Why are game releases staggered?

[FlamingSquirrel]

That question's been bugging me lately - living in Europe, I got access to Pokemon Black two days earlier than Americans, but now have to wait until March 11 before Dragon Age II unlocks (compared to March 8 for America), even though the game is preloaded and is literally just sitting on my hard drive waiting to be played.

Anyone know why this is the case?

 

[Stammer]

It's because it takes a long time to translate from American English to European English.

It often takes a day or two longer to release in Canada even just because they have to replace a lot of "huh"s with "eh"s, and "about"s with "aboot"s.

lol, but in all seriousness I think it just has to go through some extra paperwork for legal reasons when it's being released in a different gaming region.

 

[ScorpSt]

I don't know. Why do I have to wait to watch episodes of Doctor Who?

 

[Smooth Operator]

Because of retailers and their launch day events, you could have games far sooner and cheaper off Steam/XBL/PSN but retailers have their hand over this, and if you piss them off your game is dead on the spot.

 

[Wintermoot]

because people still work with regions
because you touch yourself