Following on from our earlier story, I took a walk at lunch-time to a suburban EB Games store and asked for a timeframe on copies being available. The friendly staff member confirmed they had copies for pre-orders, but that she would go and check if there were extra copies available. They were back within 30 seconds to confirm there were two copies available for sale immediately, one of which you can see in this blurry picture:
The price was $78. So the only uncertainty is why there’s stock without a launch date – seems that EA’s local distribution are definitely not on holidays but maybe haven’t realised there’s a launch date announcement to come. We’ve contacted EA’s Australian PR for comment.
UPDATE: We’ve heard back from EA Australia, who have stated they have no comment until they’ve investigated the situation.
UPDATE2: As posted in the comments below, some speculation on where these copies have come from:
When I picked it up, the staff member made a point of stating that it was not an Australian copy, but were special orders from their American business partners (I assume Gamespot). They seemed well aware of the March release date, and explained their own surprise when yesterday they recieved word that swtor shipments would arrive.
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A mate of mine picked up a copy at EB Games in Gawler SA. Unconfirmed at this stage (as I haven’t heard back from him), but he made a comment of there being some issue with the cd key when he tried to activate it. Sounds like EA may have locked all the CD keys that they have sent to Aus & NZ to unlock at a latter date.
I just confirmed in shop, that EB Games Forest Hill Chase (in Melbourne suburb Forest Hill) has a few (3-4) left after selling some. $78 a pop. You have to ask for it, it’s out the back.
one of the interesting things i can tell from the picture is it looks like there is a classification sticker on the game as well meaning that the game has already been through the review process which may have been that item lucasarts and ea had submitted not to long ago
I was very surprised when I got the txt saying my order for swtor was now available at EB. I was not expecting it until March. When I picked it up, the staff member made a point of stating that it was not an Australian copy, but were special orders from their American business partners (I assume Gamespot). They seemed well aware of the March release date, and explained their own surprise when yesterday they recieved word that swtor shipments would arrive. I already had it installed on my computer from the Beta – all I needed was the cd key which worked without fault. 2 minutes later I was playing on Harbinger.
This is true – my hands must have been shaking 😉
so EB gets a massive shipment from america while im still waiting for my 5 month old pre order to arrive……
WHAT!!! so does that mean someones already playing in Australia
Yes 😉
I bought mine off amazon ($59 + 20 odd express postage) – already playing n its a great game 🙂 i wernt waiting til march when peeps in uk got theres in december