Xboxist

Scandal! GameStop Authorized Stores to Break MW2 Street Date

Activision's Modern Warfare 2 continues to be surrounded by controversy, after a number of large retailers in the United States have broken street date for the game, meaning that they are selling copies before the game is supposed to officially launch on November 10th. One of the offending retailers is video game giant GameStop, which claims that it only broke the date in response to other shops in the North-Eastern United States who were selling the game early. According to company spokespeople, the order came from the corporate leadership and was not the decision of individual stores.

According to Chris Olivera, vice president for corporate communications at GameStop's Texas headquarters, this decision was made after careful consultation with Activision. The plot thickens:

"This past weekend, GameStop made the decision to break street date and sell reserved copies of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 in select markets where other retailers had broken street date. Our decision followed many conversations with Activision and was an effort to protect our customer base."

The regions specifically impacted by this decision are Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York. Shoppers in the UK also report being able to grab the game early from boutiques like The Hut and LoveFilm. The early release impacts on console (Ps3 and Xbox 360) versions of the game. For its part, Activision denies giving any such authorization to retailers, and maintains that it is committed to the original November 10th street date.

Last year, retailing giant Kmart got into trouble for selling copies of Fable 2 early, with the shop allegedly fined $1000 per copy sold by the publisher, Microsoft.

[Sources: Kotaku, 1Up ]