How could I convince a store to break a street date for a CD or Videogame or DVD

April 23, 2008 6:31 PM

How could I convince a store to break a street date for a CD or Videogame or DVD ?

I was hanging out with friends over the weekend and we ended up on the topic of street dates for dvds/cds/videogames. I was told stories of how they were able to snatch to pick up Bioshock a few days before release (due to employee confusion). I was wondering if there was any other way I could pull this off through trickery or charm instead of an employee not caring about their jobs ?

posted by carefulmonkey to shopping (13 comments total)

I think this is difficult because I think that, often, if it's a big deal release, there are financial penalties and other sanctions imposed on businesses that are found to have broken street dates.

That said, the guy behind the counter at Game Stop, if he is not a manager, probably does not really care all that much about financial sanctions and so on and forth. I've always wondered if you slid him (or her) a little green and tried to play it cool if that would work.

Probably not. Just a thought.

If you do try passing someone some cash to break street date, let me know how it works. :)
posted by kbanas at 6:36 PM on April 23

Speaking as someone who worked on Bioshock *STERN GLANCE IN YOUR DIRECTION*, . . . actually most developers I know couldn't care less when you get it so long as you paid for it, including me. Street dates seem to be broken by stores that aren't primarily game stores. Toys'R'Us, Best Buy, that sort of thing.

The industry specifically goes out of the way to make breaking street date rather difficult, though, for one very good reason: the sooner the pirates have a copy of our game in hand, the quicker the copy protection is broken. Everybody knows that any encryption will be broken eventually (Bioshock was about 3 or 4 weeks post-release), but the overwhelming majority of sales occur in the first month after release. It's pretty critical to our ability to continue making games of that quality that people not have access to a copy before the street date.

If I were you, though, I'd be looking at retailers for whom game sales are sort of a side-show.

*all opinions and statements are entirely my own and may not reflect the views of my employer, etc. etc. ad nauseum
posted by Ryvar at 6:44 PM on April 23 [1 favorite]

Anyone remember zero-day warez? It's funny that now we have negative-day warez, but I suppose these things happen.

Yeah, I mean, offer some Best Buy flunky a 1/8th oz of bud and a 2 litter Mountain Dew. In like Flynn.
posted by wfrgms at 6:50 PM on April 23

Eons ago, I used to work for a non-chain video store in the DC area. Certain clerks were known to let copies of certain titles out a little early (though we didn't usually receive titles until 24-48 hours before we were allowed to sell them). Some of the time, there'd be free drugs or a blowjob involved. Rarely both. In hindsight, it sounds a lot skeevier than it did at the time, though that could be said of a lot of the 1980s.

This was tacitly OK with management (we even had an envelope in the back that held the cash for games/movies purchased early -- they weren't run through the register until a title was un-embargoed). We absolutely weren't supposed to accept cash for this (beyond the cost of the game), but everybody kind of looked the other way about gifts and favors.

But... the customers who would get these titles early, were all regular customers, who had already developed rapport with the staff. If you're not already friendly with the dude behind the counter, start becoming so -- though perhaps in a more 21st-century sort of way. Once you're a regular, ask your dude whether he's seen a demo or even played the game that's about to come out. If there are early copies to be had, he'll probably let you know at that point.
posted by toxic at 7:22 PM on April 23 [1 favorite]

Nthing the advice to try a store where the item in question is not their main business. Even beyond that, if possible, try a store that doesn't really deal much with street dates at all. I used to work at a Borders, and stuff showed up on the truck in boxes labeled "DO NOT OPEN! Street Date: 4/29/08".* Those boxes didn't get touched until close of business on the night before, at the earliest. You could, theoretically, bribe someone to sell it to you early, but at Borders, that would have been cause for immediate termination, if the person was caught. If you really want it in advance, try a mom and pop shop - someplace small without a computerized inventory or cash register.

Actually, a completely different (and slightly more ethical route) would be to befriend a reviewer. Get to know people who review CDs/DVDs/games and see if they'll lend you their review copy.

