With the Switch, Nintendo has started simultaneously releasing their games worldwide in rather impressive feats of logistical coordination. However, that has led many games to be available for sale earlier than their intended dates in Europe, thanks to retailers breaking street dates.
Now, while Nintendo still intends to stick to its plan for global releases, it will be delaying shipments to Europe until the last possible moment to avoid the possibility of broken street dates, the company confirmed to Games Industry. This is a move that is unlikely to affect larger retailers- but smaller, indie outlets (which admittedly are the ones who break street dates more often) could be impacted negatively by this, with one retailer admitting that this could have an adverse effect on their Nintendo business, if they don’t have stock for their latest product on time.
It remains to be seen how this all plays out- I can understand both sides of the argument here. In the end, I suppose the blame lies on those retailers who break street dates- they are the ones who have landed everyone in this sticky situation to begin with.
