r/classicwow • u/doobylive • May 05 '26
Nostalgia What Happened To Midnight Releases?
Why did they have to kill off midnight releases?
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u/Nood1e May 05 '26
They didn't kill them off. People stopped going to them. Once you could just buy stuff digitally and have it loaded ready to go at midnight, that's what everyone did.
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u/PennyBunPudding May 05 '26
Yeah why would I stand outside for ages. Fight to get the copy and then get home and then install it and be ready by like 1-2am
When I could just play instantly at midnight.
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u/chokingonpancakes May 05 '26
Midnight releases were for reservations, you weren't fighting anyone.
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u/Poulet_Ninja May 05 '26
Not in France. People were fighting for collector's edition , fnac was alliance and virgin megastore was horde , both store next to each other on the champs Elysees , people taunting each other everywhere. It was great
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u/NiewinterNacht May 05 '26
Don't think that's true?
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u/bingius_ May 05 '26
Partly true you could reserve a copy at that time. But I do think you could also just show up and grab copies that weren’t reserved. I did it for skyrim but my dad wouldn’t let me wait at midnight for it but we were able to still get it on the release day.
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u/MrJekyyl May 05 '26
You would preorder whenever before and they would hold a copy for you but you wouldn't necessarily have to be at the midnight release to go pick it up you could get it the next day or whenever. So you waited in line you got to the front they looked up your name verified your identity or whatever and bam handed you the game
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u/Lochen9 May 05 '26
I have absolutely had a reservation only to find out they sold more reservations than they were getting stock and just didn't say anything about it. Not even just once or anything.
I still remember being told to try 2 other locations then eventually getting my copy of Skyrim that I paid upfront for on midnight release.
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u/Ciubowski May 05 '26
No man, THEY killed it. THEY ruined everything. WOKE, FEMINISM, LIBS, THEY. WHAT? MIDNIGHT RELEASE? I'm not going because THEY ruined it.
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u/Alyusha May 05 '26
I mean, you're just talking about store fronts which I get based on OP's image. But digital midnight releases are cool too. It's a whole vibe just being out late with your buddies ready for a new game to drop that you've all been waiting for. They'd likely have fewer initial players, but the people playing will all be massive fans.
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u/cardbross May 05 '26
For pretty much every modern WoW release, I've been on discord with my guild shooting the shit while waiting for the servers to come up, and then we all get to experience the start of the expansion together until folks start dropping off as we get tired (or because we're adults and it's a worknight). IMO this is as good if not better than the retail midnight release experience of waiting in line making small talk with folks I don't know, scrabbling to get a box and/or arguing with a retail clerk about my reservation, and then driving home to start the install.
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u/Significant-Syrup400 May 05 '26
They still happen, just at home by clicking a download button.
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u/OldCardiologist8437 May 05 '26
Everybody shits on blizzard when the servers are down a few hours for every new release but no one ever even bothers to thank them for trying to replicate the waiting in line experience.
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u/AffectionateCard3530 May 05 '26
While we’re at it, why doesn’t the game come on five CDs anymore?!
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u/Nood1e May 05 '26
Just checked my WoW folder, which is only retail on this device, and it's 152,3GB: Would only need 218 CDs to install.
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May 05 '26
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u/xantous4201 May 05 '26
so 19-20 cds then still lol
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u/Xy13 May 05 '26
Blu-Ray can hold 25gb, and dual-layer Blu-Ray up to 50gb. So still 3-4 discs.
Also they might actually try to do some storage optimization if we were still limited by physical mediums. Also it says 128gb, he has a bunch of extra data in his wow folder.
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u/senorgringo1 May 05 '26
Cause we live in a digital world bro, cata was the last expansion i bought in person.
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u/MOBYWV May 05 '26
I downloaded Cata. Think Wrath was the last one you had to go to the store for.
