How do game releases work?

[ClippedWings]

Sorry about a stupid question, but I'm curious to how this works..

 

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2016-04-27-sony-uncharted-4-copies-stolen-while-in-transit

 

I've read about this and it got me thinking a bit. The game's official release date is may 10th or something, but the game is already made and ready, packed in discs and so forth if they're already transiting it? Why wait till the 10th of may to release it if it's already packed in dics and ready to played? Does it actually take so long to ship the game and get the shops stocked between cooking the discs and getting them to the shops? If so I wonder, when did they actually cook the discs and how long does it take the shops in the world to stock them?

 

Sorry if this sounds stupid since I have no idea how this works..

[Sombra]

gotta be well prepared man, finalize the game and test the sh*t out of it for bugs then get them all produced onto discs, packaged and shipped off to thousands of different locations/stores around the world. always good to have some room to breathe and a longer time also means more promotion/advertising.

 

that and differences in shipping, say they finalize the game on a certain day and have it on discs a few days after, it'll take alot longer for those to reach britain, france, other places as opposed to getting them out in america so waiting makes sure it can have a global release at the same time.

[Mister Pink]

Mostly, game developers are in hectic state trying to complete their project for the intended release date. There's so many factors that come in to play on the date. What other releases is it clashing with? Can we release on this date so we can meet our fiscal expectations for this quarter? Are the shipments arrived at their destination so they can unanimously be released at the same time across all the regions in that place? Just because the UK has all their shipments on the 13th with a intended release for the 20th, doesn't mean France, Ireland or Germany has theirs yet so they'll arrive early in some places and others just in time for the retailers to stock them etc.

 

I'm sure the publishers and devs want the release to happen in Europe/Asia/US or wherever region to release on the same day so in some places the games will arrive a week early but in other places it might be different. What if there was a delay in the shipping and they missed the release date etc..

 

I'm sure there's more reasons but I'm just speculating

 

Hope that helps.

Edited May 4, 2016 by Mister Pink

[RogerWho]

Because corporations have to plan, plan and plan, they can't take a dump without planning it 6 months in advance and having 10 corporate meeting over it. If you've spent a couple hundred mil $$ on marketing and billboards saying it's coming on a certain date, well you need to get it out on that date. Releasing sooner would probably weaken the hoomp. Not that I believe it, but again, corporations.

[Jitterdoomer]

Delay the game if developers didn't try to finish developing the game or else pre-orders will be a bust if the game ends up in a broken state.