Publisher-mandated street dates? Publisher-mandated street dates are for chumps.
At least, that seems to be the attitude carried by someone working in retail in the Northeast, thus leading to not only their establishment selling Modern Warfare 2 over the weekend, but prompting GameStop to respond in kind within “select markets.” This follows earlier reports of our gaming brethren in the UK doing the same thing.
Kotaku reports that the occurrences took place in New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, with one GameStop apparently claiming to have Activision’s approval in order to compete with local “mom-and-pop” stores who apparently sought to get a leg up on their competition.
Activision, however, would refute the claim, telling Kotaku that they have “not given any retailer permission to sell Modern Warfare 2 prior to the Nov. 10 street date. The company fully supports the Nov.10 street date.”
GameStop would later come forward and admit that the selling of Modern Warfare 2 in these select markets was a “corporate decision.” According to GameStop Vice President for Corporate Communications Chris Olivera:
This past weekend, GameStop made the decision to break street date and sell reserved copies of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 in select markets where other retailers had broken street date. Our decision followed many conversations with Activision and was an effort to protect our customer base.
What Olivera did not offer up was how many stores or which markets it allowed to break the street date.
Some seem to be looking at it as a “glass half-full” situation, in that GameStop seems to only be selling copies that had been reserved. Naturally, others feel that the situation is unfair, and may likely feel this even more so when they step online and get fragged by a guy with an extra day or two of experience with the game. And still more feel that this sets a bad precedent.
How do you feel about this? I imagine if you’re reading this while gently caressing your copy, you’re all for it. If your hands are empty, I would imagine you might be opposed.
Does anyone dare to challenge this convention? And it doesn’t count if you’re saying something like “I don’t have a copy, but if I did, I’d still think it was unfair.” Because odds are, no one else (I won’t judge) will believe you.
