The street date for Modern Warfare 2 has apparently gone out the window as the world has collectively decided that it just can't stand to wait any longer.
Modern Warfare 2 was scheduled for release on November 10 - that's tomorrow - but the sweet smell of dollar bills has proven too much for retailers, many of whom are letting the game go early to anyone who asks nicely. As is usually the case with this sort of mess, it began small, with a few retailers giving copies to customers who had preordered or were just particularly pushy about it. But the floodgates opened over the weekend when GameStop decided at the corporate level to let 'er fly.
"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," the company said in a statement to Kotaku. "Our decision followed many conversations with Activision and was an effort to protect our customer base."
Activision didn't see it in quite the same light, however, issuing a contrary statement saying that it hadn't given anyone permission to break the street date under any circumstances, and that it still "fully supports" the original November 10 release date. Robert Bowling of Infinity Ward expressed a similar sentiment, tweeting, "Any store selling Modern Warfare 2 early is in violation of street date. There are no 'special permissions'." But he added that players who manage to score a copy of the game early won't be "punished" for it.
With the release date largely shot to hell, the press embargo also appears to have come to a whimpering end, as reviews and walkthroughs have begun popping up all over the tubes. Activision has thus far maintained a stern look and wagging finger but its wrath will almost certainly be mitigated by the fact that reviewers are almost tripping over themselves to heap sparking praise on the game.
Modern Warfare 2 officially goes on sale tomorrow, with some retailers holding special midnight openings to take advantage of the hype, and if you're a PC gamer you might as well wait: As Bowling noted, the PC version of the game will remain locked and unplayable until then.
I thought they broke the street date because independent game stores in the Northeast were already selling them...and thats money that other game chains don't want to lose. (should a diehard fanatic decide to cancel his pre-order and run to another store...)
I found the game at a mall in my town at Saturday and they didn't look like preorder copy's. But then again I'm a PC gamer so It would not have made much effort, as Bowling stated.
lmfao, " if you're a PC gamer you might as well wait: As Bowling noted, the PC version of the game will remain locked and unplayable until then." Its just one slap to the face on top of another.
Lordmarkus: I found the game at a mall in my town at Saturday and they didn't look like preorder copy's. But then again I'm a PC gamer so It would not have made much effort, as Bowling stated.
They were selling them in town where I live today. In any other circumstance I would have gone 'gimme!' but IW has managed to erode any excitement I had about that game, due to me being a PC gamer. So I just bought a few movies instead, and they were great. Hah!
Remember the day that game prices were doomed to increase. There are no words for what I feel now. Remember 11/9, and keep it in your heart always. That is all.
I wonder if Activision is going to take legal action against retailers for this. Is it even practical to sue them for this? Oh well, back to Dragon Age Origins.
Lordmarkus: I found the game at a mall in my town at Saturday and they didn't look like preorder copy's. But then again I'm a PC gamer so It would not have made much effort, as Bowling stated.
They were selling them in town where I live today. In any other circumstance I would have gone 'gimme!' but IW has managed to erode any excitement I had about that game, due to me being a PC gamer. So I just bought a few movies instead, and they were great. Hah!
Good for you. May I ask which movies has the same, or more, value then MW2?
Lordmarkus: I found the game at a mall in my town at Saturday and they didn't look like preorder copy's. But then again I'm a PC gamer so It would not have made much effort, as Bowling stated.
They were selling them in town where I live today. In any other circumstance I would have gone 'gimme!' but IW has managed to erode any excitement I had about that game, due to me being a PC gamer. So I just bought a few movies instead, and they were great. Hah!
Good for you. May I ask which movies has the same, or more, value then MW2?
I didn't even spend 60 euros! I spent 22 euros and got new copies of Dead Mans Shoes, The Baader Meinhoff Complex, Last Days, The Snapper, Bowfinger and Dog Day Afternoon. Good films all. My local shop had a deal on.
About 12 hours entertainment, probably longer than MW2's single player campaign. And I wouldn't play the multiplayer anyway, not with how shit they've made it.
Meh, I'm across the date line here - it's already 2 am on the 10th.
I'll get it later this morning. I feverently hope that that 'PC Lock' is region-specific, I really don't want to have to wait til' mid-evening to start playing, just because it's still the 9th in the US.
stompythebeast: lmfao, " if you're a PC gamer you might as well wait: As Bowling noted, the PC version of the game will remain locked and unplayable until then." Its just one slap to the face on top of another.
