GameStop Admits They Lied About Modern Warfare 2's Early Release

[Shawn Zipay]

The corporate offices of GameStop have admitted that they were actually the ones who green-lit the early release of Modern Warfare 2 and not Activision as it was originally reported. At least, it wasn't done solely on the part of Activision but it does seem as though they still had a hand in the matter.

"This past weekend, GameStop made the decision to break street date and sell reserved copies of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 in select markets where other retailers had broken street date," said Chris Olivera, GameStop's vice president for corporate communications. "Our decision followed many conversations with Activision and was an effort to protect our customer base."

This follows statements made by both Infinity Ward and Robert Bowling stating that they did not give GameStop permission to break the street date on the game.

This launch just keeps getting weirder and weirder by the day.

[-:Nighthawk:-]

Re: GameStop Admits They Lied About Modern Warfare 2's Early Release

"Our decision followed many conversations with Activision and was an effort to protect our customer base."

That, ladies and gentlemen, is called spin. Activision could have said no every single time, and the statement above would still be technically true.

According to a GameStop employee I spoke to in Bowling Green, Ohio, Activision granted certain area stores special permission to sell the game early, in order to stem the tide of lost customers picking their copies up early from local mom and pop stores.

But a random employee can't really speak on behalf of the company. Odds are the HQ made the decision, told it to certain stores, and employees down the chain either misunderstood or were led to believe that the publisher was okay with it. GameStop still wouldn't be "on the record" claiming Activision said it was fine, though, just implying this was the case.