Why game release dates serve no purpose
By Brandon Miller
Release dates are stupid. They serve absolutely no benefit. If as a consumer I’m walking into your store, whether figuratively via the web or literally into a brick and mortar shop, and you have the game in stock yet you refuse to sell it to me, then your store policy is completely idiotic.
Two weeks ago I walked into a Best Buy store to purchase Uncharted 2, a game I knew the store had in stock via its online inventory tool. Upon asking the game department staff where I could find the game, I was told that even though they had the game in stock they could not sell it to me.
Now let’s think about the profound absurdity of this statement which ultimately led to me purchasing the game elsewhere. Here I am a consumer; willing to purchase a product you sell at your location; which you have in stock yet refuse to sell to me. Does this make me want to return to your store? Would it make me angry? The answers are no and surely. When will retailers strap on a pair of balls and tell Sony and Microsoft or Nintendo if they carry the product in their inventory and a living / breathing customer asks for this product, they will NOT refuse to sell it to them. This only hurts the retailer, so naturally it should be the retailer that adopts this policy. Obviously Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft could care less how or what retailer their game ultimately sells from. So why do they impose these street date restrictions? If the game is being advertised as being ready on the 15th of the month for instance, yet the retailer receives the game on the 10th, then If I ask to purchase the game and it is in stock, why am I told to wait?
You see I’m a reasonable man. I understand marketing and advertising very well so I understand the idea of building anticipation. But one immutable law of advertising that should never be broken is the idea that if a consumer has something that a retailer can sell to their willing customer, then they must sell it to that customer lest they run the risk of their competition providing the customer with what they are looking to purchase. If I want to buy from you, and you have the product in stock, sell it to me for the love of God. If not, I’ll go to a Mom and Pop shop that actually cares about fullfilling my needs as a consumer. On second thought, maybe I’ll just buy my games at the mom and pop shops to begin with.