I get thr feeling that 'locked' simply means that the activation servers won't go online until the tenth, which means you can probaly still install the game and play single player, but will have to wait for the multiplayer.
Pretty much par-for-the-course with PC Games, ut you don't hear aout it much, because it's rare that a PC game attracts this much day-one attention. These days (save for WoW, ut they already have well-estalished game servers).
EDIT: please forgive my sloppy spelling and grammar, my keyoard is unfortunately staring to fail on me.
that is absoloutly wrong. on every level. GameStop didn't get permission for that. did they fuck. they've started selling a day early for 1 simple reason: money.
Remember the day that game prices were doomed to increase. There are no words for what I feel now. Remember 11/9, and keep it in your heart always. That is all.
If anyone actually pays the RRP I'd be making judgements on their intelligence. At least in the UK:
Amazon: 54.99 32.00 Game: 54.99 34.99 HMV: 54.99 44.99 Sainsbury's: 54.99 26.00 Tesco: 54.99 25.00 (with another game) or 39.70
Do retailers HAVE to wait until the release date? I seem to remember that a few years back I found Final Fantasy 10 in Blockbuster months before the release date and Game used to ship out games to be delivered the day before the in store release dates.
I'm just curious as to whether there are actually any actual consequences for retailers that break the dates. I imagine Activision are only peeved because they thought they were super clever for coming up with 11/10/09 (which only works in silly countries that can't do dates correctly).
stompythebeast: lmfao, " if you're a PC gamer you might as well wait: As Bowling noted, the PC version of the game will remain locked and unplayable until then." Its just one slap to the face on top of another.
I get thr feeling that 'locked' simply means that the activation servers won't go online until the tenth, which means you can probaly still install the game and play single player, but will have to wait for the multiplayer.
Pretty much par-for-the-course with PC Games, ut you don't hear aout it much, because it's rare that a PC game attracts this much day-one attention. These days (save for WoW, ut they already have well-estalished game servers).
EDIT: please forgive my sloppy spelling and grammar, my keyoard is unfortunately staring to fail on me.
No it will likely be impossible to play at all due to the game using Steam to unlock the full game.
Remember the day that game prices were doomed to increase. There are no words for what I feel now. Remember 11/9, and keep it in your heart always. That is all.
Hell with that a Shopko in my area was selling them on 11/6. My dad bought his already fro PS3 but isn't playing it until tomorrow
Remember the day that game prices were doomed to increase. There are no words for what I feel now. Remember 11/9, and keep it in your heart always. That is all.
Hell with that a Shopko in my area was selling them on 11/6. My dad bought his already fro PS3 but isn't playing it until tomorrow
But 11/6 isn't NEARLY the implied reference to 9/11 that 11/9 is! Why would there be no words on 11/6, that just doesn't make ANY sense. I stand by my current state of wordslessness
Remember the day that game prices were doomed to increase. There are no words for what I feel now. Remember 11/9, and keep it in your heart always. That is all.
Hell with that a Shopko in my area was selling them on 11/6. My dad bought his already fro PS3 but isn't playing it until tomorrow
But 11/6 isn't NEARLY the implied reference to 9/11 that 11/9 is! Why would there be no words on 11/6, that just doesn't make ANY sense. I stand by my current state of wordslessness
I'm saying that the day that game sales began to increase on the 6th not the 9th
Remember the day that game prices were doomed to increase. There are no words for what I feel now. Remember 11/9, and keep it in your heart always. That is all.
Hell with that a Shopko in my area was selling them on 11/6. My dad bought his already fro PS3 but isn't playing it until tomorrow
But 11/6 isn't NEARLY the implied reference to 9/11 that 11/9 is! Why would there be no words on 11/6, that just doesn't make ANY sense. I stand by my current state of wordslessness
I'm saying that the day that game sales began to increase on the 6th not the 9th
I'm saying that day doesn't work for me, so screw you, 11/9
Remember the day that game prices were doomed to increase. There are no words for what I feel now. Remember 11/9, and keep it in your heart always. That is all.
