Call me crazy but I love midnight launches. I’ve been to a bunch of them. It’s not even about the game for me — I don’t think I’ve ever come home from a midnight launch and played the game I’ve just bought. I usually just go to bed. I just like getting the game! I like the excitement. If you’re keen to go to a midnight launch for Grand Theft Auto V, here is a list of (almost) all of the stores running midnight launches for the game.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a ponderous list. I’ve never seen such a massive amount of support for a new game coming out. It’s insane.
Also: if you run an independent store and want to be added to this list, feel free to email me here.
EB Games
New South Wales
EB Albury
EB Armidale
EB Ashfield
EB Balgowlah
EB Ballina Central
EB Bankstown
EB Bateau Bay
EB Batemans Bay
EB Bathurst
EB Baulkham Hills
EB Bega
EB Blacktown
EB Bondi
EB Broadway
EB Broken Hill
EB Burwood
EB Campbelltown
EB Carlingford Court
EB Castle Towers
EB Cessnock
EB Charlestown Sq
EB Chatswood
EB Chatswood Chase
EB Chullora
EB Coffs Harbour
EB Coffs Palms Centre
EB Dapto
EB Darling Harbour
EB Dee Why
EB Dubbo
EB Eastgardens
EB Erina Fair
EB Fairfield
EB Figtree
EB Forster
EB Galeries
EB George Street
EB Glendale
EB Gosford
EB Goulburn
EB Grafton
EB Greenhills
EB Griffith
EB Hornsby
EB Hurstville
EB Inverell
EB Jesmond
EB Katoomba
EB Kempsey
EB Kotara
EB Lake Haven
EB Lake Macquarie
EB Lavington
EB Lismore
EB Lismore Woodlark St
EB Lithgow
EB Liverpool
EB MacArthur Square
EB MacQuarie Centre
EB Maitland
EB Maroubra
EB Marrickville
EB Menai
EB Merrylands
EB Miranda
EB Mittagong
EB Mt Druitt
EB Mudgee
EB Murwillumbah
EB Muswellbrook
EB Narellan
EB Nepean
EB North Rocks
EB Nowra
EB Orange
EB Parkes
EB Parramatta
EB Penrith ground lvl
EB Plumpton
EB Port Macquarie
EB Raymond Terrace
EB Rhodes
EB Richmond Markets
EB Riverside
EB Roselands
EB Rouse Hill
EB Royal Randwick
EB Salamander Bay
EB Settlement City
EB Seven Hills
EB Shellharbour
EB St Clair
EB St Marys
EB Stanhope
EB Sylvania Waters
EB Tamworth
EB Tamworth 2
EB Taree
EB Toormina
EB Top Ryde
EB Tuggerah
EB Tweed City
EB Tweed Mall
EB Wagga
EB Warrawong
EB Warriewood
EB Warringah Mall
EB Wetherill Park
EB Winston Hills
EB Wollongong
EB Woy Woy
World SquareVictoria
EB Airport West
EB Altona
EB Bairnsdale
EB Ballarat Central
EB Bendigo Marketplace
EB Blackburn Square
EB Box Hill
EB Brandon Park
EB Brimbank
EB Broadmeadows
EB Bundoora
EB Caroline Springs
EB Chadstone
EB Chapel St
EB Chirnside Park
EB Colac
EB Corio
EB Cranbourne
EB Dandenong
EB Doncaster Ground Floor
EB Echuca
EB Endeavour Hills
EB Epping
EB Forest Hill
EB Fountain Gate
EB Frankston Town
EB Geelong
EB Greensborough
EB Hamilton
EB Hastings
EB Highpoint
EB Horsham
EB Kangaroo Flat
EB Karingal
EB Keysborough
EB Knox City
EB Melbourne Central
EB Melton
EB Midvalley
EB Mildura
EB Moonee Ponds
EB Mornington
EB Northcote Plaza
EB Northlands
EB Pakenham
EB Plenty Valley
EB Point Cook
EB Richmond
EB Ringwood
EB Ringwood Square
EB Rosebud
EB Sale
EB Shepparton
EB Somerville
EB Southlands
EB Sunbury Square
EB Sunshine Marketplace
EB Swan Hill
EB Swanston Street
EB The Glen
EB Traralgon
EB Wangaratta
EB Warragul
