer’s Silent Hill f review, calling it “a return to form worth sticking with” and awarding it four out of five stars.