7-Eleven to start paying attention to release dates

It must be hard to run a 7-Eleven, especially now that the mothership wants every store to carry videogames and DVDs. A manager has to keep all sorts of crazy things in mind when selling digital stuff, specifically street dates. Widespread reports have indicated that many stores sold Gears of War 2 and Wrath of the Lich King days before they were supposed to.

The prospect of future street date breakage seemed like a real possibility until 7-Eleven spokesperson Margaret Chabris told MTV Multiplayer that the company will start paying more heed to what publishers say.

From the interview:

[We need] to comply with industry standards. Not only do we council them [infringing stores] but right now we’re working with our legal department to develop a policy that we’re going to be sharing with our franchisees at our stores saying there would be repercussions if they didn’t comply.

Chabris’ comments are unfortunate. I really looked forward to grabbing my copy of Halo: ODST days before release. I hope that some of the stores neglect the upcoming corporate memo like they do the huge notices that publishers put in each shipment of videogames that comes through retail.