Why must street dates continue to be broken?

It's making me less excited as a gamer to realize that people get a hold of the video game before the street date. HOW does this keep happening? how come people of management aren't keeping a close eye on retailers or employees who have access to the content in question? I really hate to wait in line at my local retailer and coming to find out that someone already had the game  before me. its killing the journey and the excitement behind every highly anticipated video game i try to buy. it also kills me to know at this moment that people have already completed the single player campaigns and are already matchmaking and ranking in Duke Nukem Forever. 
 
the leader boards get screwed up because of this, what makes the street date so special if i can just get the game off of ebay before tuesday? Your thoughts. and oh, i am aware that there are copies of the game that are region free in ASIA but i am not concerned with this because it would take forever for a region free version of the game to hit the household in question.

Some retailers want the business of being the exclusive seller to a game a few days prior to the official launch. It nets them more money. Typically, these tend to be mom and pop stores as the publishers aren't really interested in coming down hard on them.

I dislike it too, but I'd pick up a copy of Skyrim this very moment if it was on sale and street date be damned.

I'm less aggravated about breaking the street date and more aggravated about places like gamestop essentially calling the day that they give out the preordered games the date it's released just so a lot of people come in expecting to be able to buy  a game. Then gamestop tells them "no you should have preordered" and so tries to push their bullshit preorder system on you. I buy games from any place but gamestop.

Mom & Pop stores

@Laketown said:

Mom & Pop stores

Yes. This is the advantage they have. They will always take it.

@Laketown said:

Mom & Pop stores

Yes. This is the advantage they have. They will always take it.

I only hate it because I'm not near any stores that break release dates.

smells like jealousy in here

@VisariLoyalist I've pretty much come to this conclusion to. I've only bought two games so far this year from a Gamestop and both experiences were poor and annoying. The clerk asking me to pre order another game when I'm picking up my game. I understand it is there job but when I say no the first time I mean it. After Catherine comes out, I pre ordered it there because they are offering a free soundtrack and art book, I will never set foot into a Gamestop again.

Street dates suck.  If I'm excited enough about a game to preorder it off Amazon it really stinks to know that my copy is just sitting around waiting to be shipped while people lucky enough to have a Mom & Pop store that sells games near them are already balls deep in it.

@deusdigit said:

@iAmJohn said:

@Laketown said:

Mom & Pop stores

Yes. This is the advantage they have. They will always take it.

I'm just going to be a douche and say they should be punished for it.

yes because everyone should work at wal mart

smells like jealousy in here

@deusdigit said:

@iAmJohn said:

@Laketown said:

Mom & Pop stores

Yes. This is the advantage they have. They will always take it.

I'm just going to be a douche and say they should be punished for it.

yes because everyone should work at wal mart

@deusdigit said:

@Laketown said:

@deusdigit said:

@iAmJohn said:

@Laketown said:

Mom & Pop stores

Yes. This is the advantage they have. They will always take it.

I'm just going to be a douche and say they should be punished for it.

yes because everyone should work at wal mart

nah, maybe everyone should feel their money was worth the investment and everyone got a fair chance to experience a highly anticipated game.

yeah, and some get that experience earlier. The problem isn't them, it's the dicks who are spoiling the game for you

Also you have to realize no matter how early you have gotten a game there is someone out in the world that has played at least 24 hours already. It's the way the world works, either through mom and pop shops or piracy.

Duke Nukem came out the 10th here in Europe if that helps explain some of the broken streetdates

You know, I hear all about these mom & pop shops breaking release dates. I have one I frequent, but they don't break street dates. Mainly because they don't want to get in trouble. Can't blame them, really.

You seriously gunna complain about this??, "oh no some people have played this game 2 or 3 days before me, it's not special anymore, it doesn't feel the same boo hoo" wtf man

waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

I only hate it because I'm not near any stores that break release dates.

It's making me less excited as a gamer to realize that people get a hold of the video game before the street date. HOW does this keep happening? how come people of management aren't keeping a close eye on retailers or employees who have access to the content in question? I really hate to wait in line at my local retailer and coming to find out that someone already had the game  before me. its killing the journey and the excitement behind every highly anticipated video game i try to buy. it also kills me to know at this moment that people have already completed the single player campaigns and are already matchmaking and ranking in Duke Nukem Forever.   the leader boards get screwed up because of this, what makes the street date so special if i can just get the game off of ebay before tuesday? Your thoughts. and oh, i am aware that there are copies of the game that are region free in ASIA but i am not concerned with this because it would take forever for a region free version of the game to hit the household in question.

