Most game developers and publishers, however, don't seem to care much about the community aspects of the games they release. How else can you explain the often long delays before games are released outside North America? Some examples for Western Europe (other parts of the world or probably even worse off): AoC: was about 5 weeks late, EUII: will be almost 4 months late, Kohan: was 7 months late!!!
All too often, pre-game communities (like this one right here) are brutally broken up into 'haves' and 'have-nots' after months/years of joint anticipation. All you can do is read the forums and see how much fun your friends are having with the new game. You've got the money ready, but there's nowhere you can buy the game.
Ordering the game in the US isn't always a good option. Many online shops simply refuse to ship a game to countries where that game hasn't been officially released yet. They may have good legal reasons for doing so. Even if you can order a game in the US, you'll end up paying maybe twice as much for it: transportation costs, sales taxes, import taxes, customs taxes, damage insurance, unfavorable exchange rates, etc. The delivery times can be so long (4-6 weeks through normal mail is no exception), it hardly seems worth the effort.
The result of all this, is that people, in their desire to keep up with their North American friends, will often turn to pirated copies of the game, risking prosecution and damage to their computer.
Why am I telling you this now, so many months before AoM's release?
Well, I saw this disturbing comment in the "Bruce Shelley chat" transcript:
Quoted from Bruce Shelley:
AoM will probably be in Mexico in October or November
I don't live in Mexico, but if I did, I would be extremely upset by this news. If that's any indication for the release date elsewhere in the world than I, for one, will be deeply disappointed.
One of the usual excuses for the varying release dates has always been "localization". Frankly, I don't buy it. Many English speaking countries have to wait just as long (sometimes even longer) for games, as non-English speaking countries. For most of the world's languages, there simply isn't a localized version, so those people end up using the English version as well.
Most hardcore gamers don't even want localized versions. I live in Flanders (the Dutch speaking part of Belgium), Black&White was one of the few games that was translated in Dutch. Many gamers in Flanders & The Netherlands, however, were so dissatisfied with their local version, that they asked (and got!) an 'English patch' for the game, so they could play the game in its original version.
If a company feel they must release a localized version, then let them start working on it earlier in the game's development. If they still can't finish it in time, why not release the English/American version first in that country/region and sell the localized version later (some people might even buy both versions)?
The real reasons are more likely to be marketing related. Publishers want to release games in time for the local holiday season, so they can maximize their profits. Or maybe it's just indifference, selling games seems no different to some of them than selling auto parts.
The game developers are responsible as well. They're the ones who make the deals with the publishers and distributors. Why not put somthing about global release dates in the contract?
There is hope though, some companies seem to coordinate their release dates a lot better than others. Sierra's European release of EE was only 2 weeks after the US release. Surely, ES & MS can do just as well or even better.