How do places like gamestop get their release dates?

[klown]

The other day I was at gamestop with a friend and we were buying some game and we went to the counter to pay for it. As we were paying for it he started asking if we wanted to pre-order anything. We said we didnt have anymore money. Then I said "I'm still waiting for Half-life 2 to come out" and then I mumbled "If it ever does." He then pointed at a release date chart and it said November 2 04 and I said "Where did you get that?" and he looked at me like an idiot and said "Our computers...." So how do they get these dates!?

 

[Axyon]

It's estimation.

 

[Insano]

It's all one, big conspiracy... *X-Files music*

 

[Yombi]

sometimes i think they pull them out of their arses...but normally the big guys have contacts with the publishers *of course* so theyre normally right. Dont think they have much info on HL2 though

 

[Feath]

They get them from the Publisher usually, especially close to release. If all retailers have the same date then it's usually a sign that that's the actual date.

 

[switch]

As Axyon said, if there isnt an official date been released they make an informed decision. The people doing it will have seen lots of games been released so have a good idea of how it works. But for HL2 our guess is as good as theirs.

 

[Feath]

I don't think it's as random as some people on this board make out. A number of UK Retailers have the release date as 5th of November. Which is a bit of a coincidence.

And I don't believe that retailers look at one another's sites just to set it as the same date.

There was a viewpoint on these forums a year ago (which I'll admit to having myself) that all retailer dates are made up, and are just guesses. I think it's time we move away from that viewpoint and acknowledge that retailers do have some contact with publishers.

 

[switch]

I don't think it's as random as some people on this board make out. A number of UK Retailers have the release date as 5th of November. Which is a bit of a coincidence.

And I don't believe that retailers look at one another's sites just to set it as the same date.

There was a viewpoint on these forums a year ago (which I'll admit to having myself) that all retailer dates are made up, and are just guesses. I think it's time we move away from that viewpoint and acknowledge that retailers do have some contact with publishers.

The 5th of November is the first friday of the month. And I think most games (at least in the UK) get released on a friday.

 

[Lemonking]

The thing is shops like EB and GS can only let people preorder if they tell them a release date belive me they dont know Jack

 

[Feath]

The 5th of November is the first friday of the month. And I think most games (at least in the UK) get released on a friday.

Erm, Yeah they do. Why have you mentioned this?

 

[Ownzed]

Don't games usually get released on a Tuesday in the US?

 

[The Mullinator]

I get the feeling alot of times one retailer will change their date and then other retailers will notice it and decide to go along with them.

 

[switch]

Erm, Yeah they do. Why have you mentioned this?

You made it sound like it was strange that everysite had a release date some random part in the month like for eg 28th november ect. instead of 1st november.

I was just trying to show you how they got to the 5th of november.

 

[Feath]

You made it sound like it was strange that everysite had a release date some random part in the month like for eg 28th november ect. instead of 1st november.

I was just trying to show you how they got to the 5th of november.

Everyone guess the exact same Friday? Bear in mind that they've had the same November date since early September.