EB Warringal
EB Warrnambool
EB Watergardens
EB Waurn Ponds
EB Waverley Gardens
EB Wendouree Ballarat
EB Werribee Plaza
EB Wodonga
MaryboroughQueensland
EB Albert Street
EB Arana Hills
EB Aspley
EB Australia Fair
EB Ayr
EB Beenleigh
EB Benowa
EB Booval
EB Bribie Island
EB Brisbane City
EB Brookside
EB Browns Plains
EB Browns Plains Village Square
EB Bundaberg
EB Bundaberg Hinkler
EB Burleigh Heads
EB Caboolture Park
EB Cairns
EB Cairns Central
EB Caloundra
EB Canelands
EB Cannon Hill
EB Capalaba
EB Capalaba Central
EB Carindale
EB Castletown
EB Central Highlands Marketplace
EB Chermside Nth end
EB Cleveland
EB Clifford Gardens
EB Dalby
EB Deception Bay
EB DFO Cairns
EB Emerald
EB Forest Lakes
EB Garden City
EB GC Harbourtown
EB Gladstone
EB Gracemere
EB Gympie
EB Helensvale
EB Hervey Bay
EB Inala
EB Indooroopilly
EB Ipswich
EB Kawana
EB Kingaroy
EB Logan
EB Logan Central
EB Lutwyche
EB Maryborough
EB Moranbah
EB Morayfield
EB Mt Gravatt
EB Mt Isa
EB Mt Ommaney
EB Mt Pleasant
EB Nambour
EB Nerang
EB Noosaville
EB North Lakes
EB Pacific Fair
EB Peninsula Fair
EB Raintrees
EB Redbank Plaza
EB Robina
EB Rockhampton
EB Rockhampton Fair
EB Rose City
EB Runaway Bay
EB Smithfield Cairns
EB South Toowoomba
EB Southport
EB Springfield
EB Springwood
EB Stafford City
EB Stockland Townsville
EB Strathpine
EB Sunnybank
EB Sunnybank Hills
EB Sunshine Plaza
EB Surfers Paradise
EB Taigum
EB The Pines
EB Toombul
EB Toowong
EB Toowoomba
EB Townsville
EB Underwood
EB Victoria Point
EB Willows Townsville
EB Wynnum Plaza
EB YeppoonSouth Australia
EB Arndale
EB Berri
EB Castle Plaza
EB City Cross
EB Colonnades
EB Elizabeth
EB Firle
EB Gawler
EB Glenelg
EB Golden Grove
EB Hallet Cove
EB Harbourtown Adelaide
EB Hollywood Plaza
EB Ingle Farm
EB Marion
EB Mt Barker
EB Mt Gambier
EB Munno Para
EB Murray Bridge
EB Parabanks
EB Port Augusta
EB Port Lincoln
EB Port Pirie
EB Rundle Mall
EB Seaford
EB Sefton
EB Southgate
EB Tea Tree Plaza
EB Victor Harbour
EB West Lakes
EB WhyallaTasmania
EB Burnie
EB Devonport
EB Eastlands
EB Hobart
EB Kingston
EB Launceston
EB Meadow Mews
EB North Gate
EB ShorelineWestern Australia
EB Karratha
EB Port HedlandACT
EB Belconnen
EB Canberra Centre
EB Gungahlin
EB Tuggeranong
EB Woden PlazaNorthern Territories
EB Alice Springs
EB Casuarina
EB Millner Homemaker
EB Palmerston
Gamesmen
NSW
Penhurst
JB Hi-Fi
New South Wales
Charlestown
Chatswood
Coffs Harbour
Glendale
Hornsby
Liverpool
Macarthur Sq
Merrylands
Miranda
Mt Druitt
Newcastle
North Ryde
Penrith
Rouse Hill
Shellharbour
Warrawong
Warringah
Westfield Parramatta
Wollongong Central
World SquareVictoria
Ballarat
Brighton
Broadmeadows
Chadstone
Chirnside Park
Doncaster
Geelong
Greensborough
Highpoint
Knox
Melbourne City
Northland
Plenty Valley
Ringwood
Shepparton
Southland
The Glen
Watergardens
WerribeeQueensland
Loganholme
Bundaberg
Carindale
Ipswich
Morayfield
TownsvilleSouth Australia
Adelaide City
ElizabethTasmania
Hobart
ACT
Belconnen
Gametraders
South Australia
Seaford
Comments
105 responses to “Here Are (Almost) All Of The Stores Doing Midnight Launches For Grand Theft Auto V”
Haha, Liverpool JBHIFI and EBGames are literally right next to each other. That should be interesting.
