Digital Downloads and Gold (Destiny)

by narcogen , Andover, Massachusetts, Thursday, August 14, 2014, 17:39 (3551 days ago) @ Cody Miller

I always wondered something.

When a game passes cert, that means it's ready to go. It then has to be manufactured and pressed into discs, and shipped to stores, so there's unavoidable lag time.

Why are digital downloads not posted and activated the moment the game passes cert?

Because if you do that, Gamestop will not give you any shelf space. The deal between the publisher and the brick and mortar retailers almost surely precludes giving any significant head start to digital distribution. At the very least, they'll want a same day release. The exception seems to be the preloading stuff, where between when the game goes gold and the official release date, portions of the game are loaded onto a PC or console.