You must live a pretty swell life if this is what gets you down.

it's stores and release dates. some countries get the game earlier than others. there is really nothing you can do about the broken street dates. i kind  of wish that i knew somebody that broke the street date just to get the game in the beginning of the week than the second day.

I don't understand the problem, what does it matter that some people somehow get a copy of a game a couple of days before you?

Ppl wants to make money right now, not wait a few days.

I heard a Target in the US sold InFamous 2 about two weeks early for $30 because they confused it for the original game. Yea.

Just wait a few more days and you'll get your game.
 
It's easy to do.

@deusdigit: You aren't coming off this thread looking too hot. I tend to buy games months after they come out a lot of times so I don't spend as much on them. Who really cares if someone gets a game a few days early. Doesn't make the game any less enjoyable.

You're coming off like the guy who yells "FIRST!" in the comments, and no one likes that guy.

@deusdigit: You aren't coming off this thread looking too hot. I tend to buy games months after they come out a lot of times so I don't spend as much on them. Who really cares if someone gets a game a few days early. Doesn't make the game any less enjoyable.

You're coming off like the guy who yells "FIRST!" in the comments, and no one likes that guy.

@deusdigit: You aren't coming off this thread looking too hot. I tend to buy games months after they come out a lot of times so I don't spend as much on them. Who really cares if someone gets a game a few days early. Doesn't make the game any less enjoyable.

You're coming off like the guy who yells "FIRST!" in the comments, and no one likes that guy.

Man I guess stop buying games then. That way you'll have nothing to worry about anymore.

The street date is a bunch of advertising bullshit and I think pretty much everyone has accepted that at this point. It's just a way for advertising campaigns to be dramatic and to give consumers a date on which they can definitely get the game at local retail outlets(because sometimes they ship to different places at different speeds and such). Honestly complaining about this seems kind of akin to complaining about non-gameplay content being in a trailer. Not everything in an advertisement will be faithful to reality.
 
So yeah I don't think you're justified in thinking that release dates are supposed to be special or magical(they aren't even consistent across countries) and in fact I think you're kinda crazy for having your experience ruined by people playing the game before you. Did you know reviewers get their copies of games weeks in advance sometimes?

@Choffy said:

@deusdigit: You aren't coming off this thread looking too hot. I tend to buy games months after they come out a lot of times so I don't spend as much on them. Who really cares if someone gets a game a few days early. Doesn't make the game any less enjoyable.

You're coming off like the guy who yells "FIRST!" in the comments, and no one likes that guy.

I'm not really coming off like that kind of guy at all, i think you need to analyze and check your comparisons before you make a statement like that. I am here to make a point, i am a fan of video games and specific franchises associated with those games. If i pre order a video game, i am making an investment and securing that investment in what i believe will be a fun experience for me.  but since i am a consumer, it upsets me to know that the game is already available, what makes waiting for the street date so special if this is the case? it literally defeats the purpose of waiting entirely and it also messes up stat tracking and allows people to be dickheads about spoiling the video game. Also i need to make it very clear that reviewers are exempt from my bias, they don't intentionally spoil video games, they write reviews for people to think ahead of time before they go out and buy the video game.  It's also kind of annoying that video game publishers don't seem to care, yet they still have the street date up anyway. Why not go ahead and release the game now? I'm done venting now, i just want to be treated equally as a consumer. That is all.

@deusdigit said:

@Choffy said:

@deusdigit: You aren't coming off this thread looking too hot. I tend to buy games months after they come out a lot of times so I don't spend as much on them. Who really cares if someone gets a game a few days early. Doesn't make the game any less enjoyable.

You're coming off like the guy who yells "FIRST!" in the comments, and no one likes that guy.

I'm not really coming off like that kind of guy at all, i think you need to analyze and check your comparisons before you make a statement like that. I am here to make a point, i am a fan of video games and specific franchises associated with those games. If i pre order a video game, i am making an investment and securing that investment in what i believe will be a fun experience for me. but since i am a consumer, it upsets me to know that the game is already available, what makes waiting for the street date so special if this is the case? it literally defeats the purpose of waiting entirely and it also messes up stat tracking and allows people to be dickheads about spoiling the video game. Also i need to make it very clear that reviewers are exempt from my bias, they don't intentionally spoil video games, they write reviews for people to think ahead of time before they go out and buy the video game. It's also kind of annoying that video game publishers don't seem to care, yet they still have the street date up anyway. Why not go ahead and release the game now? I'm done venting now, i just want to be treated equally as a consumer. That is all.

