Why The Staggered Release Date?

[Raptor Llama]

It's because America's Unique Ability is to get DVD's and games 3 days before their release to other Civilizations.

 

[Bisqit]

I feel bad for all you non-North American people but this is how every game's release is. It's always over here first then it makes its way to you guys in the rest of the world a few days later. It sucks and I feel bad for you but that's how it is unfortunately.

 

[Hadley]

Just use a proxy for the first couple of days. Worked perfectly with Borderlands 2.

 

[Tinker]

I feel bad for all you non-North American people but this is how every game's release is. It's always over here first then it makes its way to you guys in the rest of the world a few days later. It sucks and I feel bad for you but that's how it is unfortunately.

Yes, it used to be, ten years ago. With Steam and PC games generally being released digitally, release dates have generally been equal. BNW is more an exception than a rule, which makes it extra frustrating.

 

[Eagle Pursuit]

There is a way to make this change:

Only buy online, never in store. Then the game publishers will not feel so beholden to the brick and mortar stores.

 

[GoodSarmatian]

Just use a proxy for the first couple of days. Worked perfectly with Borderlands 2.

Not if you're an eccentric old man like myself who wants to have a physical copy.

 

[MadMage86]

You could ask the same thing about Japanese RPGs, really.

 

[ls612]

The short answer is that American companies (not just game companies) like to release new products on a Tuesday, whereas the Euros do it on a Friday. I believe that this stems from cultural differences in the two regions about shopping and buying things. I don't see though why it would extend to products primarily distributed over the internet, but being in America I won't worry too much.

 

[JtW]

I cannot believe how many times we've already had this discussion here...

To be honest, I am not worried all that much. The Americans get to play the very late beta testers and we Europeans hopefully get the game already with the first patch.

 

[Miravlix]

Region locking, e-books, Netflix and the others having almost no selection and all those problems that hurting the amount of sales the actual producer can make, is due to old deals that they can't get around.

The brick and mortar video renting shops isn't going to allow good online video shops deals, since it's going to cost them money.

If they force the old guard to a world wide release date, they simply wont promote and sell your game, that make them loss more money than the hurt from piracy due to the multi date release apparently.

 

[m15a]

I cannot believe how many times we've already had this discussion here...

To be honest, I am not worried all that much. The Americans get to play the very late beta testers and we Europeans hopefully get the game already with the first patch.

Yeah, this seems like a pretty small deal considering that without digital distribution, delays of months or more used to be common for videogames and other media. In olden times, used to be you'd pay extra to get something imported if there was a long delay. Even shipping time is more than 3 days.

 

[Miravlix]

Yeah, this seems like a pretty small deal considering that without digital distribution, delays of months or more used to be common for videogames and other media. In olden times, used to be you'd pay extra to get something imported if there was a long delay. Even shipping time is more than 3 days.

This is just bull.

I want to be part of the exploration and figuring out the new contents, instead of just watching everyone else having fun figuring it out and spoiling it all.

Or are you telling me I have to stop using the Internet for 3 days,to avoid that my RSS feed and my favorite forums is all full of spoilers?

 

[m15a]

This is just bull.

I want to be part of the exploration and figuring out the new contents, instead of just watching everyone else having fun figuring it out and spoiling it all.

Or are you telling me I have to stop using the Internet for 3 days,to avoid that my RSS feed and my favorite forums is all full of spoilers?

No? . . .

 

[Epic Eric]

All Civs except the United States have been embargo'd and this can only be lifted in the next UN meeting in 4 turns.

 

[GoodSarmatian]

No? . . .

I think his point is that in these olden days there either was no internet, or the bandwidth was too limited for 'mericans to rub their let's play videos in our faces.

 

[NukeAJS]

Honestly, the day online releases are considered more important than boxed ones cant come fast enough.

I'm really annoyed at how "North America" doesnt include Mexico, I'll have to wait until friday.

Really? That's weird. They should say Canada/USA then.

 

[pintocat]

Can anyone enlighten me on when Americans get their paydays? because here in Ireland it's Thursday/Friday, which would explain the weekend sales.

Second friday and last day of the month, as semi-monthly. When I was actual bi-weekly it varied, since it was always exactly 2 weeks apart.

 

[_megafone_]

Just use a proxy for the first couple of days. Worked perfectly with Borderlands 2.

Does Steam actually get fooled by a proxy? I tried running Hotspot Shield and release date here is still marked as 7/11.

One of the worst feelings in the capitalist world is wanting to spend your money and being unable to do so because of some stupid random restriction. I'm an addict, I paid for my game, and I want to play it ASAP

 

[The_J]

All major titles and movies release on Tuesdays here. I think 2
k controls the release date not Firaxis btw.

Because America.

Spoiler :

I think it's because Europe releases their games on Friday; NA releases them on Tuesday

The short answer is that American companies (not just game companies) like to release new products on a Tuesday, whereas the Euros do it on a Friday. I believe that this stems from cultural differences in the two regions about shopping and buying things. I don't see though why it would extend to products primarily distributed over the internet, but being in America I won't worry too much.

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