There’s a lan/vr arcade near me, has like 40 super high end gaming rigs… they only get busy when there’s a big event like a non-local tournament or something. We also have multiple pinball/arcade bars, and most of them also have some retro consoles set up. One of the 4-man arcade machines at one of the places even has something like a retropi installed in it and you can pick between hundreds of games up to GameCube era, but nobody really ever plays those either. (The pinball is the draw).
Can’t see this doing a lot better, at least not in places with options.
I would have figured people new to the hobby would go to used game stores first, then new game sections of regular retail stores… maybe swap those around.
I don’t even know that many long-term gamers who preorder…? They might pick it up on launch day but… typically not preorder.