I just got mine from GameStop today.  The sticker on the box from GameStop says 041009RIM... I'm assuming thats when it was priced and put out for sale.

I'm the assistant manager of a GameStop in NC and I'm hoping to maybe shed a little light on what happened, at least at the store level.  Demigod came in our distro yesterday (the 10th) - we received one copy and it came in a box, mixed with other titles.  There was no street date sticker on the distro box or on the game case itself.  If I remember correctly, Demigod was listed in our New Release list as being a 4/9 ship date, with no street date attached to it. A typical street dated title would have a "SD" followed by the date it is to be released next to the title of the game on the label. So, for example, Demigod would have read:

"Demigod SD 4/14"

Additionally, if a title is street dated, the POS will throw a warning if you scan it before it is supposed to be released and that didn't happen either.  So, the game was not street dated according to GameStop's point-of-sale.  This means, at least at the store level, employees are correct in selling it.  However, the street date of a title is not determined by the retailer, but rather by the developer/publisher.  The bottom line is (contrary to what Avalon may think) GameStop screwed up. Ultimately, the fault lies with GameStop's Corporate office.  Either:

A| They knew about the SD (which seems to be the case according to Frogboy), decided to ignore it, and didn't put the appropriate checks into place to make sure it was not sold.

or

B| Somebody REALLY, REALLY screwed up at the corporate office and this whole problem is an honest mistake.

This is no more than speculation on my part, but I'm actually leaning toward A.  I've been with GameStop now for three years and I know how they handle release dates.  While individual stores or employees may botch up and sell a game early, corporate has *never* told us to break a street date and they are very aggressive in making sure street dates are enforced.  I remember before Grand Theft Auto IV came out, some people had a fake letter circulating from Rockstar and Take-Two saying it was OK to go ahead and sell it.  Corporate sent out an email to all stores warning that the letter was a fake and that if an employee sold the game early they would be immediately fired. Even if GameStop knows other retailers are selling a game early (I'm looking at you 7-Eleven!) corporate will tell the employees to adhere to the street date under threat of firing. 

The point in me saying all this is that GameStop is on top of street dates - I find it incredibly hard to believe that this is a legitimate mistake.  Furthermore, Frogboy says that GameStop even asked for permission to sell Demigod early and Stardock told them no.  This means GameStop knew the publisher wanted the street date adhered to - which makes it even harder to view this whole debacle as a legitimate mistake.

In other news, Demigod is awesome.  Top-notch work GPG and I hope that this ordeal doesn't hurt sales too much.  Quality game from a quality developer and publisher!

See you online,

Zero.

 

That's right Snotz.

04/10/09 was the date the sticker was printed and the person who printed it had the initials RIM.

Wait, I'm confused. Is Stardock going to keep the download on Monday only available to the beta testers, or is it going to release it to the mainstream too, because:

A. I want the money to stay at Stardock.

and

B. I'm too lazy to go to the "local" Gamestop, considering it's like, 10-15 miles out of city limits.

It's still up in the air I believe, but earlier they stated if enough evidence was found they'd move it up to Monday. Since it's pretty much known fact that EB passed out the game early, it's safe to bet everyone will get to download it Monday. And I can't wait, the suspense is killing me. 

 

Yes, monday will bring much godly blood shed and destruction, and a good time shall be had by all.  Who wants to fear my mighty hammer?

Yea I cant wait for monday.  I kept my pre-order download would rather stardock got all my money.  They will probably release the keys to the beta testers first thing monday and then release the keys to everyone else.  Either way you should be able to download it on monday.

Beta testers can use their beta keys, I'd assume in their case it would be a matter of "flipping a switch".

 

Depending on which side we decide on (Our Demigod choices may change once we try all the heroes out, but I fancy Oak and Unclean Beast and he Queen of Thorns and Regulus), myself and Virid Shaman would be glad to fight alongside your hammer...or smash it into your face.

 

Speaking of which, I posted in another post but got no reply. I wonder if you can join ranked matches with a preset group? The obvious response should be "yes", but I wonder if that's the case. Would be terrible to be only able to play ranked matches with strangers and it would defeat the point of clans or teams.

 

I would certaintly hope there is a system for that in place, I'm hoping for clan support and the like eventually...

All I know is that I went into a GameStop on Thursday (the 9th) and saw the game on the shelf. I knew the game was coming but wasn't sure about the actual release date. But I did know it was on the way, had read some previews, and was very excited. So I bought it.

 

It's an awesome game. Seriosuly... I love it. Best game I have played in a looooooooooong time by far.

 

I logged on to Stardock (have an account from SoSA) and there was an update available immediately. So I patched the game, navigated through a situation regarding my Logitech QuickCam, and started playing.

 

Bottom line... yes, I got the game early. But it doesnt really matter. I assume the online Pantheon tournaments will be reset today or tomorrow so my super-awesome-undefeated score of 2-0 will go bye-bye. And I will start over with everyone else. AND all you beta folks will likely stomp my sorry behind because I am still learning the nuances.

 

 

It does make pre-ordering the game a bit of a joke.  I purchased the game 3 months or more ago with the promise that I would be able to play it the day it was released.  If I had know, I might've just walked into Gamestop on my way home from work and picked it up there.

But then I never would have been able to participate in the beta!  So it was worth it! 

Yeah, this is why I boycott all gamestop products (cept for the clearance games I bought a couple months back just because they were really cheap). GS has always behaved in a shady fashion. I used to shop at EB until they became part of GS so I've stopped shopping there. I'm just going to purchase DG through impulse as an "up yours" to the retailers. I hope others follow the same because smaller companies like SD are trying to make premium games, without crappy DRM, at reasonable pricing, and still trying to make a profit so they can support their families (or their love of gaming . I think we should support such behavior and not the lame behavior of the retailers who, as mentioned, cut order amounts by 66% when they cant have their way... wah. At least this game looks frickin amazing (and hopefully plays that way as well) and without DRM, I hope a vast amount of gamers support this title and company while avoiding gamestop. Perhaps I'll even buy two copies... one from impulse and one from bestbuy (as an up yours to gamespot . One question I have is if the impulse purchase of retail box comes with the collectors edition things? I dont see anything on the impulse purchase screen for the CE stuff. Perhaps someone can clarify this.