Yeah, and I’d run to your car if you’re purchasing anything from Mt Druitt at midnight- let alone a GTA game.
Almost every GAME AU store was next to a EB Games store back when they were still around, nothing interesting about the proximity at midnight launch occurred just a whole bunch of people standing around bored.
Indeed.. that’s the usual experience I’ve had.. standing around bored..
So spend the time playing China Wars on your portable gaming device of choice…
So are Bundabergs’ JB-HIFI and EB Games. It’ll be funny, because JB have eight-times the floor space, and EB’s will have to spill-out into the Shopping centre.
Not to mention JB is selling it $21 cheaper.
Man Perth sucks 🙁
Ha yeah that’s why i moved to NSW
dont worry, just go to Karratha for it, its only a short 15 hour trip from perth!
I didn’t even know Karratha had stores.
The Bundoora EB isn’t that popular and it’s kinda tucked away. How much is EB asking for it? Pretty sure JB is doing it for $90. Might head down there after all.
$108 according to their website – wonder if they’d price match on the night?
It’s $108 at both and EB won’t be price matching on the night, at least, that the story they gave me. I’d loved to have them match it to Ozgameshop’s AUD $72.99.
The JB website says $89.
JB is $89.
Really? In-store, those bastards quoted me $108. Motherfu…
target are selling it for $79 and surprisingly they are also doing a midnight launch http://target.com.au/medias/pdf/GTA-stores-v1.pdf
I can’t believe QLD is the only state in Australia not involved in this?!
I paid mine off this arvo and asked about a price match and he said when I pick up the game ill get a refund of 20 bucks
I rang my local Eb and they said they won’t be price matching on the midnight launch. I’m in QLD and bar a few JB stores, no one else will be open so I guess it makes sense. Maybe EB stores in the same centre as JB stores (interstate, bar WA) will be more inclined to price match. I want to go to a midnight launch but I don’t want to pay $20 more than I have to. No JB (midnight launch) stores in close proximity to me.
Both of my EB has been advertising midnight launches for weeks. Gonna go, buy and play the game. Making speak to someone but the majority of the time people are merely saying, “I hope this game goes back to its roots”, or “The previous games didn’t feel like the games”.
No midnight launch for me this time, being a Monday night it’s a bit much for me and will ruin me for the rest of the week.
I was going to take Tuesday off but then I can’t even start playing until midnight and I’ll have to sleep at some point so I can be back at work on Wednesday. Instead I’m taking Friday off and I can get stuck in as soon as I get home from work on Thursday!
Soft.
Harden up.
You might have to wait for a Care Bares launch instead
+1 for laughs
I do wonder if at least one EB store to break the street date and start selling it on monday afternoon, if this were to happen then it would most likely happen in WA because only 2 EB stores are having madnight launches. Is it against the law in WA for midnight launches?
I am going to my local midnight launch but i do wonder what i need to expect but considering that every EB store in SA are having one then there might not be such a big crowd, oh well… i am off soon to EB and pay off the rest of my preorders ready to be picked up on the midnight launch.
Yeah it has something to do with our shopping laws.
