GameStop: Modern Warfare 2 broken street date was "an effort to protect our customer base"

Posted Nov 9, 2009 at 8:36AM by Glenn M. Listed in: PS3, Xbox 360, PC Gaming Tags: Activision, GameStop, Texas
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Modern Warfare 2 - Image 1


When news spread about GameStop breaking the street date on Modern Warfare 2, Chris Oliviera, the retailer's vp for corporate communications in Texas, contacted Kotaku to explain the situation. The exec confirms that GameStop indeed made the decision to break the street date, saying that it was "an effort to protect our customer base."

Here's his statement:

This past weekend, GameStop made the decision to break street date and sell reserved copies of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 in select markets where other retailers had broken street date. Our decision followed many conversations with Activision and was an effort to protect our customer base.


Prior to that, Activision also contacted Kotaku saying, "Activision has not given any retailer permission to sell Modern Warfare 2 prior to the Nov. 10 street date. The company fully supports the Nov. 10 street date."

Modern Warfare 2 is/will be available for the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.



Broken street date:


Via Kotaku


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Best prices available for:
Price Range:
$6.00 - $30.00
at 6 Stores

Price Range:
$13.00 - $69.00
at 6 Stores

Price Range:
$15.00 - $21.00
at 4 Stores

Comments 


 
# !SonnySoul 2009-11-09 04:04
I want!

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# =/Yuuki_Minoru 2009-11-09 05:45
so, they decided they can break the street date, because they wanted to sell it first, and get the customers...



that seems somehow wrong.

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# YepNeoHumpty 2009-11-09 06:24
I'm betting we'll be seeing more of this. Instead of exclusive in game items or demos stores, will start selling the game earlier than others or before it's available digitally. I don't understand why the stores won't sell it when they get it in, anyway.

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# hmmmrollypoly 2009-11-09 09:11
that sounds like exactly the same reasoning "mom and pop" video game stores use...



they after all have no way to compete with the pre-order bonuses gamestop offers.



the fact that activision is okay with it is kind of scary... one more nail in the coffin of american small businesses.

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# I can't help but feel like this might be a disappointing gamesymbyosis 2009-11-09 10:11
I liked the BFBC2 beta footage because it looks improved over the last, this looks like CoD 4.5: Modern Warfare to me

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# WTF!?!?!?!?!ISOHaven 2009-11-09 10:15
No, that is not why they broke the street date.



It says in the article - "where other retailers had broken street date."



They broke the street date because it was already broken.



I can only imagine how many pissed off customers came in demanding their copy becuse their "friend" already had his/her copy.



They also only broke the street date in those specific areas.

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# so it was intentionnal?davidg 2009-11-09 12:16
Activision should get them in court! (and all the other places where they broke the date).

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# Hmm..Neuromancer 2009-11-09 13:54
"This past weekend, GameStop made the decision to break street date and sell reserved copies of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 in select markets where other retailers had broken street date. Our decision followed many conversations with Activision and was an effort to protect our customer base."



Layman Translation: We needed an unfair advantage to make a cash grab. And it was totally cool with Activision, even though they told us to release the game on Nov 10 and have no knowledge of these "conversations".

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# WTF!?!?!?!?!ISOHaven 2009-11-09 15:12
It has to do with sales and distribution. If you sell your product to 500 different vendors and one of them happens to be walmart then what happens is, Walmart's massive distribution system is able to receive and get product on it's shelves faster then most other retailers. So they wind up selling a massive percentage of product before anyone else essentially cheating them out of those sales simply because they are smaller fish.



You just pissed off your own customers.



It's to protect their customers and makes everything fair.



If someone breaks a street date for our product, we sue them. I'm sure a lawsuit will come from this.

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# ???darthmilon 2009-11-10 08:01
If that is your translation of the article, you must be dumber than a layman.



"...GameStop made the decision to break street date and sell reserved copies of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 in select markets where other retailers had broken street date."



In the areas where the street date was broken by other companies, Gamestop was trying to satisfy their customers that had preordered with them.



Imagine you had preordered with gamestop in your city. Then you hear about another store that released the game early. Wouldn't you be upset and confront the Gamestop that you have your game reserved at? I mean you can't even get your resereved game while your buddy is already playing it because he got it at the store that broke the street date?



It wasn't cool with Activision either. That's why this article is even present, to give Gamestop's reasoning behind it.

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