Reports: Halo 2 Retail Date Broken In Midwest

4 Nov, 2004 at 9:22pm ET Article published in Tech

Roughly a month before its November 9 release, a pirated version of Halo 2 began to be widely circulated around the Web. Now, it seems the game is once again falling into gamers’ hands earlier than Microsoft and Bungie had planned.

Numerous reports surfaced today from the Midwest claiming several retail chains had broken Halo 2’s street date. Several reports on the Gaming Age forums–which included photos of the limited edition of the game–said that several individual Meijer stores, a self-described “grocery and general merchandise retailer” that operates in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Kentucky, were selling the game early. Outlets in Toledo, Ohio, were mentioned specifically. However, calls made by GameSpot to several Meijer outlets made it sound like the franchise was sticking to the deadline. “Halo 2? That doesn’t go on sale until next week,” was the typical response. Regardless, people have already gotten their hands on copies of Halo 2 from somewhere, because several “in-hand” copies of the game are already on sale on eBay, some with options for next-day shipping.

Source: GameSpot

Comments

4 Nov 2004 ~ 9:27pm primesuspect oopsie!
4 Nov 2004 ~ 10:19pm mmonnin Ive seen a French and English PAL version out there.
5 Nov 2004 ~ 4:12am Thrax Those are pirated, however. This refers to legitimate retail copies released far before they were supposed to by stupid retailers.
5 Nov 2004 ~ 6:02am -Ben Can that store smell LAWSUIT!
5 Nov 2004 ~ 7:39pm BLuKnight EH.. sounds like a marketing ploy to be honest. It creates more media hype.
9 Nov 2004 ~ 7:25am Micks 109 Thats a good point BLuKnight. its more likley a group of people who work for the retailers have gotten a five finger discount on the games
9 Nov 2004 ~ 7:28am Micks 109 just asking how much do games cost in the usa ????????
14 Nov 2004 ~ 12:31am danball1976 What does breaking the release date of something get the company that is breaking the release date?
14 Nov 2004 ~ 12:49am Cyclonite Generally, sued.
14 Nov 2004 ~ 3:58am TheSmJ Or a large fine.

In terms of retailers breaking the HL2 release, it's a fine, as well as a bunch of pissed off customers who bought the game thinking they'd be able to play it before everyone else.