Kmart reportedly breaks Mass Effect street date Options

[Xbox-Scene]

Kmart reportedly breaks Mass Effect street date Posted by XanTium | November 11 02:51 EST | News Category: Xbox360

From joystiq.com: [QUOTE] It's official - 2007 will henceforth be known as the "Year of Broken Street Dates." First, BioShock was sold a week in advance by Toys R' Us, then there were the reports of number of early sales of Halo 3 throughout Europe, then the recent Rock Band mix-up at Best Buy, and to top it all off, a number of lucky gamers have apparently gotten their hot little hands on copies of Mass Effect from Kmart - a full ten days before the game's official release date. [/QUOTE] Full Story: joystiq.com

[bucko]

If only they did the same with console launches lol!

Whats so good about having a game a week before release, there wont even be any people online in the game.

[shatblaster]

If only they did the same with console launches lol!

Whats so good about having a game a week before release, there wont even be any people online in the game.

mass effect has no multiplayer, so it doesn't matter. people just want to play it as soon as possible (obviously).

[0794]

somehow someone is really either (1) dropping the ball or (2) just doesn't care about their job responsibilities...i mean when these games hit the stores, there is clear information on when the game can be sold and yet so many times they have been released early...that is except the harsh penalties (immediate firing of any employee of any status) at GameStop for breaking the seal early on the Halo3 boxes back at its release...

for most of these new-release games, i can wait for the first price cut while i finish other games, so usually i don't care about release dates that often...

[BasicAir]

I work for a major retailer and not only will our registers not allow for cd's, dvd's, and video games not allow for sales before the street date, BUT our receiving personnel never even unpack the boxes of street dated materials. In other words, the music, movies, and games that are street dated aren't even brought close to the sales floor -- they're locked up back in receiving.

If all retailers would just have systems that won't allow the sale (such as mine) then alot of these early sales could be stopped. You'd still have mom and pop stores who release early to keep their customers happy and compete with the big guys.

BTW, I don't work for Wal-Mart but that's pretty close. If you're a cheapskate, we sell new video games at $54.xx instead of $59 and the collectors editions of both Halo 3 and CoD4 I've picked up at my store for $64.xx -- saving more than $5!

On another note, going back to leaking games early, I don't care too much. Games like CoD4 being leaked early do frusterate me because you rank up and have an advantage if you get it early. But I'm still skilled enough to do pretty well and do so ultimately it's not a big deal.

[FCTE]

Yeah, a guy on teamxbox lucked out at Walmart.



This post has been edited by FCTE: Nov 11 2007, 04:26 PM

[majik655]

So what would happen to a retail chain that does this?

What are the threats a company like M$ makes if this is done?

What would they do... tell K-mart or a place like best buy that they will not let them sell games anymore? How would that work? I mean best buy not selling games would hurt m$ a little wouldn't it.

Of course not being able to sell games would hurt best buy too.

[88 Ecko Unltd 88]

LOL this just keeps on happening first bioshock then halo now mass effect lol

[Juli3n]

I called up my local kamrt and they said they were putting them in stock right now, so my mom drove me down there and i bout the only 3 they had.



Im about to put them on ebay.

[ILLusions0fGrander]

i called and an old man answered in electronics, "the paper right here says don't open until the 20th" or whatever date its supposed to be out. no luck for me, but who cares when i just got call of duty 4.

[Juli3n]

Lol, it says on a orange sticker " Do not sell before 11/20/07" right on all 3 mass effects i got.

[Knasen]

Much fuzz about nothing imo. Who cares if person X can get game Y a few days earlier than us others, it's not like their copies is totally different and so much better than the later ones. It's about as stupid as those people who rush through new games to be first to finish them, but loose all fun of gaming while doing it.

[HotKnife420]

So what would happen to a retail chain that does this?

What are the threats a company like M$ makes if this is done?

What would they do... tell K-mart or a place like best buy that they will not let them sell games anymore? How would that work? I mean best buy not selling games would hurt m$ a little wouldn't it.

Of course not being able to sell games would hurt best buy too.

Generally the retailer is supposed to be fined for breaking street date. Many large retailers will sometimes break street date to generate extra revenue, knowing full well they'll probably get fined, because selling it before the next guy could be all they need to make a nice profit.

I'd also like to add that street date rules only apply to retailers who have some sort of contractual agreement with the distributor/publisher, and most "mom & pop" shops do not have such contracts.

[cloudyimpulse]

Like other people said, the truth is this doesn't mean much to anyone to be selling it earlier. Smaller Mom and Pop shops used to sell their games earlier to get a jump start on the bigger retail stores. But now other retailers have been doing it as well.

Is Microsoft (or any other game company) going to do anything about it. Not really... Not much they can do other than ship the games at the last minute and then hope they get there on time. They definitely don't want to ruin any relationship they have with a Major Retail store by throwing down the "HEY HEY HEY, we are gonna penalize you Hammer".

And this can only be seen as a positive. Demand for this game is high, so stores will have to reorder more copies. More copies sold the happier Microsoft will be and they'll end up forgetting about this minor infraction. Money heals all wounds.

[no0b123]

I could care less who got the game earlier, I just want to hear the reviews for it!