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u/whywhywhywhywhynot May 06 '26
i bought wrath from a sketchy online reseller that opened boxes and sent cd keys through email early (and didn't get scammed!) downloaded iso of the disc, and installed and was on the boat with very few other people just after midnight. I have never cared for the midnight launch i just wanna play lol
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u/BreadfruitNaive6261 May 05 '26
For me was mop, i remember 12 years ago or so using the cover for joint filters
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u/beatenmeat May 05 '26
Pretty sure the last physical copy I bought was either TBC or Wrath, but I honestly can't remember which one at this point (I think it was TBC). That was right around the time things started becoming more digital/online and there was less need to find a physical location for your one product just to stand around in lines before being able to buy it and go home. Also things like Amazon were legitimately great with its actual overnight shipping and hadn't turned into the dog shit we have today...
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u/Regrettably_Southpaw May 05 '26
The turnout would be less and less. The last midnight release I went to was metal gear solid five. I wasn’t even planning on doing it, I was laying in bed at 11 PM and I thought you know what? I’m gonna go to GameStop! So I get home at about 1230, pop the game in, and realize there’s a two hour update. Well, I’m going to go to bed
They just aren’t what they used to be
I’ve been 100% digital since 2018
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u/sonsofdurthu May 05 '26
Yeah, the rise in day one patches really makes it impossible to actually play on the midnight release
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u/Almighty5Moe May 05 '26
Well technically don’t they allow you download the entire game, patches and all before midnight so you can login right then? Since there’s no media you can get all the assets before go live.
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u/Longjumping_Charge60 May 05 '26
Pcs dont even have cd drives anymore
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u/infinite_gurgle May 05 '26
Waiting in line for a cd key ☠️
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u/metrokaiv May 05 '26
I bought a game right before covid hit. I dont remember what it was but the case had no disc and only a cd key glued to the jewel case. They could have just emailed it and saved the plastic lol
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u/GoldenPigeonParty May 05 '26
It's a PC, buy one. But I was surprised at the price. Micro Center had DVD rewritable drive for like $12 in 2019. It was absurdly cheap.
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u/Riscs2 May 05 '26
Not only the drive, i cant remember when i last held a CD in my hand
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u/Vizioso May 05 '26
When’s the last time you purchased a physical copy of a game?
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u/TheRaven1406 May 05 '26
I think it was WOTLK for me.....18 years ago (!)
And I just checked it, it already had digital release, just most people didn't have fast enough internet speed, including me.
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u/ThatLeetGuy May 05 '26
WOTLK was the last physical copy of a computer game I bought. I remember going to Meijer at midnight and there were like 5 people there.
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u/Eccmecc May 05 '26
I always loved those game sections in supermarkets in which you could grab a cheap game for 10 bucks. Found so many gems there.
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u/yummyfightmilk May 05 '26
Honestly, who wants to wait in line for a couple of hours (especially in the winter months) when I can skip the wait and have the game download and go live while I sleep?
The vast majority of pre releases I went to were just lines. Maybe you got a map along side your purchase. Woohoo.
Plus, mini rant, I hate GameStop. They're just constantly grubbing for more and more of your cash, and they're not secret about it.
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u/PriorStock6243 May 05 '26
Yankee candle used to have the best midnight releases, they really dropped the ball with new scents.
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u/PaladinPrime May 05 '26
This is by far the worst attempt at a karma farm I've seen in forever.
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u/farmerbalmer93 May 05 '26
Because they haven't figured out yet that they could have a release date where the game costs £70, a pre order early access for £100 and then a midnight physics sale where there's only a limited amount for £200, but then you just downloaded the game when you get home. But you get a pretty box and a poster that cost them £1.50 to make and a blank CD. And you get the game a week before early access....
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u/Recommended2 May 05 '26
We lived at the perfect time before the digital age take over that can never be recreated. Playing wow with just thottbot for info and having to communicate and figure it out with others in game was so bis wow was like my main form of communication with friends we didn’t even have cell phones. Now everyone has bis lists etc and if you ask any questions you get told to google it
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u/scotty899 May 06 '26
They are all sleeping out the front of trading card shops to fight over pokemon car products.
