I remember @ X360 launch, there was the same thing. Tons of retailers got games in way early (1-2 weeks early), and they were allowed to sell them.

I really don't see how it matters if a place gets a game early, why they must sell them late. If gamers can buy a game, they should be allowed to.

 What is the usual situation though, what I mean is how early does a retailer get shipments of a game? 1 day before launch, 3 days?

While I agree if this is a balnket case of all retailers getting it early they should just sell them, It could be a case of some retailers have it early while others don't. Then the situation would clearly benifit those stores (like Toys R Us) that have the stock early, which some wouldn't deem fair.

However I'm not at all an authority on this. But the release date could kinda just be the date to get all stores stocked, a fair playing field kinda thing...I don't know as I said I don't have a clue how a game gets shipped to retailers. 

I can see many here have never worked in retail. Different retailers have different distribution networks. Further more shipments are released at different times. So while one chain might get the first shipment. Another chain might have their shipment arrive three days later. This is a competitive market so if any retailer has a slight advantage in this area. They will consistently generate better sales.

The end result would be a turf war. Some retailers would demand early shipments. The bigger chains could force smaller chains out of the market. Were Walmart to have the games two days before EB games would you ever go to EB games? Retailers would start buying prime shipments. They would bypass their own efficient distribution networks. They would have special deliveries costing them more man hours. Every truck needs someone to unload it, and someone to immediately price and stock.

When you get to the end the retailers would bleed off their profit. There would be a heinous amount of waste. This would drive many retailers out of the market, and make it harder for us the consumer to get the games with fewer hassles. The remaining retailers could then increase prices too offset their additional costs. Less competition is good for them , but not good for the consumer.

These release dates are good for the consumer. They insure that games are treated like any other merchandise that can be shipped in bulk with other merchandise. The competition is focused on pricing and customer service rather then speed. Fair competition is always better for the consumer. This is a fair business practice.

 Few problems with everything you just said. 

• Retail chains don't exactly make all of their money on video game, so they don't live and die by their sales from those departments.
• 2-3 days head start just means they sell out of the 20 copies they get.
• Most AAA titles have legs and sell a significant portion of their copies after first week.

This is a pretty bad leak for Toys-r-Us. Madden 2008 leaked out 3-4 Days beforehand which is pretty damn bad, but you wouldn't see too much of an impact with a game like Madden.

However a 6-Day Leak means some faggot is going to likely leak the story details, it'll hit the torrent scene hard, and overall might actually lead to loss of sales.

On the flipside it could create some more buzz, but Bioshock was already looking like a good release. I'm interested now though :)

Any physical location that sells goods is a retailer unless they are a wholesaler. Size is irrelevant as is the experience. For instance a Walmart is a general goods retailer. Basically the modern incarnation of the general store. Other retailers are specialty goods or service a specific market. EB games for instance is a specialty retailer they service a specific demographic of the public.

Those individual retailers, or specialty chains are very dependent on the patronage of their target demographic. They cannot spread out the loss. You will not find a frozen food section in a Gamestop. Further more games are not a high profit item, or a generally consumed item. They generate less money then most items, and further more the majority of consumers do not game. This is why many of these stores promote their trade in options. They need those to generate money.

A good retailer knows their market, and more specifically they try to meet their demands. When a retailer runs out of a product that is bad for business. Customers do not like that. That is also lost sales. Some markets are small, and other markets are large. Not everyone gets the same shipment.

Most AAA games will sell a fantastic margin in their first week. Every week after that the sales go down. A retailer would rather enjoy the initial rush. That rush sells more in the way of games, and more in the way of other products. Once the hype is over that surge of other sales decreases. Any retailer worth their salt wants the surge. The mob mentality can sell a lot more merchandise. There is more then the game there is the hunger that comes through the door with the consumer. Arouse the animal instinct.

It's all over the internet now. I looked at one torrent for it that had over 1,200 people on it, another had almost 1,000 and that's only two websites. It's hard to imagine how many people are downloading it right now or already got it from the internet, 50,000? 100,000? 500,000? Sad.

@legend11, you mean the full PC version? That is some shit.


for those who "bought" it early, that's funny though. wally world in my area did that with a couple PS2 games once.

Notice how all the pics of the game people on GAF posted have the "only on xbox and windows" sticker?

Looks like bioshock is exclusive after all.

The full Xbox 360 version.