There was a street date break contract with Microsoft and one of their major software releases a few years back. Might have been one of the Halo sequels, or possibly even the 360 itself. Maybe its just the standard contract.
Anyway, the penalty for breaking street date was allegedly the loss of all microsoft software licenses that the stores run on. And the removal of the right to sell any MS games/software. So if a store broke street date, MS would rescind their right to run Windows OS on their store and company computers.
Pretty sure no-one broke that date, whatever it was.
I wasn't arguing for publishers, i was arguing to show that street dates may not be that good for gamers themselves in the long run
Unless they stop releasing games at all, it's not bad at all. People will go and buy the games they want regardless. Hell, the demand for day and date releases for games in Australia over the past 6 years has seen a change from 6-month PAL conversion delays, to the situation where we get games and even consoles first (after NZ), and now even Nintendo is bringing games out here within a week.
From a consumers standpoint, it's ALL good.
DeathJr said:
With more and more gamers buying from importers who get the games cheaper than RRP and on or before release date, what choice do retailers have? Already retail is down, they are bleeding customers.
Another excellent point. Local retailers are already competing with international releases, prices and shipping times. They NEED to launch as soon as they get stock, otherwise they risk losing impulse/borderline sales. Someone sees a new release out in shops a week early, they may buy it. If it's still street dated that gives them more time to consider if importing is worthwhile seeing as they already have to wait.