Heh, yeah, in Adelaide, the JB and EB are opposite each other in the HS building basement. Parking is virtually not existent around there and the nearest car parks either close at midnight or are a couple hundred metres away. Good luck to anyone getting out of the Mall at that time of night so early in the week, it’s a seedy place at the best of times! :p
Just called Target Marion, they’re doing a midnight launch as well. (they’re practically next to EB) The main doors up top should still be open from the cinema, so that’s a far safer way to go.
> it’s a seedy place at the best of times!
And tonight it’s going to be frequented by the sort of people who get a kick out of pretending to be a criminal. 😛
WA has had shitty retail laws for a while, we only recently got sunday trading times…
wouldn’t be surprised if our crappy laws are the reason we don’t have midnight launches.
Boo-urns! JB Carseldine is not playing (tis a longer drive to Morayfield) unless EB will price match JB on the night (somehow I doubt it)
Carseldine is my local JB as well. I rang EB Strathpine and they said they won’t be price matching on the night because no one else is open. Dunno if I can be bothered going to Morayfield either.
Yeah, I’ll just go pick it up for PC!
Oh wait.
Oh great work on the WA midnight launches… none for JB and well yep lets just fly from Perth to Karratha and Port Hedland. Might as well put a midnight launch in Kalgoorlie… the most populated city in WA.
If you payed any attention to news here in the west you would know that our restrictive trading hours limit most retail businesses to open 8am-9pm Monday-Friday. The laws only apply to metro stores, hence Karratha and Port Hedland opening.
I read somewhere (I believe here on kotaku) that a lot of stores in WA were doing early openings on the Tuesday.
yeh eb games in Morley are opening at 8am…. but doesnt really matter as I wont be able to play til after work…. fkn stupid Western Australian trading laws, get with the freaking times, but hey at least we’ve got sunday trading (only took 20 years to catch up with the rest of the nation).
Doesn’t look like I’ll be getting my XB One at midnight either….
How many copies do they have to sell to make this financially viable? Or is a bit of cash thrown the traders way from publishers? Can you buy other stuff at that time?
Maybe they’re doing it for the love of the game, the industry and the community.
Yes you can buy other stuff at the time, its not as if they open the store and shout “YOU CAN ONLY BUY GTAV, BUT NOTHING ELSE!”
Of course not. It’s not an Apple store. :p
My experience with past Midnight launches for games is that purchases are strictly for the game itself [and perhaps some extras relating to the game].
There’s usually a rather large crowd waiting eagerly outside to get the game asap, which means they want to process it as quickly as possible.
EB’s procedure is as follows:
10pm: Store opens. People pay the balance for their pre-orders and are given a numbered ticket.
12pm: They pull out the stock and just hand out the games in order of which people’s tickets are numbered. This way it saves them having to process payments for each game, it’s just passing out the copies. Works really well.
And, like you said, it has to be economically viable for them. So the more people they can process in as little time as possible, the more they can potentially make.
12am you mean…DERP! 🙂 hehe
I…. you….. herpaderp…..
See! This is why I use 24 hour time, dammit! :p
I live 25 steps from the Gamesmen in sydney so I will have the game playing by 12:10 for sure lol
I love the game playing and the food eating and the sleep getting.
don’t forget there is a 17gb mandatory install, you’ll be playing it by 2am or so 😛
Edit: Apologies for misinformation, it’s an 8gb install 😛
it’s a 8gb install for disc
17gb download
1:15am game time lol
yup, sorry, I was misinformed, still though 8gb will take a while.
I guess this game is kind of a big deal.
That’s insane. The ACT stores that are all doing this are about 10km away from each other :\
Well, they just want to provide the best service possible to their customer.
Considering the guy at EB in the Canberra Centre said they had 100+ preorders over a month ago when I preordered, I’d assume they aren’t struggling for numbers.
Belconnen is ridiculous, though – EB, JB, Target (!?) and the 24 hour Kmart will all be doing midnight launches.
Sure am. I’ll run home like Peter Griffin winning the gold Wonka ticket and smash my knee outside my house
You mean like this.
I surely do
I’ve ordered mine from JB’s online store so don’t expect to get it until Wednesday.
I wouldn’t be going to a midnight launch during the week anyway. Work in the morning and all that, I don’t need to be up late playing GTA.
