I just got off the phone with GameStops hq and this is what was told to me: If you preorder the digital game in a GameStop store you will pick up the code for the game at that store at midnight release your time. ( might be able to pick it up earlier due to it being digital, but I doubt it) If you pre order online and chose in store pick up you will pick it up at the store location at the midnight release. If you preorder online or preorder in GameStop and have not chosen to pick up in store you are SOL and have to wait till 9:00 am CST. There is no real way around this. My suggestion is to pick up in store show up a bit early, hopefully you can convince to get the code a bit early. (Doubtful )