Hell with that a Shopko in my area was selling them on 11/6. My dad bought his already fro PS3 but isn't playing it until tomorrow
But 11/6 isn't NEARLY the implied reference to 9/11 that 11/9 is! Why would there be no words on 11/6, that just doesn't make ANY sense. I stand by my current state of wordslessness
I'm saying that the day that game sales began to increase on the 6th not the 9th
I'm saying that day doesn't work for me, so screw you, 11/9
It seems madness to be sat on a massive, pre-distribute stock of games that everyone wants but you are not allowed to sell because of some arbitrary date.
Nexus Zef: Do retailers HAVE to wait until the release date? I seem to remember that a few years back I found Final Fantasy 10 in Blockbuster months before the release date and Game used to ship out games to be delivered the day before the in store release dates.
I'm just curious as to whether there are actually any actual consequences for retailers that break the dates. I imagine Activision are only peeved because they thought they were super clever for coming up with 11/10/09 (which only works in silly countries that can't do dates correctly).
they could stop selling the games to the retailers.
now imagine if that shipment of CoD6:MW2 was the last Gestapo would ever receive, think of the money they would lose out to other businesses.
About 90+ percent of all games are released on Tuesdays.
Not here, it's usually Fridays.
Sorry didn't realize you were from UK. Here in US most games are released on Tuesdays, except for certain scenarios where the number has some sort of significance, like Resident Evil 5 being released on a Friday the 13th. I'm a little annoyed with this and next week because SOO many high-profile releases are coming out, between this, L4D2, AC2, the new SMB, etc. I know it's meant to prepare for Xmas but I like dealing with games 1 or 2 at a time..
Remember the day that game prices were doomed to increase. There are no words for what I feel now. Remember 11/9, and keep it in your heart always. That is all.
If anyone actually pays the RRP I'd be making judgements on their intelligence. At least in the UK:
Amazon: 54.99 32.00 Game: 54.99 34.99 HMV: 54.99 44.99 Sainsbury's: 54.99 26.00 Tesco: 54.99 25.00 (with another game) or 39.70
You worried me with GAME there for a minute, had to go and check to make sure that it was indeed the PC version you're referring to.
Remember the day that game prices were doomed to increase. There are no words for what I feel now. Remember 11/9, and keep it in your heart always. That is all.
Hell with that a Shopko in my area was selling them on 11/6. My dad bought his already fro PS3 but isn't playing it until tomorrow
But 11/6 isn't NEARLY the implied reference to 9/11 that 11/9 is! Why would there be no words on 11/6, that just doesn't make ANY sense. I stand by my current state of wordslessness
I'm saying that the day that game sales began to increase on the 6th not the 9th
I'm saying that day doesn't work for me, so screw you, 11/9
Agree to disagree
Well actually if you rotate the whole "11/6" upsidedown you do get ( 9/11 ) upsidedown 6 does look like 9.
Modern Warfare 2 Street Date Falls Apart
The street date for Modern Warfare 2 has apparently gone out the window as the world has collectively decided that it just can't stand to wait any longer.
Modern Warfare 2 was scheduled for release on November 10 - that's tomorrow - but the sweet smell of dollar bills has proven too much for retailers, many of whom are letting the game go early to anyone who asks nicely. As is usually the case with this sort of mess, it began small, with a few retailers giving copies to customers who had preordered or were just particularly pushy about it. But the floodgates opened over the weekend when GameStop decided at the corporate level to let 'er fly.
"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," the company said in a statement to Kotaku. "Our decision followed many conversations with Activision and was an effort to protect our customer base."
Activision didn't see it in quite the same light, however, issuing a contrary statement saying that it hadn't given anyone permission to break the street date under any circumstances, and that it still "fully supports" the original November 10 release date. Robert Bowling of Infinity Ward expressed a similar sentiment, tweeting, "Any store selling Modern Warfare 2 early is in violation of street date. There are no 'special permissions'." But he added that players who manage to score a copy of the game early won't be "punished" for it.
With the release date largely shot to hell, the press embargo also appears to have come to a whimpering end, as reviews and walkthroughs have begun popping up all over the tubes. Activision has thus far maintained a stern look and wagging finger but its wrath will almost certainly be mitigated by the fact that reviewers are almost tripping over themselves to heap sparking praise on the game.
Modern Warfare 2 officially goes on sale tomorrow, with some retailers holding special midnight openings to take advantage of the hype, and if you're a PC gamer you might as well wait: As Bowling noted, the PC version of the game will remain locked and unplayable until then.
Source: GamesIndustry
Permalink