Due to trading laws in WA i dont believe they are allowed to open at midnight but i know my local EB is putting on breakfast…
Darn… I miss the days when I lived a block away from an EB… and didn’t have to work in the morning. Oh well, no more midnight launches for me.
You can still go and just get 2 less hours worth of sleep.
… and still not get to play it until I get home from work the next day? I’d rather the extra 2 hours of sleep, and pick it up on my lunch break.
hoping that it breaks street date this weekend. anyone know its broken anywhere at this point in time?
Pick up at 12….. playing at 12.05……
Should be able to get at least a couple of hours in and still have a relatively normal amount of sleep that night before work. Cannot wait!
Implying you don’t get so hooked it turns into an all-nighter 😉
I’m actually considering going to the midnight launch. Start work 8am in the morning so I fear that if I start playing I won’t be able to stop 😛
I have completely accepted this as a possibility………
… I am fine with it :p
I’m hoping I can force myself to sleep earlier on sunday night, in anticipation that every time I tell myself “just five more minutes” come monday night / sunday morning, I’ll fight back at least somewhat against the lack of sleep. 😛
Because there is no way I’ll be able to put that controller down. I’m kidding myself if I try to tell myself otherwise. It’s the next big GTA! :p
why does everyone forget the 17 gb mandatory instal, I’m keeping that at the front of my mind so i don’t excitedly go to put it in and play only to be met with “installing game data”
I thought it was 8GB.
http://www.kotaku.com.au/2013/07/trickle-of-grand-theft-auto-v-news-reveals-mandatory-8gb-install/
oh good, i got misinformed, still though, will take a while
Well…. it’s more the point that I’ll be grabbing the game, and I’ll be home in 5 minutes with it already in the PS3…
I figured there would be an installation, but the comment
“Pick up at 12….. Disc in at 12.05…. 3 cups of tea while the game installs… Playing at 12.20…..”
doesn’t have the same effect :p
yeah, I’m not writing this as a “no you won’t” comment, it’s a warning for everyone. I’ve had too many times where I’ve run home hyped to play a game and been met with “installing”
Hell hath no fury like an impatient gamer after a midnight launch.
Midnight launches, a lethal combination is body odor, K-mart jeans and Asics shoes.
YES FOREST LAKE! YES! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!!
Forest lake… Sounds like someone just pointed at the two predominant landmarks and came up with the name. 😛
I mean, could have at least picked something more unique; forests and lakes are common enough.
Browns Plains?
Cannon Hill?
Forest Lake?
Camp Hill?
Brisbanes littered with uncreative suburb names lol.
Waiting for a suburb to pop up merely named ‘Shithole’.
Oh wait we HAVE Woodridge.
Hahaha. Camp Hill sounds nice. Bet you it’s a horrible place for camping. And I bet Cannon Hill has the world’s most strict anti-gunpowder policies. Browns Plains is probably covered in lush green grass.
I’ve got nothing for Forest Lake. Unless it’s to say “comeon, this is Australia, let’s not kid ourselves: just call it Bush Lake.” 😛
Right down the road is Goodna. Kinda sounds like they said ‘Like this place? Good? Nah….”
That is an entirely appropriate explanation for Goodna
Browns Plains is more commonly known as Brown Stains. It’s a shithole
I’ve never done a midnight launch for a game before.. console yes, game no.. I guess if I was one of those people who took (or had) the next day off it would be worth it.. but since I don’t.. I might as well wait.. 🙂
I did exactly that with the GTA IV launch. Waited for half an hour for the store to open, waited another hour to get my copy, went home, had a quick look at the contents in the box (got the collector’s edition), put it on the dining room table and went to bed.
Halo 2 for me. Went into Brisbane City, got my copy from the myer center store, went home, played for 15 minutes and fell asleep in my armchair. Woke up at 10.30 am and realised had I just gone to bed the night before I would’ve been there and back with the game at the same exact time, plus I would’ve been in bed earlier.
EFF you JBHIFI for not ONE midnight opening on the Gold Coast… The so called crime capital of Australia can’t sell a crime simulator at midnight.
