If you happen to reside within the United Kingdom, and still have yet to pre-order a copy of the upcoming Grand Theft Auto IV, you may be a tad too late. Gamesintustry.biz is reporting that demand for the standard version of the game has been so great that several retailers are cancelling pre-order opportunities. Online retailer, GAME, has come fourth and stated that any pre-orders made on or after April 7th may not be able to be honored upon release day and will be distributed on a first come first serve basis. Other retailers, such as Gamestation, have even reported that they have stopped taking pre-orders entirely.

If the UK is already starting to feel the pressures of shortages on pre-orders, then we could be seeing some serious scarcity of copies for those wishing to purchase the game on day one. This does give cause to wonder if the retailers’ projections for GTA IV sales have been as high the analysts, who are expecting over six million units sold worldwide during the first week of release. Plenty of pre order offers have been offered. In some cases up to 1000 Xbox Live Marketplace points have been given away with a pre-order of GTA IV, which in the 360 version’s case, would make a great way to get ready for that downloadable content that MS can’t stop raving about.

It’s not like retailers really had to worry about securing sales for GTA IV, but now because of such high demand and a focus paid to those who have pre-ordered, there is a chance that UK gamers could be seeing a shortage somewhat akin to the pre-order crisis that occurred with the launch of the Xbox 360. Of course the shortage would not be of the same magnitude; however, considering the importance of GTA to the industry, those who decided not to pre order may end up having to pitch a tent outside their local store if they want to be able to snag a copy on day one. Remember, only pre-orders of the standard version of the game have been endangered, so if you’re willing to spare no expense when trying to get the game on day one, there is still the special edition option.