As the 11th instalment of the lorded Call of Duty franchise lands in shops this week publisher, Activision, are trying their best to keep the launch as fresh as possible.
In an unprecedented, confusing and most importantly money making move, Activision has decided to release a special copy of the game titled ‘Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare – Day Zero Edition‘ especially for people who have pre-ordered the game.
The advantage of this edition for the consumer is they get the game a day earlier than people who haven‘t pre-ordered, plus a bundle of extra weapons and costumes to use in the game.
While the big advantage for Activision is every pre-order costs the full £49.99 RRP meaning a hefty margin going straight into the coffers of the publisher.
Many retailers are getting in on the Call of Duty cash cow too with the now obligatory midnight launch.
While the game didn‘t go on general sale until today, many retailer held their midnight launches on Sunday night to cope with the demand for pre-ordered copies of the game.
GAME opened 316 of its stores at midnight with some stores opening to queues of 100 or more people.
Much like the yearly midnight launches the Call of Duty price war is also a yearly phenomenon which seems to only gain pace in the run up Christmas. Tesco have the early brick and mortar lead with all editions of the game costing £40, which is only matched by Amazon.
ASDA are next best with the Xbox 360 and PS3 version of the game costing £40 and the next-gen Xbox One and PS4 edition at £44.
The most expensive place to buy the game is ironically one of the few dedicated video games shops around in GAME, with shoppers expected to pay the full RRP of £49.99.
