» Mon May 07, 2012 11:31 pm They are legally bound to the street date and yes they can make a lawsuit if they break it. There is actually examples of this happening and shops getting huge penalties!!!
There is a reason why you can't just walk into the store and get the game before its released, most often they have the game in stock atleast a few days before the release date!! I remember when EU3 came out, they had the game in on monday but ofc could not get it hime before friday! (guess why!!! release date)
Its not beneficial for Bethesda or any other dev for that sake, to have shops breaking the street date! why ? well because.
A. its illegal
B. its bad for advertising!
C. it makes the majority of costumers pissed (just look at this thread)
D. it makes release dates useless!
E. it might spawn soiilers bad impressions etc!
F. ETC
As I said before, if you are supporting the shop who breask the law, you are supporting a criminal act and you could actually get penaltied aswell (yes thats a fact)
There is a reason why you can't just walk into the store and get the game before its released, most often they have the game in stock atleast a few days before the release date!! I remember when EU3 came out, they had the game in on monday but ofc could not get it hime before friday! (guess why!!! release date)
Its not beneficial for Bethesda or any other dev for that sake, to have shops breaking the street date! why ? well because.
A. its illegal
B. its bad for advertising!
C. it makes the majority of costumers pissed (just look at this thread)
D. it makes release dates useless!
E. it might spawn soiilers bad impressions etc!
F. ETC
As I said before, if you are supporting the shop who breask the law, you are supporting a criminal act and you could actually get penaltied aswell (yes thats a fact)
So, to reiterate my OP, there is nothing intrinsically illegal or criminal about selling a game before the noted release date. IF, however, that retail chain has a contract with the publisher, that's a different matter. In the event a contract is violated, that's a civil manner, not a criminal one. Just to clear that up.
in regards to your individual point's, I'll respond to them individually.
a. this is circumstantial, and not always the case. but very likely its the case the majority of the time. its also not illegal so much as a breach of contract. which are different.
b. its only bad for advertising because retail stores want a static release date to begin with. if Bethesda marketed the game as "available November" and retail stores just sold it when they received it, the world wouldn't end.
c. uh, i think you have this backwards. the majority of pissed people on this forum are pissed because some stores broke the arbitrary street date while others arent. NO ONE would be upset if the GameStop that has their game was giving it to them regardless of the street date. i can promise you that. the only pissed people would be those who's pre orders haven't actually arrived at their retail store yet - which would be far less people then are upset currently.
d. they ARE useless to consumers. they are only useful to retailers because it puts them all (conceivably) on equal footing. so no store has it before others, stealing potential sales.
e. i have no idea what this means
d.
