As you may be aware, Kmart accidentally started selling some copies of the much awaited Modern Warfare 3 yesterday, ahead of its November 8th release date. The mistake was discovered pretty early on, and the sales were stopped, but there were still a number of copies that managed to make it out into the wild, and what happens when a commodity like this becomes available in a very limited quantity? eBay-ing, and lots of it.
At least one of these pre-release copies was sold on eBay for $1,725 dollars. Sometimes, I see a game and think “Gee wiz, $60 is a lot of money,” but I guess not everyone feels the same way. The real irony of the situation is that having a copy of the game early might not be so great. In the past, the Modern Warfare franchise has allowed users who legitimately obtained copies of the game pre-release (for whatever reason) to play the game ahead of release, no harm, no foul. This time around, however, it looks like things may be handled a little differently. Xbox Live enforcement dude Stephen Toulouse made it clear that “Mw3 pre-release play not authorized. So pls be patient. Playing early may impact your account!”
So, in essense, whoever decided to shell out for this copy may find that all they bought themselves is an opportunity to be hit with the banhammer repeatedly. No word on why Activision is getting all uptight about early play this time around, but it doesn’t seem like it has affected the pre-release sale universe, unless maybe the prices would be even more ridiculously high otherwise. In any event, I don’t understand the rationale of paying 1,665 extra dollars for a few days of extra play even if you could play online. Then again, I think I know people who’d pay that.
The icing on the cake? Look closely and you can see that the estimated delivery time is 3-4 business days.
(via The Escapist)
- For a while, the MW3 url pointed to a Battlefield 3 site
- There’s also a special edition MW3 Xbox 360 model
