GTA came out on Tuesday because in america that is their "release day". While i agree with the idea of making sure everyone releases at the same time there is no way of ever fixing this unless you can make a global change.

This gen of consoles has already been affected by region unlocked games such as the PS3 were you can buy a game from an american site and play it before it ever gets released here. They would need to implement a global release for all games imo as the next generation of consoles could all be region free and with internet shopping as easy as it is i would have no problem bypassing my local retailer so that i could get the game when it first comes out ... might even save myself a few pounds while im at it.

Could someone kindly explain to me why the yanks have their release date on a tuesday? There's obviously something to it as I can't see any logical explanation.

Most US publishers work towards a ship date rather than a street date. This means that goods are sent out from warehouse on the tuesday of the publisher that week and then its down to the individual retailers to get it to store as quick as they can. Those with the best logistics see the benefit but on most releases it means availability can be quite sporadic for the first week of a titles launch

Thanks, didn't realise it worked like that. Seems a really random way of doing it.

Sounds like the US could do with a friday release as well lol

@2 What logical explanation is there for releasing a game on Friday?

It makes sense from a retailers point of view as you would be preparing for the weekend during the week anyway so it gives you time to get the new releases ready and the transition period is more flexible. If our release date was tuesday it would be a rush after a busy weekend to ready the new stock.

As for consumers i usually get paid on thursdays and many of the ppl i know are paid between wednesday and friday so they would have the funds to purchase a new release and the weekend is a time were a lot of people can get to the shops.

I'm not saying the US do it wrong but i think the friday release works well for the UK.

Germany has Mondays and Australia has Thursdays I believe just to add to the confusion within the PAL region.

To confuse matters further, should Chart Track be reviewing their dates? They work Sunday to Saturday I believe!

I am a fan of Fridays personally and it allows the whole week in preparation for the launch. If we went to a Tuesday or Monday, like the record and DVD business I think we'd have even more date breakers than ever before.

Boils down to the issue that music and dvd retailers seem to be able to keep things locked down until monday, but our industry is still too immature to hold dates. I used to work in retail 10 years ago and i recall PSone software launches like Gran Turismo 2 and Tony Hawk 2 being massively popular on the Friday. It was an event. Seems like since we got to the PS2 era, people have lost the plot.

To "officially" change from Friday in the UK would be like changing from driving on the left to the right. It goes way beyond having enogh time for store staff to merchandise the new releases.

But it would be interesting if stock simply arrived on the shelf as fast as logistics enabled it to....

Maybe retailers should just employ staff who are competent? just a suggestion :)

@ 1.

Sorry mate, you're wrong. The reason why GTA and other major games come out on a Tuesday has absolutely nothing to do with that being the day the game comes out in the US and everything to do with Chart Track's sales tracking running from Tuesday – Monday.

Therefore, most titles only get four days sales window included in their first week sales, whereas by launching on Tuesday, publishers get those extra three days which help to boost sales even further.

It is just a coincidence that US launch day happens to be the first day of Chart Track's new week falls, which is on a Tuesday. Ironically, this is the case because the charts have to come out on when they do to give retailers a chance to order new stock in anticipation of the next weekend.

It was Rockstar who said the game was being released on a Tuesday to coincide with the US release because they didn't want illegal copies making their way onto the net before we got it in the UK because it would harm their sales.

Nope, I think you'll find that was just PR spin. Bear in mind, some of the people work in the industry and know exactly what they [Rockstar] were up to.

@13: then why don't all games release on a tuesday and give themselves more time for first week sales?

Because if publishers did, Chart Track would be forced to move the beginning of their week to Saturday, and so on. The date Chart Track starts to sale tracking simply can not be the same day as games launch because they have to come out four days before the next launch day so retailers have enough time to digest the previous three-day sales data, make further orders, await delivery and then stock shelves – a process that can take three days, meaning that by Thursday 5pm, all stock can be in ready for Friday and the weekend when most people buy games, regardless of when they launched.

Originally the Friday date was chosen to avoid confusion with DVD and CD sales, which have always traditionally launched on a Monday. Chart Track chose Tuesday to take account of this.

That's why that will never work for all purchases. Only the major ones like GTA and co which a) will be major sellers anyway and b) will probably sell out are launched on day, because the result of the charts that will will make no difference to their purchasing habit for that game.

i dont care when the game comes out... as long as it comes up... end of! :-)

What would be interesting is to see how many people called in "sick" form work/school on GTA IV and HALO 3 etc release day. i did ;P

I think most busy weekday-working gamers prefer Friday releases - so they can pick up new games ready for a whole evening and weekend of gaming, as they don't have time in the week.
Or is that just me? But I think that should perhaps be taken into consideration...

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