Ummmmm our JB hifi Mildura store is advertising a midnight launch. Just to let you know.
Argh, damn parental responsibility means I can’t take the 17th off and have to wait until late night shopping on Thursday to collect my preorder. I stupidly preordered at my local JB when I should have done so with the one in Sydney, where I work. Friday night looks like it might be an all-nighter though 🙂
who needs the playstation store when you can hit up your local for a midnight release?
oh, wait. everyone in perth -_-
Does anyone know if it is all stores that will be open from 9:30 for the midnight launch, mainly Coffs Harbour?
don’t wanna rock up early or late…
12 and a half hours to go. WOOOOO!
Bah, only midnight launch in wagga is EB & I don’t fancy paying $110 for it
So did you have to pre-order to get a copy at a midnight launch, or can anyone buy one?
I think Gametraders at Campbelltown at doing a midnigt launch. At least I assume that’s the one with the slot car racing tournament that Fatshady and Shiggy have been going on about this last week.
$110 for GTA V @ EB games.. no thanks.. it’s like aussies already get price gouged enough.. I got my copy from dungeoncrawl.com.au for a much more affordable $72 & I also have a warm fuzzy feeling knowing I’m supporting a great aussie store.
Anyone know how jb launches work, is it just first come first serve or some sort of ticketing system, because I paid my order off entirely when pre ordering so I’m ready to go
Target are also doing a midnight launch, and selling it for $79 at the following stores:
http://target.com.au/medias/pdf/GTA-stores-v1.pdf
Ewww Target. Be pretty embarassing lining up there.
Awesome. Ty
Be picking up my copy tomorrow morning. Did a midnight launch for WoW few years back and after updates and installs, finally got to play at 2.00 am and had to get up for work at 5.00 am so that was a first and last time i did a midnight launch. Although it was mighty fun, local EB games store had competitions where someone actually won their pre-order.
Nope no midnight launch on this one for me. After passing out just 20 minutes into GTA4 after getting home from the midnight launch. Nope I’ll be getting mine in my lunch break.
11 hrs 15 minutes… thank god I’ve got Dexter and Breaking Bad to watch today!
Guys, I’ve been lined up at my local EB for the last 2 days. Follow me on Twitter for live updates from my position FIRST IN LINE! @GTARULZ6969
– Just kidding.
http://www.skynews.com.au/tech/article.aspx?id=906333
“The Grand Theft Auto (GTA) series – which sees players buy virtual prostitutes – has accumulated sales of 135 million copies since its 1997 debut.”
Oh so THAT’s why we are all so excited. *Facepalm*
Stop the press – Target is doing a midnight launch (not in Qld – bastards) and their price is $79
I love how it has the link asking if independents want to be listed. I emailed through 3 hours ago and I still haven’t made the list.
Isn’t it funny that you guys never updated this to include a couple of independents including myself to show that we were doing midnight launches. VERY DISAPPOINTED AND ANNOYED Kotaku!
anyone going to the midnight launch in somerville EB? from 10pm onwards GTA bowlingg… game playing and general hap hazard!! anyone?
Shout out to my ex colleagues at EB, up there bored out of their minds, working at 10 pm for nothing, watching people practically leave rubber scorch marks on those white tiles at the door in their eagerness to get to the car. Hating them all because, by the time you get home, you’re three hours gameplay behind them.
I don’t miss it at all.
Shout out to EB and their confusing price matching policies – I can buy for $109 tonight and then come in the next morning so they can refund the $30 difference (as Target is not open at midnight in QLD) – why not just sell it to me at that price tonight instead of asking me to come back in the morning for the refund??? In the end the result is the same???
They know the competitors pricing and still try and gouge – instead of getting it tonight and then going back tomorrow to get my $30 refund I’ll just buy it tomorrow at Target… one trip is easier than stuffing around tonight for 30mins playtime before bed.
So I was early and preordered in 2011 (I got a gift card and 90% of games are shit)… My JB is Bankstown and isn’t doing a ML… I can’t go to another JB and get it, can I?
who ordered the storm covering Brisbane?