How are you not being treated equally? Out of the millions of copies sold for games, maybe 1,000 lucky people find a copy before the street date. Notice how the term "broken street date" has the term "broken" right in it; or as Merriam-Webster says: "violated by transgression." And the publishers actually do care. that's why you don't see large companies like Best Buy or Gamestop breaking street dates. Instead, it's more often small "mom and pop" shops that do it because they want to attract as much business as possible, because most people will ignore them, opting to go to a large retailer instead.

If you really do care about the game and want it early, then stop preordering from Gamestop or Amazon or anywhere else that respects street dates and start doing some digging a few days before launches. I can tell you with 100% certainty that any place that will sell Duke Nukem Forever, Alice: Madness Returns or Child of Eden has it in their store right now. If you really want it, go look for it.

My only problem is when my one friend seems to always know when a game has leaked to the net.

@RE_Player92 said:

@VisariLoyalist I've pretty much come to this conclusion to. I've only bought two games so far this year from a Gamestop and both experiences were poor and annoying. The clerk asking me to pre order another game when I'm picking up my game. I understand it is there job but when I say no the first time I mean it. After Catherine comes out, I pre ordered it there because they are offering a free soundtrack and art book, I will never set foot into a Gamestop again.

I just pre-ordered it from amazon for the collectors which comes with those + a pillow, boxers and a shirt and some other shit that I never knew would have come with a game... 40$ extra for some stuff that makes me chuckle is worth it i guess.. better then something like a remote controlled car from dirt or COD and it costing like 150-200$

@Toms115 said:

smells like jealousy in here

Pretty much this. So some people you don't know got a hold of the game before you. So what? Getting upset about it gives those people power over you. You (OP) are allowing someone you've never met to diminish your feelings about a game. Time to get over it. Street dates are stupid anyway. If the damn game is pressed, then why artificially hold it back? As soon as it's at a store, it should be available for purchase.

There is absolutely no reason not to break a street date, unless there is some relationship between you and the publisher that you're worried about harming. The same way that NDAs and embargos on reviews of things by supposed journalists are complete bullshit and should/would be violated if there weren't a sick and twisted symbiosis between "journalist" and "subject of review" that had to be nurtured.

Maybe it seems to happen more often only because of how game culture developed on the internet. We are able to hear about it more than we use to.

If anything with less "mom and pop" stores selling games it may have declined without us even knowing it.

I work at a game retailer of some sort. Here is some interesting stuff maybe. One time while I was at work a TARGET store in the same mall broke street date on X-Men Origins: Wolverine. I usually don't mind about such things but a huge influx of people were coming in to our store to get their money from preorders for the game to go buy it a day early. A canceled preorder is bad but a bunch can mean an employee loses his/her job. After about half an hour my manager emailed the guy for our district and he gave us a number for Activision to report broken street dates.

Among all the chaos ( I'm exaggerating, it wasn't very chaotic.) I think the information i got for the most part, and no i can't remember enough if this is completely correct, is that retailers have to sign a contract with the company in order to receive it early so that way the store will have it available on release. If the contract is broken then the company producing the copies can then no longer ship them games at all ( which is unlikely for a major retailer, I'm guessing this is more for smaller mom and pop stores) and/or charge them 2000 dollars per copy sold before street date.

This could be specific to Activision or the specific game but yeah that is my somewhat blurry knowledge on the subject.

Yeah there's definitely contracts of that sort signed with retailers but I don't think i've ever heard of them being enforced.

@deusdigit said:

@Choffy said:

@deusdigit: You aren't coming off this thread looking too hot. I tend to buy games months after they come out a lot of times so I don't spend as much on them. Who really cares if someone gets a game a few days early. Doesn't make the game any less enjoyable.

You're coming off like the guy who yells "FIRST!" in the comments, and no one likes that guy.

I'm not really coming off like that kind of guy at all, i think you need to analyze and check your comparisons before you make a statement like that.

...

what makes waiting for the street date so special if this is the case? it literally defeats the purpose of waiting entirely and it also messes up stat tracking and allows people to be dickheads about spoiling the video game.

I have to agree with Choffy and The Laughing Man, the main vibe I'm getting is that you wan't to be first to play new games. I mean as you yourself and other people pointed out, plenty of people these days have played through new releases before you and I can grab them off a shelf and that's not just limited to reviewers. If that doesn't bother you, what is special about a regular guy off the street playing before you?

You mention people getting 'unfair' leaderboard advantages but that's kind of a weak point because I assume most people will acknowledge getting to the top of a leaderboard these days is mostly about how much time you can pump into a game, so unless you're in that top percentile of players who can afford to spend a good chunk of their waking day playing a game, a day or two head start is not going to make any real difference at all once those kind of serious contenders start playing the hell out of a game post-release.

