Games ship to stores well ahead of their release schedules...
Ships yes. When it arrives is a different story, if it takes a couple extra days to get product distributed in Australia/EU it would make sense that there would be a delay.
Anyway maybe I'm wrong, I looked up some release dates after Justin posted and this is what I found:
(grouped these by similar days for visibility)
Final Fantasy XIV: Monday (US/AU/EU)
Watch Dogs: Tuesday (US/EU/AU) Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag: Tuesday (US/EU/AU) Call of Duty: Ghosts: Tuesday (US/EU/AU)
Metal Gear Solid V: Tuesday (US), Thursday (EU/AU)
Final Fantasy 13: Lightning Returns: Thursday (US), Friday (EU/AU)
Gran Turismo 6: Friday (US/EU/AU)
Pokemon X&Y: Saturday (US/EU/AU)
Animal Crossing: New Leaf: Sunday (US), Friday (EU), Saturday (AU)
There's a definite pattern here but it's not completely consistent, US almost always releases on Tuesday, and when the EU/AU are not releasing at the same time it's (usually) pushed off to Friday. I still think that could be logistics because retailers don't seem to have any problems breaking the "Friday" rule when it comes to certain games... but who knows
Ships yes. When it arrives is a different story, if it takes a couple extra days to get product distributed in Australia/EU it would make sense that there would be a delay.
Given that they're probably all printed in China, being in Aus is irrelevant. I'm in New Zealand right now - release dates aren't pushed back at all
No, it usually releases on a Friday, along with the rest of the civilized world. At some point in time, retailers in the USA shifted to insisting that they get media releases (DVDs and books included) for Tuesdays - the idea being that if a product sells well, it's still possible to order more stock before the weekend. This means that sometimes the USA gets a product four days earlier, and sometimes it gets it three days later.
New movie releases still come out on Fridays though - because weekends are when the biggest sales are made there.
I think Steam is doing a good job of unwittingly fighting piracy.
I know I'd rather buy a game on Steam than have to put up with the faff of getting a pirated game to run, especially anything involving dosbox. I find myself playing more 90's games these days than actual new releases
Replies
Anyway maybe I'm wrong, I looked up some release dates after Justin posted and this is what I found:
(grouped these by similar days for visibility)
Final Fantasy XIV: Monday (US/AU/EU)
Watch Dogs: Tuesday (US/EU/AU)
Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag: Tuesday (US/EU/AU)
Call of Duty: Ghosts: Tuesday (US/EU/AU)
Metal Gear Solid V: Tuesday (US), Thursday (EU/AU)
Battlefield 4: Tuesday (US), Friday (EU/AU)
Dark Souls 2: Tuesday (US), Friday (EU/AU)
Thief: Tuesday (US), Friday (EU/AU)
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2: Tuesday (US), Friday (EU/AU)
Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition: Tuesday (US), Friday (EU/AU)
Final Fantasy 13: Lightning Returns: Thursday (US), Friday (EU/AU)
Gran Turismo 6: Friday (US/EU/AU)
Pokemon X&Y: Saturday (US/EU/AU)
Animal Crossing: New Leaf: Sunday (US), Friday (EU), Saturday (AU)
There's a definite pattern here but it's not completely consistent, US almost always releases on Tuesday, and when the EU/AU are not releasing at the same time it's (usually) pushed off to Friday. I still think that could be logistics because retailers don't seem to have any problems breaking the "Friday" rule when it comes to certain games... but who knows
One thing is for sure, Wednesday is not game day
Given that they're probably all printed in China, being in Aus is irrelevant. I'm in New Zealand right now - release dates aren't pushed back at all
New movie releases still come out on Fridays though - because weekends are when the biggest sales are made there.
Seems like that isn't working out very well for the rest of the civilized world, I couldn't find many games that were released later in the US :U
Although Bravely Defaults two month crawl to US shores from Europe comes to mind
I know I'd rather buy a game on Steam than have to put up with the faff of getting a pirated game to run, especially anything involving dosbox. I find myself playing more 90's games these days than actual new releases