Activision has been totally and utterly fantastic this year. Consumers may moan at them, but in terms of support for retail and their overal vision, they have been faultless. The launch of MW2 on Tuesday next week will be perfect, and it's because of these guys.

I totally agrees, I go thro Centresoft and allocation,pointof sale, info, and all that even prices, has been really good. I won't be selling early, not a jot.

I have to agree with you Steve J, Activision have been great and i think its sad that whenever anybody does well for themselves i.e. EA and Microsoft the general reaction by the consumer is to try to bring them down. But anyway i digress.

I would say that if they had wanted to better ensure that online deliveries weren't as early as some have been then having the game release on a Tuesday should have made that easy. They should have sent the product to the online retailers on Sunday the earliest that those retailers could have been if they had been incredibly quick off the blocks is one day.

Everyone is saying well done for activision's great work on MW2. Sure the console version has improved, I must say. But lets list a few things activison forced on IW to do. Make IWNET, get rid of dedicated servers, no mods, no developer console, 9v9 max, you must install steam. They've killed the PC modding and server
community.
I really hope IW releases a nosteam patch or something like that because forcing someone to install steam to play a game which they bought from stores is like forcing you to eat a ordinarily great burger with a pile of steaming turd inside.

Has anyone who has ordered MW2 from CS got a tracking number showing they are likely to get their delivery on Monday?

Or is MW2 only going to arrive on Tuesday?

A Tuesday delivery is no good, you need the game when you open not at 12pm, 2pm or 4pm.

We've been told by DPD our stock hasn't left the CS warehouse and won't arrive until Tuesday. Great job CS, su-bloody-perb!

Odds are on that some of the online retailers who've released early in the UK didn't mean to, they are just shipping early because of the postal strike

hmmm, @ukdazza. If the stock has not left CS warehouse how would DPD (Parceline) know when its to be delivered. Sounds like you talk nonsense to me....work for Centresoft perhaps?

just got up this morning and ive already recieved mine (pc version)it just wont activate untill tuesday:( and i only payed 23 quid :)

"Activsion have been great this year" What? I know of some stores who have had to buy every title they release this year to secure allocation of call of duty. These stores aren't new companies either. Also to those in support of activision and their love of indies, how many prestige editions did you get for your loyal customers??? None? Because your not HMV. Of course Activision love you. Rose tinted glasses anyone?

"Odds are on that some of the online retailers who've released early in the UK didn't mean to, they are just shipping early because of the postal strike"

So these online retailers are so short of intelligence they couldn't foresee that the postal strike could....

a. Happen
b. Be called Off

....and take measures to ensure customers would get MW2 for launch, but not before.

The truth is online retailers constantly ship releases early, customers are nearly certain to get new games 1-4 days early.

It is well reported on numerous forums that this happens with every release, but it seems to have required it happening to the biggest game of the year for it to get any coverage.

Accident - I think not.

Where did The Hut source their stock? Activision say it was not direct from them, if it was CS then presumably they signed their street date agreement. What action will be taken?

@Industry Watcher

I doubt Ukdazza is a CS worker, hardly good PR slating them?! Maybe a DPD tracking number is allocated once a consigment has been processed for pick up, but as the order has not yet been picked up by DPD it is still showing as at CS.....

If indies do not get their deliveries untill Tuesday, they are, and have been royally screwed.

Anyone got a tracking number showing a delivery is on its way to you for Monday?

Nothing will happen of course. What action is taken against retailers like Play.com who consistently ship items early and use the excuse "1st class mail might take 2 days". They should use guaranteed next day delivery. It's too expensive they say...this shouldn't matter. What should matter to them is that breaking street date will have repercussions but what action has ever been taken?

"Any cases of early selling are being quickly and firmly dealt with"

Andrew Brown - Can you give me call. I want to know EXACTLY what you guys do about these companies that are shipping early.

Stephen Staley
Gameseek MD

Pojnting at these people who are not too sure about WHEN their delivery is coming from Centresoft, have you actually contacting them or read you emails ?? We have been kept right up to date, with everything related to this including being told both by email and from our account manager that OUR delivery will be with us on an AM DELIVERY (PRE-12) Monday. Thanks to them, we have been informed as much as we need to be !

Great job, guys at Centresoft (and of course Activison) for the SO FAR smooth BUILD UP to the release of the game....... Roll on Tuesday !!!!

"GameStops in Northeastern states such as New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio are selling Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 early, granted special dispensation from Activision due to street-breaking mom-and-pop stores."

Special dispensation.....

Seem's to me nothing will happen to anyone breaking date when they are just so happy to hand out no punishment to american stores instead they just tell em, yeah go ahead, means u take more stock from us, so when don't you just tell CS the same, cause everyone has the stock, screw the tuesday release, come midday monday when all indys have stock, grant this "Special dispensation" to all stores and be done with it.

I don't think a CS employee would slate CS.

DPD did a postcode search for the shipment (as I didn't have tracking) and they confirmed they had "received customer data" but it had not been collected (and still hasn't) from CS.

They gave me the tracking and it still shows as "received customer data" but its still sat at CS. Looks like I am going to be doing a 470 mile round trip to get the stock myself. As we're online only we need to send the stock Monday or we're a little bollox'd.