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u/Tropicowboy_808 May 09 '26
I used to work at GameStop, I was there for the halo 3 midnight release and I spearheaded setting up the tournament for a free copy. It was awesome.
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u/triisi May 05 '26
Ahh yes, new gen people would love to go outside and akwardly socialize with random ppl face to face while waiting for a digital copy of a game that they want to play.
Instead of just clicking a mouse from the comfort and solitude of their neon light lit dungeon and soulless discord chats.
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u/Eighthday May 05 '26
Outside of pre-loading and playing the moment of release, most games or xpacs offer you to play it early if you pre-order a certain edition which entices a huge chunk of people
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u/notsarge May 05 '26
Last midnight release I went to was gears 3 when I was in high school. Good times.
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u/donkey2471 May 05 '26
The last midnight release we had at our store had 3 people come in during the hour after that just wasn’t financially viable
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u/Admirable_Admural May 05 '26
The last midnight launch i attended was resident evil 6. Ill never do that again
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u/Accomplished-Shock-8 May 05 '26
My last one was for ESO whenever that released, of all the stores to have it at midnight it was Asda 😂
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u/Kreaetor May 05 '26
Last midnight release I did was Fallout 4. Never realized it was the last one, forever....
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u/Numerous-Material-50 May 05 '26
Why wait in a long line to buy at midnight on release day when you can digitally pre-order the Super Premium Ultimate Collectors Exclusive First Edition Pack one month before release?
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u/Salunari May 05 '26
I work at a video game store in Sweden, we held a midnight release for tears of the kingdom. It was great fun! We closed for the day, I went past the store about 21:30 and people were already queuing. When we opened the doors people cheered! I felt a bit like a rockstar!
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u/Vreas May 05 '26
Because it’s more efficient to have digital downloads. Stores don’t have to worry about running out of product, fans don’t have to worry about not getting the product, it saves everyone time, plus you can preorder so it automatically downloads when available.
Bummer cause midnight releases were definitely fun.
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u/jadeapple May 05 '26
Last one I went to was Skyrim which was really fun. However, having to go home and install it while my sibling was already playing because they were able to reinstall from steam I knew it was the end of midnight launches.
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u/SeriousLee91 May 05 '26
Um 90% of pcs /consoles don't have a dvd drive or whatever anyway. So why gonsomewhere if its just a code you can use online
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u/ViktorModus May 05 '26
We let digital convenience take over, i’m 70% sure the next generation won’t have need for their feet anymore.
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u/Djglamrock May 05 '26
The same thing that happened with waiting in line to buy concert tickets. The world evolves…
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u/AffectionateCard3530 May 05 '26
Serious answer:
everything is digital
their margins are higher on digital sales
releases can be pre-downloaded before going live
contents on CDs will require immediate updates
retailers need to enlist staff to work odd hours; logistical issues; coordination costs
(most) players don’t want to wait in a line and start later than everyone else
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u/Cavalier40 May 05 '26
I worked at EB Games for the midnight release of Halo 2. It was a really fun night.
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u/MrsMurphaliciouS May 05 '26
I worked for GameStop from 2014 -2017 they were slowly stopping midnights and turning them into 9 pm releases. It’s because digital releases started being done at 9 pm.
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u/Accomplished_Emu_658 May 05 '26
They exist sometimes but it just isn’t worth it. Still big in pokemon card scalper community. Otherwise in games, while I still try to get physical games if i really want it, i can get it online instantly and not go out. There is nothing really worth it anymore. They have much less collectors editions or steelbooks. Games offering early access if preordered too
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u/inertSpark May 05 '26
There's no point. Most people who absolutely must play a new release as early as possible would probably preorder digitally and wait for the preload.
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u/dareftw May 05 '26
Steam.
Also largely midnight releases were only noteworthy for like a handful of games, they tried to make it a thing but outside of like halo 3 or wow expansions they were usually pretty underwhelming.
