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[Cheese]

Rock paper shotgun have recently begun a petition asking producers to release games on the same day, for every country, rather than everybody but a single country/continent getting the game a week later as we now have the internet, which of course has no oceans separating it. I agree with this, it makes no much sense that a game is released a week later in the EU than it is in NA when anybody can, from anywhere can download it from the internet.

RPS article

Petition

[woose1]

Well, there are certain reasons for it, government censures, logistical problems with shipping thousands of units to various countries around the globe. So by 'Every Country' do you mean the US/Canada, Europe, and Australia?

[Cheese]

Worldwide release, same for every country. It's basically taking advantage of digital download services and providing everyone with much greater benefits than any hassles or problems that may be involved.

[chaoticag]

It seems like a great idea on paper, but there are a thousand kinks that can go wrong. What if Australia and Germany refuse to classify a game? How would that affect things? What if it gets banned in a country?

Does that mean that everyone is going to be forced to get the watered down products that appeal to foreign classification laws?

It's really too soon in the political sense for this. The tech is available, but people aren't ready, and this can cause problems.

[Virex]

As long as this doesn't mean everyone has to wait until the French have their translation finished or the Germans have turned the whole game inside out to see if there's no blood in it, I'm good with this.

[Fikes]

My first thought was "lol, internet petitions." but seeing it was one from RPS, I figured I'd give it a read.

Meh... I don't think the article ever really explores why companies do this. I am sure there is a reason more complicated than just making people wait.

I think I can count on one hand the games I've been so desperate to play that another 3 days would have caused great pain and suffering (Orange box, Left for Dead and (I will own up to it even though I am ashamed of myself) Elemental: War of Magic are the only ones that come to mind now). While they make some valid points like increasing piracy I still don't think it is reason enough to make a rule.

And creating a rule by having anonymous internet users click a button brings me back to my original thought of "lol, internet petitions".

[MrWiggles]

I don't get how this is practical. As already stated, there are various hoops that have to be jumped through for each country that a game is released in, and not every country offers the same return on investment as others.

Does this mean, that development time will be cut down shorter to make the usual release date ranges?

[x2yzh9]

Signed.

[G-Flex]

Meh... I don't think the article ever really explores why companies do this. I am sure there is a reason more complicated than just making people wait.

You mean gamer culture would complain about something and start a petition before even knowing why the situation is the way it is? I don't believe you.

I think I can count on one hand the games I've been so desperate to play that another 3 days would have caused great pain and suffering

Damn straight. Why exactly do people need to get things the instant they come out, again?

[MrWiggles]

I think the petition is also assuming that high speed bandwidth is as equally available as potential in store purchases. Which, isn't always the case. I think its also assuming that digital disruption has the same or less cost then retail stores. And possibly that the infrastructure is already or being secured by game developers.

[Jreengus]

It seems like a great idea on paper, but there are a thousand kinks that can go wrong. What if Australia and Germany refuse to classify a game? How would that affect things? What if it gets banned in a country?

Does that mean that everyone is going to be forced to get the watered down products that appeal to foreign classification laws?

It's really too soon in the political sense for this. The tech is available, but people aren't ready, and this can cause problems.

Huh that makes no sense, you can you know release slightly different versions of a game at same time. There's no rule saying everything with the same  release date must be identical. I really don't see what the problem is, why force someone to wait 3 days because of where they live when the product is in stores and available for download?

[Taricus]

I think the petition is also assuming that high speed bandwidth is as equally available as potential in store purchases. Which, isn't always the case. I think its also assuming that digital disruption has the same or less cost then retail stores. And possibly that the infrastructure is already or being secured by game developers.

THIS. Rural australia, the highest speed around here is about 1.5 Mbps, very poor for Digital downloading. not to mention we're getting gouged in terms of how much the connection costs, let alone the game...

[Virex]

It seems like a great idea on paper, but there are a thousand kinks that can go wrong. What if Australia and Germany refuse to classify a game? How would that affect things? What if it gets banned in a country?

Does that mean that everyone is going to be forced to get the watered down products that appeal to foreign classification laws?

It's really too soon in the political sense for this. The tech is available, but people aren't ready, and this can cause problems.

Huh that makes no sense, you can you know release slightly different versions of a game at same time. There's no rule saying everything with the same  release date must be identical. I really don't see what the problem is, why force someone to wait 3 days because of where they live when the product is in stores and available for download?

You do know that a game's release date is always 3 months before it's release date, no? Forcing the dev team to finish all country-specific features at the earliest release date isn't going to have a positive influence on the games content...

[chaoticag]

Yes, even though there is no rule saying the content is identical, simply changing the content will push back the release date. It's not as if there is a magic fix it button in game development, it's not as if countries are very consistent about the content they want in and out of the game, and it opens up a can of worms. If Madeupitopia wanted to, they can slow down a game release by refusing to classify a game, then it's an internal matter, but if game devs wanted to release worldwide on the same date, then everyone else has to wait for those features to be completed, or refuse to release it in that country. Either way, a lot of money is lost, and in some cases, the company will need that extra revenue in order to release the game elsewhere. In rare cases, this might shut down companies.

[Virex]

Or worse, it may create DLC...