It also doesn't help to know that other online indies have had their stock and shipped it and ours is still sat at CS.

@ukdazza

470mile round trip! Sounds like fun, better take the packaging with you and post in Birmingham.
Is it a large order they've stiffed you over?

I am intrigued what is going to happen tomorrow between 8am-12pm with CS deliverys.

Their could be some very more frustrated indies by 12pm!

If you have a good link with CS like us we have our stock already and do your homework with royalmail then you wont have a problem.
all our UK customers will recieve theres on release date.
We are a small indie online and high street company and if we can do this is everyone missing something that we have not.
Good Activision
Good Centresoft
Good DPD and Good Gamingexpress

How exactly can £26 @ sainsburys be fair to all retailers thats cheaper than i can get it. And suprisingly centresoft is their supply

Proof 1 http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm168/BoB2oo9/DSCF3669.jpg

Proof 2 http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/7044/07112009400.jpg

Please explain how this is fair

To be fair, let's wait and see if that Sainsburys story is true, other people on HUKD are posting elsewhere that Sainsburys stores in some areas were yesterday telling people the item was scanning at £37.99.... there are conflicting stories outside of that topic, and similar "proof" for Fifa at Sainsburys turned out to be wrong.

If it IS true, then the simple answer is that it is not fair, and they are doing it by selling below cost, as is their choice as a retailer in a relatively free economy.

The thing is; they'll sell out very fast at that price, they'll not restock fast, many many consumers have no Sainsburys nearby (closet one to me is an hour round trip), they don't allow trade ins, they won't have the accessories and other add on items.... the list is long. All they have, if true, is the game at £26. If anything, online retailers lose more from this than high street indie and specialists because online captures the people who usually are price concious, and, again if true, they ended up paying ove the odds compared to Sainsburys.

One thing has held largely true since retailing began; offer an excellent service and you'll do well, even if price isn't your main selling point.

If it happens, Sainsburys will be flooded with largely disappointed customers because the ebay resellers, people exploting CEX's mad pricing on cash, and other similar people, will clear them out.

Just my thoughts....

i don't blame iw to try and make as much money as possible. that why you go into business. but it if was the ceo or stockholders in those companies and i lost even 1 million dollars; which is going to happen by the way they have alienated the pc gamers. i would have the people who made this decision in my office to tell me what they are going to do to fix it (your job is on the line). even 1 million is not a joke...

@Bob - Still hoping it will be delivered tomorrow and DPD were wrong. Will check tracking first thing. Fingers crossed.

@John - Our customers will get their orders on time whether its me driving to get the stock or it gets delivered tomorrow.

@All - A contact at Asda has told me they are going to be between £25-£30. Guess we'll just see.

ASDA price is 32 in todays paper

http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x296/cyrixtvirus/mw2price.jpg

Confirmed @ 26

http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p91/adsldave/26.jpg

Activision hike the price high to ensure product remains valued then supermarkets devalue it by selling at stupid price. I await the 'diversify and stop moaning comments' Not complaining - publishers smoke screening everyone. I know for a fact that game was out in EU on Thursday. here are 100,000 people online already.

Just to let you all know good or bad looks like all the supermarkets are on the bandwaggon this time. Confirmed in todays newspapers

Asda £32
Sainsburys £26
Tesco £25 (When purchased with another chart game)

looking forward to our midnight launch on Warfare 2 shame supermarkets seem to spoil things a bit.

good job to Activision for building up this years must have game cant wait to get playing at midnight.

point of sale and support from CS/Activision has been great.

Dear All,

I thought it beneficial to clarify the position of CentreSoft regarding queries on deliveries for Independent retailers on CODMW2.

I can confirm that all retailers were contacted by the CentreSoft sales team, prior to the shipment of the title and offered the opportunity to upgrade their delivery service to a Pre 12pm for today, at no extra cost.

The team have worked very closely with customers to achieve this and all agreements were confirmed by telephone and email.

If you have upgraded to this service and for any reason have not received your delivery, then please contact either myself or the team to resolve your situation as soon as possible.

Kind Regards

Lee Harston
CentreSoft Independent Sales Manager

To get back to the original point of this story, I think it has become clear during the course of the weekend and today that there is little for Activision to praise regarding street date agreement. I have been inundated today with stories of people receiving their games from mail order companies. Included are the big players like Play.com, HMV and Amazon. Not just the small ones like theHut. This is blatant and happens with EVERY new release. What are the publishers / distributors going to do about these massive companies consistently breaking street dates? Probably nothing...

Personally I think that any mail order company should only be allowed to send out new release game the day before release. A game post marked two days before release is effectively breaking street date as most 1st class mail is delivered next day.

I have had quite a few angry customers today claiming they will never buy a new release from me again since all their friends got there games from play, HMV etc today (monday). I am stuck because if I broke the street date I would DEFINITELY be punished.

i think those angry customers were having you ontrying to get their copies early as i have not heard of any one recieving their copy early from play.com ect as for sainsburys and the small shops its the david vs goliath story as it has been for many years.