I mean contrast some guys getting the game two days early with you being laid up ill in bed for two days, you being unable to play the game for two days does not make the leaderboards redundant or 'messed up' to you when you recover. Furthermore! It's not at all uncommon these days (at least I've seen it happen on a number of occasions) for developers to reset the leaderboards for games on the morning of the street date, so it's neither a particularly serious problem, nor is it the case that there isn't a fix already in use.

I don't even know what you mean by " what makes waiting for the street date so special if this is the case?" - special? Special in what way? It's not a public holiday or anything, it is, as you probably know, just a mechanism to try and keep a publishers various retailer partners happy - in a perfect world the logistics would be so well worked out that every store that wanted to sell copies would get their first stock on the same day but, it is not a perfect world and we have streetdates.

Someone else getting the game two days before you cannot possibly "defeat the purpose of waiting", you're waiting because you don't have access to a shop selling the game yet - unless you live next to a mom & pop store that regularly breaks street dates, but you're crazy principled and refuse to buy from them until the hallowed street date, I don't see how it can annoy you? Again, compare the scenario of a guy down the street from you getting the game a couple of days early, with people in Europe getting a game a few days before America. I assume you don't get annoyed at the people in Europe when a game comes out there before it does in the States so why is it any different at all on a smaller scale unless you're just being petty-minded about it?

@deusdigit said:

@Choffy said:

@deusdigit: You aren't coming off this thread looking too hot. I tend to buy games months after they come out a lot of times so I don't spend as much on them. Who really cares if someone gets a game a few days early. Doesn't make the game any less enjoyable.

You're coming off like the guy who yells "FIRST!" in the comments, and no one likes that guy.

I'm not really coming off like that kind of guy at all, i think you need to analyze and check your comparisons before you make a statement like that.

...

what makes waiting for the street date so special if this is the case? it literally defeats the purpose of waiting entirely and it also messes up stat tracking and allows people to be dickheads about spoiling the video game.

I have to agree with Choffy and The Laughing Man, the main vibe I'm getting is that you wan't to be first to play new games. I mean as you yourself and other people pointed out, plenty of people these days have played through new releases before you and I can grab them off a shelf and that's not just limited to reviewers. If that doesn't bother you, what is special about a regular guy off the street playing before you?

You mention people getting 'unfair' leaderboard advantages but that's kind of a weak point because I assume most people will acknowledge getting to the top of a leaderboard these days is mostly about how much time you can pump into a game, so unless you're in that top percentile of players who can afford to spend a good chunk of their waking day playing a game, a day or two head start is not going to make any real difference at all once those kind of serious contenders start playing the hell out of a game post-release.

I mean contrast some guys getting the game two days early with you being laid up ill in bed for two days, you being unable to play the game for two days does not make the leaderboards redundant or 'messed up' to you when you recover. Furthermore! It's not at all uncommon these days (at least I've seen it happen on a number of occasions) for developers to reset the leaderboards for games on the morning of the street date, so it's neither a particularly serious problem, nor is it the case that there isn't a fix already in use.

I don't even know what you mean by " what makes waiting for the street date so special if this is the case?" - special? Special in what way? It's not a public holiday or anything, it is, as you probably know, just a mechanism to try and keep a publishers various retailer partners happy - in a perfect world the logistics would be so well worked out that every store that wanted to sell copies would get their first stock on the same day but, it is not a perfect world and we have streetdates.

Someone else getting the game two days before you cannot possibly "defeat the purpose of waiting", you're waiting because you don't have access to a shop selling the game yet - unless you live next to a mom & pop store that regularly breaks street dates, but you're crazy principled and refuse to buy from them until the hallowed street date, I don't see how it can annoy you? Again, compare the scenario of a guy down the street from you getting the game a couple of days early, with people in Europe getting a game a few days before America. I assume you don't get annoyed at the people in Europe when a game comes out there before it does in the States so why is it any different at all on a smaller scale unless you're just being petty-minded about it?

@Axxol said:

I only hate it because I'm not near any stores that break release dates.

Why do you care? How does that kill your excitement ? 
 
 
We were all dead excited for L.A. Noire for instance. We watched a video of a guy who had the game before street date.. we were still just as excited, and all bought it day 1.

@deusdigit: Ok, you seem to have ignored most of what I tried to say - I guess I'm sorry other people having fun before you get to upsets you so much.

Sometimes with PC games you end up with a retail copy arriving and not being able to play it because it's still before the unlock date on Steam or whatever. That's the worst.