Do game publishers benefit from non-standardized release dates?

[Roufuss]

Burnout 3 was Wednesday.

The official release date supplied by the company and advertised was 9-10, so I'm just going on that.

[station82o]

I agree with Diffusion X's arguement and can't see any good reason why someone could argue otherwise. Regarding music, DVDs and their "Street date", i work at a Borders book store where we make sure those items are out on the shelves and new release rack on Tuesday morning before the store opens. That way the kid outside wanting the new Megadeth album can walk in, get it, get out and start headbanging - simple. Thats the way it should be with games.

For a new release that is coming out on Tuesday, be it a dvd, or new cd, etc etc, we get those shipped to us at least 4 days in advance, so those new Jay-Z albums, LoTr DVD'S actually are in our store, confirmed with our own eyes that we have them physically in a box(es) in our back room... all we have to do is wait until Tuesday to place them on the floor for sale. I just dont get what the hard concept is, or why it'd hurt the gaming industry for a similar model to be in place.

[James]

Because the product does you no good hanging out in the back room, on a shelf, where nobody can buy it.

Roufuss, how does quoting something that's clearly wrong help you?

James

[station82o]

It only waits there for 3 or 4 days until the street date, people buy it when it comes out all the same.

[Bacon McShig]

How the hell can anyone argue against release dates?

Standardized release dates work favorably for everyone involved. People knowing when to expect something = more people buying day one. Music and Movie sales *gasp* go up on Tuesdays, and profits that day are greater than other weekdays. Not a coincidence.

The Tuesday release has a lot of favorable effects, it's a really good plan: Monday is the day for any stragglers to get their deliveries in. Come Tuesday morning, everything is out on the floor and on the same ground. Sales on Tuesday effectively gauge the future performance of new releases relative to each other, and allow a store's model stock to be adjusted accordingly. If something sells really well the first day, odds are it'll continue that way in the immediate future, and knowing that fact on Tuesday gives the store time put in an order for more copies of something and recieve that order by the weekend, when the majority of people are going to be spending.

In regards to the consumer: They'd know when to expect all new releases. The best time to go and get something and have it almost guaranteed to be there is as soon as possible. With the current model, there is no definite gauge of when exactly that is, it varies wildly, on both the devloper end and the distributor end. Plus, if you want more than one title, and want to get them as soon as they release, you're looking at multiple trips. That's inconvenient.

[Diff-chan]

Because the product does you no good hanging out in the back room, on a shelf, where nobody can buy it.

Putting that stuff out before everyone else doesnt do anyone any good, either, because then you get the mess that you have now with game releases. Some people break the street date, so everyone feels the need to, so then publishers start shipping games Tuesdays instead of Mondays, so some people have the game Tuesday night and some Wednesday morning, etc. Its a disaster caused by people feeling release dates are not good enough for them.

For a new release that is coming out on Tuesday, be it a dvd, or new cd, etc etc, we get those shipped to us at least 4 days in advance, so those new Jay-Z albums, LoTr DVD'S actually are in our store, confirmed with our own eyes that we have them physically in a box(es) in our back room... all we have to do is wait until Tuesday to place them on the floor for sale.

Yea... I cant tell you how many times we've had problems because we're on a razor's edge... like we promised to get the games for customers by Tuesday night at 7:00pm but something happened so we get angry customers. Happened with Madden 2005, actually. Getting the games early would eliminate all these problems and lead to better customer relations.

Its an agreement - publishers send their product early, retailers promise to hold it back until the release date.

I also want to say this is the stupidest argument Ive ever seen on TNL. You have to be a total retard to think that the current "maybe on tuesday/maybe on wednesday" situation is better than one in which all games come out on the same day. Its like saying that the PC game industry was better off before they switched to the small, uniform box size. It doesnt make any sense.

[Drewbacca]

Yes wholeheartedly. If they don't want to do Tuesday because they're afraid the DVD/CD market may hurt their sales then they should simply make release day Friday or Monday.

oh wow, lets all call dyne dumb.

I thought it was just assumed after the Jeff Hardy debacle.

Not getting a game in on the promised delivery date is unprofessional. Making all games come out on the exact same day of the week is just over-regulation for what seems to be minimal gain at best, especially when the game could have been selling for a few days prior to its now-artificial on-shelf time.

James

There's no reason not to standardize release dates. Having 8 games come out every day of the week is unprofessional. If I want 5 games I'm going to have to make 2 or 3 trips to the store, and you don't see anything wrong with that? Customer service hasn't been the game industries best selling point, infact customer service from Sony and other companies is so poor you can tell the business aren't being run the best they can be.

Over-regulation? It's for the customers. It would probably sell more games with customers knowing the new releases come out on a given day, instead of a game coming out on Thursday while you've already been to the store. It would also mean narrowing down the release date would be ten times easier. Can we make this Tuesday for release? No, okay well then it'll be next Tuesday.

There's no reason to not do it. It would definitely increase traffic upon releases because you know that if something's coming out, it's out on Tuesday, and you plan your schedule accordingly.

[TobalRox]

Because the gaming industry should be professional, and large entertainment industries in this country all have a set day in which all their products come out. The music industry has Tuesday, and the movie industry has Tuesday and Friday.

Tuesday AND Friday? Do you mean DVDs for Tuesday, and theaters for Friday? Because DVDs don't come out on Tuesdays. Sometimes there are movies that come out on wednesdays in theaters too.

[Jeremy]

DVDs don't come out on Tuesdays? That's the MAIN day for DVD releases.

[RedCoKid]

Most games ship on Tuesday and are in-store by Wednesday anyway. In fact, if gamestop or ebgames lists a non-Tuesday release, you can safely bet that the date is just an estimate and not something that the publisher has made official.