Call of Duty fans pre-ordering the PC version of Modern Warfare 2 won't be able to play it until Tuesday - even if their game is delivered early.

 

"If you bought a retail copy on PC, you can play it on 11.10.09," said Infinity Ward's Rob Bowling on his Twitter page. Bowling is of course American and therefore writes dates backwards - MW2 is officially released on 10th November.

 

As Big Download points out, the PC version uses Steam and therefore won't be unlocked until that date. Even more confusingly, Steam currently lists MW2's release as 12th November, although given Bowling's tweet that sounds like a blip.

 

Good news for Xbox 360 and PS3 owners who pre-ordered from LoveFilm though - as reported last week some of those copies have been turning up early, and can be played already.

 

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Despite widespread reports of Modern Warfare 2 being available on the High Street over the weekend, specialist retailers have praised Activision's handling of the launch so far, saying "they've done as much as they can."

 

"Activision has managed it to the best of their ability," Chips MD Don McCabe told GamesIndustry.biz. "They caused themselves a problem by going for a Tuesday release date, which was always going to be a problem in terms of getting so much stock into place. Some of it had to be shipped before the weekend. But they've done as much as they can to negate any street break situations. I'm sure one or two will happen but they will be sporadic.

 

"I expected something from the onliners, which, to a certain degree, has happened. The online people always try to do it so that they arrive on the date of release. If you're going to be shipping over a weekend you're always going to get the situation where some will turn up early, but there'll also be a proportion that will turn up late. In terms of High Street retail, I haven't seen any real breaks as yet - the test will be over the next 24 hours."

 

What is of more concern, added McCabe, is whether stock supplies can be maintained by Activision throughout the Christmas period.

 

The game's launch week is also likely to be tainted for specialist retailers by the widely expected price promotions from the supermarkets. According to adverts in the press today, Sainsburys will sell the game at GBP 26, while Asda and Tesco are offering the game at between GBP 25 and GBP 32.

 

McCabe acknowledges the low price will draw customers in, but predicts Modern Warfare 2 will have no problem holding its price over the coming months.

 

"I think once we've got past the Sainsburys price point it will hold its price fairly well," he said. "I can see both Asda and Tesco doing something for the weekend, then once this week's over it'll be a good constant seller right through to Christmas."

 

McCabe's opinion on Activision's handling of the launch was mirrored by Chris Harwood, purchasing director of Granger Games.

 

"I think Activision have handled the situation as well as they could," he said, adding the street date breaks were down to individual retailers and "pretty much out of Activision's hands."

 

"We have put a lot of time and money into advertising our midnight launches so we don't want to disrupt this for either our staff or customers," he continued, confirming Grainger was sticking to the Tuesday release date.

 

"We haven't had any pre-orders cancelled yet and, fingers crossed, we won't get any cancellations."