Modern Warfare 2
Citing other stores breaking the street date for Modern Warfare 2, GameStop corporate has stated that in certain regions they will be breaking the November 10th street date for Modern Warfare 2. This move may be unprecidented; it certainly hasn't happened at GameStop in recent memory. Several retailers have been breaking the Modern Warfare 2 street date for the game in the North East area of the country (New York), and in the midwest (Ohio). In the markets where the street date has already been broken, GameStop will also be breaking the street date for Modern Warfare 2.
Activision's spokespeople are not pleased: "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." That said, the company has said through Twitter that no one will be punished for playing the game early at this point (no account bans or anything like that).
But is this early sale of the game really a bad decision? Probably not. There's no question that the games industry is suffering through a bad year. According to the NPD Group which measures US sales for the industry, sales of games are off of last year's pace by 13%.
Activision is hoping that their Modern Warfare 2 can turn the industry on its ear. The hype from both Activision and retailers is strong. On November 5, Activision had an earnings call, where Activision's leadership outlined a profit of $15 million, versus losing money the year before. Therefore, Activision is in a strong place now, and with one of the most intense launches of a game EVER, spending close to $200 million for promotions and licensing (according to CEO Bobby Kotick), Activision expects Modern Warfare 2 to perform quite well at retail. In fact, Michael Pachter of Wedbush Morgan expects sales of 12 million for Modern Warfare 2 by Christmas.
That's a windfall of 1/2 a billion dollars.
Retailers are positively giddy: "We expect it could be the biggest game of all time." These are the words of Tony Bartel, marketing VP for GameStop, whose seen more pre-orders for Modern Warfare 2 than any other game they've ever sold.
During an earnings call Activision's President, Mike Griffith, had the following to say:
"We think one of the problems with our PC (releases) on this title in the past is that it has not been as friendly a consumer experience in terms of matchmaking and online play as the consoles have allowed it to be. Our solution here improves that consumer experience overall by a significant margin. We think the benefits we will see are going to far outweigh any of the negatives that seem to be surfacing."
Despite some complaints, it's looking like Modern Warfare 2 could positively REDEFINE blockbuster sales for the game industry.
Some online retailers have noted that they will not be selling Modern Warfare 2 for the PC, because it includes Valve's SteamWorks system (their online store). Direct 2 Drive earlier this week announced their decision not to sell the game, along with GamersGate and Impulse.
| Modern Warfare 2 (PC) | Modern Warfare 2 (PlayStation 3) | Modern Warfare 2 (Xbox 360) |
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