Author: random515
Title: Retailers Breaking Street Date Is Bad For The Industry, Says EMA Chairman
Posted: Friday, January 29, 2010 at 5:54 am
Just before the release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 late last year, several retailers broke street date and began selling copies of the game prior to the official release date. In an interview with IndustryGamers, Chairman of the Entertainment Merchants Association (EMA), Bob Geistman has said that this kind of thing is not uncommon, and that retailers breaking street dates is a “setback for the industry.”
“The industry made real progress on common street dates in 2009,” commented Geistman. “Unfortunately, some retailers did not honor the street dates, which was a setback for the industry. The EMA is currently evaluating a means for the publishers to track these violations so repeat offenders can be more easily identified and addressed.”
Geistman also said that a positive step for the industry would be for game publishers to focus on quality, not quantity, putting out fewer games and culling back some of substandard games that fill the shelves at many stores. “I know this is easier said than done, but putting out fewer but better games would be a start (i.e., quality over quantity),” he said. “They should also recognize what their core competencies are, and possibly outsource those functions that are not core to what they do or work together to reduce redundancies.”
- By Ira Herbold