* Well, except for Harry Potter, which showed up labeled "Chanukah".
posted by booksherpa at 7:24 PM on April 23

Another former Borders employee here. And I have to say that if some dude I didn't know came up to me trying to get me to break the street date for him, I'd be really annoyed and probably tell him to get lost. I didn't get paid enough to deal with such weasel-y behavior glady.

And trying to trick someone into it is just shitty. They could lose their job in some cases.
posted by Jess the Mess at 7:50 PM on April 23 [2 favorites]

This would be really, really hard at most chain stores, even if the employee wanted to help you (hint: they don't). Most of that stuff doesn't go into whatever system they're using until the street date, and unless they're some sort of higher-up they probably don't have the ability to sell it to you.

I imagine the only way would be if you can find some sort of "mom and pop" electronics place (do these even exist?) without a unified cash register program.
posted by borkingchikapa at 8:09 PM on April 23

Yet another former Borders employee here - I know my store did get busted for breaking street dates (I'm pretty sure it was accidental, but who knows) and people were punished. And we had to put up extra signage for the label who busted us, and that sucked too. I would also recommend not trying anything unless you know the staff well, or they are well compensated for sticking their neck out.
posted by sluggo at 8:10 PM on April 23

A number of years ago (10+), there was an indie record store that I frequented just because they broke street date every week. So I would also suggest finding a mom and pop store, especially a really small one that doesn't have room to store stuff in the backroom until street date.

I should note though that the RIAA raided the store I frequented, though they were looking for bootleg albums and not broken street dates. (They actually hit every indie record store in the area at the exact same time, so none of the stores could call and warn the others.) So stores may not be as willing to take risks anymore. There are just too many "Rambo-wannabes" (as the manager described the RIAA employees who paid them a visit) looking to bust anyone and everyone they can.
posted by whatideserve at 8:23 PM on April 23

Just so you know, most stores have an easy way of combating shifty/skanky employees who would do this. Until the release date, they simply place the price of the game or DVD to $9999.99 or some ridiculous amount such that it would require manager approval to lower the amount to the normal MSRP.

Just wait until the release date, it's more fun that way :-\
posted by cgomez at 8:34 PM on April 23

Having worked in multiple large retail chains, I can tell you two things:

1. All three of the places I worked (Kmart, Best Buy, Circuit City) had checks in place at the register. Kmart would not let you even ring up many items that were pre-street date, and Best Buy and Circuit both did the previously-mentioned "$9999.99" tricks.

2. If you're really determined and have an inside man, it doesn't matter. It greatly depends on the knowledge and engagement of the people around you. At Kmart and Circuit, most people who worked in the store were relatively clueless about when games and movies are being released, except for very select high-profile titles. All media was stored openly in the warehouse in both instances, easily accessible for all employees. Even very high-profile games such as Halo 3 came in a week or so early. (GTA IV is probably already sitting in many in-store warehouses all over the country as I type this.) All I would have to do is go grab the item, take it to the register, ring up a very similar item (so that if the receipt does get checked, no one will blink an eye), bag it up and let my friend walk out the door. I would say if the inside man were to play it cool, 99% of the time this would go off without a hitch. At Best Buy, most people were much more informed about what was going on and it was harder to access this stuff in the warehouse.

I'm not saying I have or ever would do this... but it's a cinch in the right situation.
posted by joshrholloway at 4:18 AM on April 24

I've had good luck with Kmart in the past. They don't give a shit about release dates.
posted by Oktober at 6:00 AM on April 24

Get a part time job at Blockbuster for a few hours a week.

When I worked there, new release day was on Tuesday. We usually had the movies/games in stock a whole week before they were released. As a BB employee, you can rent 5 free movies/games a week - which included the movies that were going to be released the next week. They encouraged us to rent those that way if a customer asked about a movie, if we had seen it, we could give them advice. To the best of my knowledge it's a standard practice at BB stores, nothing shady or illegal.

Oh and you get a 20% discount too, which was pretty cool.
posted by NoraCharles at 2:35 PM on April 24