Some EB Games employees in the GTA are outraged over the much-anticipated release of two new video games which they say could draw big crowds to their stores on Friday morning and put the public at risk.

Hundreds of people have preordered the games “Animal Crossing” and “Doom” and as of 5 p.m. on Thursday, EB Games said that it was going ahead with releasing preorders for pick up, despite an advisory from Toronto’s chief medical officer that all non-essential businesses should close to minimize the spread of COVID-19.

To protect the public, EB Games said that stores, which will open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Friday, will only admit customers who preordered the games. The stores will return to “modified shopping hours” on Saturday.

An EB Games store manager, who spoke to the Star on the condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal for speaking to the media, said the list of preorders at one location includes well over one hundred people. “I am still not reassured of my health and safety at all,” the store manager said.

“We are in danger of being in extremely close quarters in a small store with multitudes of customers. If we let them in in waves we are in danger, if they are standing outside in line they are in danger of spreading the virus,” the store manager added.

Employees at other locations confirmed that dozens of customers were on preorder lists and that staff were afraid of the lineups, which are typical at release events.

The Star reached out to several EB Games locations and staff at one Oakville location said they would refuse to come to work for the launch.

Yorkdale mall communications staff told the Star that the video game launch would continue at five EB Games locations located in Oxford Properties malls (Yorkdale, Square One, Scarborough Town Centre, Hillcrest Mall and Upper Canada Mall), but the company would implement precautions, such as only allowing 30 people to stand in line, with each person separated by stickers six feet apart.

One EB Games employee working in the GTA said they did not receive proper disinfecting products and were told by management that if they ran out they should purchase the products themselves and they would be reimbursed.

The Star has reviewed a screenshot of an email between staff and senior management about cleaning products not delivered on a timely basis that included the request that staff purchase the products themselves if necessary.

In order to protect customers, EB Games said in a statement Thursday that effective immediately the company would only allow 10 customers in the store at any given time and it would no longer be accept cash or trade-ins. The statement also said the company was cancelling midnight launch activities and it would introduce “in-store line management practices” that enforce a one metre distance between customers at checkout lines.

“We have been aggressively sourcing additional safety products and sanitary supplies to implement heightened cleaning practices on all high-touchpoint surfaces within our stores, as well as more accessible hand sanitization stations,” the statement added.

When asked if employees who chose to self-isolate would receive any compensation, EB Games responded that the company would “continue to support and respect the team members that are in self-isolation,” which may result to store closures.

“We are all in this together and we are continuing to monitor the COVID-19 pandemic closely, following the guidelines provided by our Canadian government and World Health Organization, while satisfying our gamers’ demand for the product they want in a manner that protects both our customers and our associates,” the response said.

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But some employees still don’t feel reassured.

“I haven’t seen my mother, my elderly grandparents or other older family members as I am a danger to them,” one EB Games employee said. “I hope they change — or close soon.”