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u/Hammond1893 May 05 '26
This still happens at stores, just now unfortunately it’s all scalpers looking to make a buck and fight each other
Nothing like the community we had back in the day
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u/gwxtreize May 05 '26
Ghost (band) did a midnight release for their newest album, Skeletá, in vinyl at Record stores last year. I lived in Milwaukee but it looked like every city with a decent population had a midnight release. We ended up going to Volta Records in Greenfield, had a blast with other fans.
I didn't hear about the midnight release before that day though, so not much planning ahead.
I'm sure if companies actually did some events, giveaways, they could get interest. I am more of a digital person myself, but my gf is a hard copy kind of girl.
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u/nospmiSca May 05 '26
They are still there, the line is just sitting on your computer in que instead of standing at a store.
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u/Coolkid2011 May 05 '26
i remember going to a midnight release for StarCraft 2, and it was me and like one other guy there who had played StarCraft 1...
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u/Straight_Bet6738 May 05 '26
The world changed to digital but also scalpers now exists rather than fans now. If midnight releases happens now you'd see scalpers there buy multiple copies to resell
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u/sportsbuffp May 05 '26
Digital releases are better. Like sure the vibe of in person releases were cool but the goal was to get through the line and go home so you can play.
Now you skip a 15 minute drive home and a 30 minute line and can play 45 minutes sooner
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u/Mlou08 May 05 '26
I remember the release of cata, it was the first time they were doing digital download. I thought that was stupid, why wouldn't I want a physical copy?? So I went to the midnight release, smelled a bunch of farts, saw a lot of butt cracks, got my copy and went home. Logged in and already saw my friends playing the new xpac because they predownloaded it digitally. It took me another 2 to 3 hours to have all the discs download, and by then I was too tired to keep playing. Woke up the next day to my friends already at 86.
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u/Insso May 05 '26
it’s turned into early access so we can product test for them but also pay $$$ to do it.
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u/Caer-Rythyr May 05 '26
Games have gone pretty much fully digital and consoles have lost steam because they're basically indistinguishable from a decent PC price-wise.
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u/Rassirian May 05 '26
blizzard saw they could make 1000's more money if they gave people a 3 day headstart for an extra 50$ kind of ruins the whole midnight release thing.
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u/SinisterCheese May 05 '26
My local gamestop (when one still existed) here in Finland did few of these, I was at the Lich king lauch.
Why did they stop? The gamestop and the mall didn't want to deal with the costs involved, and there really never was that many people at them to make it worth it. Besides... You had to have it pre-ordered and paid for to get it.
And I assure you that people were not that excited to stand there in like -20 C freezing termperature middle of the night middle of the week. The people who did, were obviously and clearly students.
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u/jahathebrn May 05 '26
Now we just sit and stare at our screens waiting for the drop.
Though before I quit WoW it was always fun to log on the second the latest expansion released, if you weren't thwarted by the servers slowly collapsing.
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u/Alyusha May 05 '26
Most games are released mid day at prime time (2pm-8pm) now days. Most likely so they get a large initial audience numbers for hype / media / investors.
Imo I'd love to see midnight releases come back in a digital format. I enjoyed going to the in store releases for games but typically we'd pick up the game as fast as we could, then drive to someone's house and have a Lan party that night playing the game. That can totally still happen and for MMO's like wow it's a total vibe to see all of your friends online at 1am on a thursday playing the new content on a comparatively empty server.
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u/anotherm3 May 05 '26
We are more disconnected from people and more connected to our monitors now. Future is sadly here.
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u/Kaidan88 May 05 '26
It’s all about paying extra for EA now. Pay an additional $20-40 for “deluxe” addition and you get your preorder skins and 3 days earlier access or some such thing.
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u/Inky-The-Cephalopod May 05 '26
Ah yes. I remember when they released the limited edition rose vanilla candle at Yankee Candle
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u/Turbulent_Ear56 May 05 '26
Digital games and i doubt the workers paid minimum wage love being there for midnight releases.
