Release Date: What does it truly mean!?

02.17.2009

angryface

After many disturbing occurrences where I tried to purchase a game on the set release day but was told to come back tomorrow, I have a question, what does a release date in the Game Industry really mean.

No GameStop, NO game companies….release date does not mean Shipping Date… Release Date does not mean come back at 2pm and maybe we will have it then. Release Date does not mean come back tomorrow and it will be in stores. That is ridiculous.

So let me clarify the definition of release date. Release Date means the game should have came in the day before and is stocked on selves in anticipation for said consumers purchase on THE SAID RELEASE DATE. In the past this used to be the case, so what is up with this fail and lose policy now. It is very aggravating to go to a store on a Release Date for a game and be told to come back later or tomorrow. If the game will not be on store selves on the announced Release Date then please change the day to when it will be. That is only common sense.

Some Offenders:

Devil May Cry 4

Little Big Planet

Street Fighter 4(Still Researching: Game Stop you fail!)


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  • http://www.thedeepstrikers.com Vajra CORE

    I used to work at GameStop and the games usually come in on Tuesday before the Street Date. It was funny cause if you know the Pirate Gaming World…Street Fighter IV has been available for download for awhile now…but it just came out today. Now…this is ass backwards with SquareEnix games. Like how Wings of the Goddess came out one day before Thanksgiving. But the release date was actually the day before that. Meaning 2 days before thanksgiving. SquareEnix games release dates usually are the shipping dates.

  • phire

    :(

  • Megumiaraki

    Yes actually a friend of mine said he has played the pirated version but since I don’t plan on pirating anything there is no need to keep up on it xD. I am trying to build up a legal collection xD. lol

    Too bad ;_; my favorite company square fails in this matter…..shipping dates are shipping dates……release dates are release dates………….and if it is not then it should be said.

    Consumers hate confusion and don’t want to be disappointed when something is said to be available and its not. Not everyone is up on the many downloadable or pirate versions out there and they don’t have to be, that is why they preorder or wait online with there near 70 dollars in hand to get it on release day.

    I don’t know about Gamestop stuff, I never worked there…but if they have the games 2 days before street date then why are they lying to consumers? It makes no sense to tell people to come back next day or at 2:00…. My friend just called there and was told to come back tomorrow for SF4.

  • Shadows X123

    I agree on this one. Release means you should be able to get it. There is only one reason to all of this: Money. Greed is something that has robbed the gaming industry lately. People go out in full force for a game then the store will come out with some weird stupid reason why it’s not out. This is where price gounging and pirating come into play. Now I can understand selling out. The stores and gaming companies have lack of communication with the manufacturer and wonder why nobody is buying games. Then especially when the game is highly anticipated, they decide to just ship like 400,000 copies instead of 2 million. They better not do that **** with Gran Turismo 5 or else I’m boycotting Polyphony. Forget the prologue. Come out with the game already. They can always make adjustment and add cars later….. They can always come out with part 6….. Think people…. LMAO!!!!

  • AngelCloud

    I know this weekend in the Sunday ads there was one store that made it known that they would have Street fighter 4 in their stores on WEDNESDAY at 2 PM. Some store dont set you up I guess.

  • Megumiaraki

    Nice, That is cool Angel Cloud, I respect a store for letting consumers know exactly when it is available so people don’t waste their time O_O.

    Your funny Shadows u and your Gran Turismo 5 :P ….After all this wait it would be even worst for the release date to be a shipping date XD! I don’t want to see your face if that happens!!! LMAO! Your right though…. they act like they never gonna do a part 6 LOL! RIDICULOUS and funny as hell xD.

  • http://www.myspace.com/galarian Jason V.

    The big problem is that street dates, release dates and shipping dates all seem to be meshed up together. I see the terms street and release dates as the same thing really. Some games have stickers saying street date of xx/yy/zz, which is basically the day that it can be released. Shipping date is when a game ships (durr). Problem is, many games are shipped early to distributors, allocated to stores, but many times cannot be sold until the release date. I remember a time where Smackdown vs Raw 09 was received over a week early and we had to set it away and labeled not to be sold until it’s release date.

    Whenever people read about release dates, unfortunately, it’s hard to decipher whether it’s a release date or a shipping date. Unless you’re around gaming shops often, have worked for them or know the business enough, the common gamer will never get those things right. Sadly, even Street Fighter IV caught me off guard and pissed me the hell off. I blame Capcom for that though. You have a huge release of a game that has not had a proper arcade sequel since the godly 3rd Strike, and the first unique and new Street Fighter game on consoles since the Dreamcast (SF Anniversary doesn’t count) and you don’t try to trickle it out to distributors early? I’d rather see street dates broken than people not buying it and downloading it from lack of patience.

    Oh how I want to make love to Dan right now :( No homo.

  • http://myspace.com/beast1x5 Beast1x5

    Well as far as release dates go and being that i work at gamestop. It all depends on which store you go to…for example i work in bushwick and I feel for you trust me i do. Considering that for a large quantity of different games for example SFIV we didn’t recieve our shipment of it until 4:30 pm on the 17th and other locations got it earlier. And of course it also depends on the workers and how they take care of the boxes that were shipped to them. That is usually the variables with the games ^_^

  • Megumiaraki

    LOL! How can u make love to Dan but say no homo XD! Yea Good stuff though Jason V. Yesh Capcom should have trickled it out early thus they failed in that aspect xD.

    Also Good Stuff Beast that sucks for bushwick stores ;_;. Makes sense though because people did manage to get it on release day unlike me -_-…….but that is sooo late 4:30 I can imagine that would suck for everyone involved consumers and workers -_-.

  • Marvlous 211

    Release date for Gamestop is when you get the item in store. i.e.. Street fighter had a street date of 2/17/09 but the release date was 02/03/09 so that meant that we would get it in stores around 02/05/09 does this make sense.

  • joejoe

    That is not correct.

    Release date is the day in which the games leave the publisher. Shipping time will determine when the stores get it, overnight takes a day, so the next day it arrives. It’s not the stores fault, it’s that FedEx cannot teleport yet.

    Street date is a different term. It’s when games are required not to be sold before date xyz, but stores will have them in advance. ie. Game is street dated for 4/4/09, stores get them on 3/31/09, and hold them for the 4th. Street date is rarely an issue, as only requested by the publisher as so all retail outlets have the game on the same day, and it’s fair to everyone.

    The sooner you learn this, the better off you will be in the future, as this discussion ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS comes out for EVERY big release.

    Learn when games will be street dated, and when games have a normal release. If a game has a midnight release, it’s a street dated game. If it doesn’t, then it’ll be a normal release.