GAME adds £10 delivery charge to PS5 and Xbox Series X / S pre-orders on the quiet

GAME has added a £10 delivery charge to PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X / S pre-orders on the quiet.

The UK retailer added the £9.99 delivery charge after selling out of the PS5 last week, and ahead of pre-orders for the Xbox Series X / S going live this morning.

To be clear, this is a delivery charge now applied when you pre-order a next-gen console on GAME's website. It is not a charge retroactively applied to existing PS5 pre-orders from last week. The delivery charge also applies to pre-orders of the Oculus Quest 2 headset. Prior to this week, GAME offered free delivery on console pre-orders.

Here's a screenshot of a completed PS5 pre-order from GAME secured last week (note the free delivery):

Eurogamer contacted GAME about the delivery charge yesterday, but it has so far failed to respond.

As you'd expect, surprised customers are taking to social media to complain about the extra £10 they are now being forced to pay in order to secure an Xbox Series X and S pre-order. It seems this delivery charge is also being incorrectly applied to pre-orders where the customer chooses to pick-up their console in-store.

Here are GAME's current delivery options:

While GAME has yet to comment in an official capacity, sources at the company told Eurogamer the delivery charge is an edict from parent company Frasers Group and came as a surprise to staff. "No-one here agrees or is happy with it," one member of staff said.

GAME has struggled with pre-orders for Xbox Series X. Its website was offline for the morning as it battled with a raft of issues, including the sale of Xbox All Access. GAME and Smyths are the UK exclusive sellers of Microsoft's pay-monthly program.