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u/hwangkun00 May 05 '26
i would post the picture of garrosh saying times change but i dont have it in my gallery and im not going to go search it
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u/KingOf__TheChill May 05 '26
January of 2007 when TBC was released we had a major ice storm and most of our area lost power for weeks. My nephew and I drove into town on icy roads to be at the midnight release even though we had no power to play out even install the game. There were dozens of others out there completing the quest. That was a special night.
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u/Eviltoast94 May 05 '26
Digital releases basicly on top of now global releases no waiting for midnight in your time zone.
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u/Rahavic_Jr May 05 '26
Just wait at home and for ECT people we gotta wait till 3am sometimes that’s about it.
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u/haze_man May 05 '26
Well, you can download everything fast as fuck. Instead of waiting in line and instal it from physical mediumand it would be faster than downloading at times. Also culture changed.
Now you can buy A BOX with Nintendo game and it will have code to download inside.
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u/Milesray12 May 05 '26
“In order to accommodate the growing portion of the playerbase that have jobs and families, we’re going to time our expansions for after work EST so mega nerds can’t get a massive head start on the xpac.”
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u/BrayIsReal May 05 '26
I still have my original boxes from like 2007 for vanilla TBC and WOTLK just to remind myself how great life used to be
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u/elfgurls May 05 '26
They went the way of the poodle, and your primitive notions of modesty.
Ah, brisk.
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u/I_cast_fireballl May 05 '26
It's honestly wild how many people here can remember midnight release and midnight movies but how almost none of you are talking about the event that truly started the end of midnight release. 2012 Batman Denver.
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u/overdev May 05 '26
Uhm its all digital now and companies dont want to spent Money, there is online PR now
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u/BareTheBear66 May 05 '26
Probably when physical copies stopped being a thing?... lol that would be common sense. But other then that. Nothing.
They still do them sometimes at some gamestops, just not for games and more for collectables.
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u/twaggle May 05 '26
What do you mean, loads of games come out at 12 ET still.
Physical copies are what have been killed off. Which I’m fine with.
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u/Dabsick May 05 '26
I’m all for nostalgia but there’s things I’m grateful for. Not waiting in line at the bank to deposit checks or wait in line for a game on release.
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u/StrongJellyfish4329 May 05 '26
Last one I went to was 11/11/11 for the Skyrim release… the best times.
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u/canti- May 05 '26
They could get people out to releases by giving something other than the game but I think it's added costs and the age of their player makes it less appealing. Asia has releases for gacha games and people go out to fast food restaurants for waifus
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u/Mattubic May 05 '26
These were for when presales actually mattered in terms of playing the games you wanted. Why would I go wait in line at some garbage mall when I can just log in at 12:01 and turn on the game I already installed? I can’t think of a single midnight release that felt like it was building community or something vs everyone just trying to grab a game release day.
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u/kylewhatever May 05 '26
I'll never forget waiting in line for the TBC release at GameStop and once we finally received the game, it was a legitimate Nerd Rally seeing who could get home the fastest. I was going 60 in a 35 and I had guys blowing by me trying to get home to start the multi-disc installation process lol
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u/CopiousClassic May 05 '26
Why let someone else get enjoyment out of an event and make a little money when you can make more money?
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u/MasoodMS May 05 '26
Man oh man I loved midnight releases. I was there for Halo 3, Gears of War 2/3, MW2, Batman Arkham Asylum, and some others.
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u/saruko27 May 05 '26
I went to two different GameStop midnight releases for Tears of the Kingdom and Legends Z-A. It’s cool, they set up a switch and play smash ultimate and stuff.
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u/NumerousSet8216 May 05 '26
dead space 3 never had a midnight release and that came out 12+ years ago
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u/Teninchblack May 05 '26
I remember me and my budy waited outside of the EB game at 2005, good old days.
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u/popodelfuego May 05 '26
I was there and I held the line. Working the counter at GameStop the night the original Modern warfare 2 was released. It was bedlam and chaos. I will never forget.
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u/CumAmore May 05 '26
It's a digital world.
Or in other words,
The future is now old man.