News
UK industry confident GTA IV won’t be sold early
Christopher Dring Apr 25 2008, 11:44am
Comments (23)
No indication of street date break thus far; Take Two has ‘done everything’ to maintain embargo
Concerns that some retailers may sell copies of Grand Theft Auto IV early so far appear ill-founded as the industry gears up for its April 29th launch.
Rockstar’s much-hyped car-jacking sequel has already shipped to retailers worldwide, but there’s currently no sign that copies have been sold ahead of time.
“We’ve not seen any indication of the street date breaking at our end,” said ChartTrack’s Chris Poole. “Things are looking good for April 29th.”
“Take Two has done everything they physically can to stop the street date breaking,” added CHIPS boss Don McCabe. “We’ve all had to sign an agreement, we’ve all received constant reminders about that agreement, we’ve even had to sign an agreement on the guide book release for the first time.”
“Of course if anyone does break the date I hope the full weight of Take Two comes down upon them, and I wouldn’t be surprised if their re-stock delivery gets lost somewhere.”
Last year both Argos and Tesco sold several copies of Halo 3 before release. Yet HMV’s Tim Ellis feels that’s unlikely to occur this time, with there being no advantage in selling early.
“The whole industry needs to work together, and if anyone undermines the release date then we could see games getting shipped later, giving us all less planning time,” he told MCV.
“However, with regards to GTA IV I don’t see any advantage of selling the game early. If retailers release it today or next week it’ll still sell through, and upsetting Rockstar will only go against them in the long term.”
Comments
“yes it has”
Posted by: john ashby - Apr 25, 12:50pm
tesco in our town has sold some on 360, seen some people on my friends list in scotland on it also,
“Re: yes it has”
Posted by: nick cook - Apr 25, 12:54pm
yup got my copy from tesco this morning !!!!
brillant game not many people playing it online tho.
“Re: yes it has”
Posted by: pascould - Apr 25, 12:57pm
my order from play.com arrived at my door first thing this morning,
street dates ?
“Re: yes it has”
Posted by: sam fisher - Apr 25, 1:02pm
i ordered one copy form every website i could think off to see if the street date would be broken ! 2 parcels are waiting for me at home !!! unless it was that hard core porn i ordered i some how thing some one else broke the street date
“Day one broke”
Posted by: Angry boy - Apr 25, 1:06pm
http://www.forumey...97777
Italy, Day one has been broken yesterday.
Probably Gamerush and Gamestop will follow today and start selling the game.
I own a retail shop and still haven't recieved the game, its just unfair!!!
“Re: yes it has”
Posted by: Malschronic - Apr 25, 1:18pm
Yo guys got it in Tesco UK right , man messy I hope Tesco Ireland have done the same. You Lucky B.......
“Re: yes it has”
Posted by: Tim Ingham - Apr 25, 1:51pm
If any of you who have a receipt for a copy of GTA that has been sold early, MCV would really appreciate it if you could send an image to us on email - our address is below.
We would, of course, blank out any sensitive information before publication. We cannot verify the claims above until we see one!
mcv@intentmedia.co.uk
“Re: yes it has”
Posted by: nick cook - Apr 25, 2:28pm
no chance, my mates are all off down there after work, dont want em to stop playing it, i wanna start playing online tonight with it and get my gang ready !!
“Re: yes it has”
Posted: Apr 25, 2:41pm
They're lying.
“Re: yes it has”
Posted by: jimmy the hat - Apr 25, 4:07pm
Make of this what you will... not shrink wrapped?
http://www.gametrailers.com/player/usermovies/207847.html
“Re: yes it has”
Posted: Apr 25, 4:12pm
Utterly fake. No shrinkwrap, no seal. Not how GP send their stuff out.
There is enough evidence out there to suggest the dates have been broken. Not because of some deliberate plan by the retailers but because Mrs Miggins who normally does the bakery in the supermarket is putting the games out on display. Its all beyond her and she can't understand why people are so excited...
“Re: yes it has”
Posted by: Justin - Apr 25, 4:16pm
Death to Mrs Miggins!
“Re: "Gameplay....good on you"”
Posted by: Peter Wolfe - Apr 25, 4:31pm
I just phoned Gameplay about my GTAIV order to see when they are shipping. The lovely lady told me "We will be shipping all of our GTAIV orders on Monday for the release date on Tuesday 29th". I always order my games from them as they have never let me down yet *fingers crossed*. Don't believe these guys above.
“Re: "Gameplay....good on you"”
Posted by: Rez - Apr 25, 4:56pm
Yes it has!
“Re: "Gameplay....good on you"”
Posted by: A - Apr 25, 5:03pm
http://www.simplyg...XB360
Good old' simply games!
“young girl in argos sorted me”
Posted by: simon birt - Apr 25, 5:20pm
yep got mine tonight from argos manchester young girl in there had no idea what the item was, got 2 copies on ps3, will get the reciept scanned and uploaded tonight or early tomorrow am,
coolio im sorted for the weekend !! roll on !
“Re: young girl in argos sorted me”
Posted by: rob - Apr 25, 5:57pm
Simon Birt What Argos where abouts in manchester i'm in manc i'll go in first thing 2moro!
“Re: young girl in argos sorted me”
Posted by: gazzara - Apr 25, 7:01pm
This is a prime reason why supermarkets and non gaming stores should not be involved in this business. It's bad enough that these scumbags de-value the product so much that I could buy it cheaper from them than distributors.
We then have to put up with street dates being broken and indies still not being able to respond to it going early because we are under contract and could not afford to lose the business through restrictions a company could put on us.
Fine them or restrict them, they couldn't care less. What's a fine or restriction to them when they can afford to knock an RRP £49.99 game out for less than £35. It makes me sick to the stomach and if you want our industry to go the same way as the dvd industry, selling and delivering dvd at less than £2.99, someone needs to take notice and a little bit more action.
“Naughty Asda!”
Posted by: jimmy the hat - Apr 26, 11:53am
Naughty naughty!
http://i28.tinypic...5.jpg
“Re: Naughty Game!!”
Posted by: Tam - Apr 27, 11:09am
I know people who work for a game in Breahead Scotland they all have their copy like all 50 of them so its abit of a yeah the public dont get their copy but employees do. Yet im certain the embargo says emplyes aren't allowed either. Street date gone!
“Re: Naughty Game!!”
Posted by: S - Apr 27, 3:54pm
I work for BB GAMES & we are not allowed to get it, No one should have it not stuff or public
“Re: Naughty Game!!”
Posted by: Chris - Apr 28, 6:33pm
PC World in Bexhill were more than happy to sell a couple of copies a few days ago, well before release date. Don't think they are taking release dates too seriously.
“Re: Naughty Game!!”
Posted by: Rob Hannaford - Apr 30, 1:22pm
The Woolworths in Paignton released copies 28/4/08. So the question is: - Is anyone going to do anything about this or is it another case of the big stores get away with it yet again??!!