Tru Blu Entertainment games including Don Bradman, AFL Evolution and the Rugby League series are subject to breaking street date and it appears that Rugby League Live 4 is going to be no different.
The game has already broken street date in New Zealand with the publisher confirming that a New Zealand distributor had already started shipping the game. We’ve already had confirmation of gamers in Australia receiving the game from Mighty Ape, but the publisher has stated that the Australian release is still set for the 28th of July.
Bizarrely, the game had a release date of July 20th in New Zealand (eight days ahead of Australia), so it was always possible (and extremely likely) that this was going to happen.
The statement made on Rugby League Live 4’s official Facebook page says:
“It appears New Zealand has broken the street date for Rugby League Live 4. Unfortunately, we are not big enough to have our own office in NZ and the relationship we have with our distributor is that of “Seller” and “Buyer”, in other words, once they buy the goods, they can do anything they want. This would have been all good if the game did not rely on external servers or day one patches but these don’t become active until the 28th of July. We urge all Australian fans not to buy it from NZ as the game will NOT work properly until the 28th of July and for our Kiwi fans who have purchased an early copy, please be patient until the 28th for everything to become active. Sincerest apologies, Sebastian Giompaolo.”
It’s a very weird situation, as technically Australians can order from Mighty Ape with a delivery still taking place this week, but the publisher is urging Aussie fans to wait for the update to hit around launch time.
I’ve been playing the game for almost a week now, and there’s no severe issues which would stop people from playing before this patch has been released.
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Unless there is a crazy amount of last minute stuffy they are adding to the day 1 patch, they should try and have it certified and ready to get before the 28th of July. I know it's easier said than done, but try and get it certified and just release the game early.
They really should have had it available during the Origin series anyway. Massive missed opportunity of getting it released during Origin hype. Especially if it was released the Friday before the deciding game 3! All the NSW vs QLD battles over the weekend before the final game - mates vying for dominance before the actual decider was played.
This is a joke, and Aussie companies will lose sales - stupid move for Aussie companies and pathetic excuse to why it released in NZ!