Demo out 3 1/2 weeks before street date-Why cant...

[aldogg]

Must be nice. For the first time ever I will be out of town on business the week the game is released. So I won't be playing before the 18th.

[OMT]

Quote: Originally Posted by WallaceNails

...the game be released before July 15th? Does it really take that long to make copies? Adam said that the game has been finished for awhile and the Demo is out. Am I missing something? Im not in the game industry, so I dont know the ins and outs of releasing a game. Just curious...

Yeah. Once the code is finalled and the game is a Release Candidate, you submit it for certification. At EA, it goes to the group of Uber Testers known as CQC who look for bugs that weren't fixed that prevent a game from being shipped. These are crashes, 3rd party violations, non functioning call outs, save/load/memory card stuff.

Once they approve, it goes on to Sony and Microsoft who each do essentially the same thing. All games released on their consoles (and any other console company like Nintendo for instance) must conform to certain standards. This is why console games are more predictable than PC games. You put a game in, you know if will work. PC games... well, you hope it works!

So that takes us about a month after final. That gives about month to manufacture the game and ship it out to all the stores. They can't put it on shelves before release day because every store isn't going to get a shipment at once. That isn't very realistic. I'm sure there are logistics of all sorts involved.

The ship date is decided on early. The project is planned accordingly. You also have to give yourself contingency time. What if Sony or MS returns the game and makes us fix something? Then it has to be tested by our QA team for 100 hours before we can send it again to CQC to approve and then back to Sony or MS.

You miss your street date, your stock price suffers. This is capitalism, boys. I'm an EA stock holder, and I'd hate for my share price to drop because the new Sims game wasn't released on time!

[bling1202]

thanks for a great answer OMT

[bad_philanthropy]

When did street dates become a standard for certain games? Was it to help the situation be fair for all retailers? I remember games used to be put out as soon as the shipment arrived and some games are still like this. The NHL series for instance, while it has a specific release date, the past few years it hasn't been street dated.

With that said it's the ultimate compliment to the makers of the game when we ravenously try to seek out the game early each year.

[countryboy]

Quote: Originally Posted by OMT

Yeah. Once the code is finalled and the game is a Release Candidate, you submit it for certification. At EA, it goes to the group of Uber Testers known as CQC who look for bugs that weren't fixed that prevent a game from being shipped. These are crashes, 3rd party violations, non functioning call outs, save/load/memory card stuff. Once they approve, it goes on to Sony and Microsoft who each do essentially the same thing. All games released on their consoles (and any other console company like Nintendo for instance) must conform to certain standards. This is why console games are more predictable than PC games. You put a game in, you know if will work. PC games... well, you hope it works! So that takes us about a month after final. That gives about month to manufacture the game and ship it out to all the stores. They can't put it on shelves before release day because every store isn't going to get a shipment at once. That isn't very realistic. I'm sure there are logistics of all sorts involved. The ship date is decided on early. The project is planned accordingly. You also have to give yourself contingency time. What if Sony or MS returns the game and makes us fix something? Then it has to be tested by our QA team for 100 hours before we can send it again to CQC to approve and then back to Sony or MS. You miss your street date, your stock price suffers. This is capitalism, boys. I'm an EA stock holder, and I'd hate for my share price to drop because the new Sims game wasn't released on time!

I was just about to say the same thing.

Thanks for the explanation Adam.

[Jm0ney2001]

i think it may also have to do with the NCAA not wanting it out until this date. bc I know the NBA games are not allowed to come out bf the last week of september or whatever so I think the NCAA and NFL have control over when these games can be released.

[edubbs]

Thanks for the very detailed explanation Adam.

I definately have a better understanding about the process after reading your response.

[texbuk84]

Quote: Originally Posted by umd

and because it's street dated it sits in warehouses for some stores as long as two weeks...

i can vouch for this because i work at gamestop and we will get ncaa in store like around the 8 or 9 of july but we can't sell it until the 15th. if you sell it before hand, it is considered stealing and you can face up to 3 years in prison and fines anywhere in the upwards range of $500,000.