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Lego Harry Potter: Years 5-7 has this release-date thing figured out

by Jessica Conditt on Nov 12th 2011 12:30PM

The magical art of Arithmancy can be a huge help to video-game marketing executives, charting the best days to hold a sale, raise prices, or release an entire game. Warner Bros., of course, has access to the best wizards of our age and it was able to calculate the most profitable day to release Lego Harry Potter: Years 5-7 -- 11-11-11.

Now we just have to figure out which wizards are working with Bethesda and hope they're not evil. Oh, it looks like one of them is named Tom Riddle. That sounds like a safe, friendly name. We should be all right.

Tags: 3ds, ds, lego-Harry-Potter, lego-harry-potter-years-5-7, microsoft, nintendo, pc, playstation, ps3, psp, sony, thats-lord-voldemort, TT-Games, Warner-Bros, wii, xbox

Reader Comments (15)

The same day as Skyrim and just after the release of Modern Warfare 3. Yeah, these must be some brilliant executives! I mean, mostly different demographics, sure, but that's still some heavy competition.

And yet, releasing on the exact same day as DH part 2 Blu-ray is the smartest thing they could have possibly done.

@Oddgirl Why does USA get Harry Potter DH2 before uk we have to wait until 2 nd December? I could undestand if it was the same day but harry potter is a British film not american.

Warner Bros. is an American company. It may have been produced by British production companies, featured an all British / Irish / European cast and mostly crew, but it's still under the control of Warner Bros. thanks to Jo selling the IP to WBEI so many moons ago.

Not that that somehow justifies it or anything. I'm not hip with the logistics of media release scheduling.

@byaboy

HEY! Don't you guys already have Tin Tin in theaters there? I think that's a pretty fair pay off...

Bought DH: Part 2 yesterday. Kind of sad to think that would be the last DVD release of a new Harry Potter movie. Future box collections and limited editions don't count.

Plus, 10 year anniversary of Sorcerer's Stone in 4 days. Excuse me as I bask in the sweet as honey memories.

Picked this up with DH part 2 and Skyrim, no fuss. LEGO Harry Potter was great fun, more of it will make a great holiday from Skyrim.

@Oddgirl I did the same thing as you and bought all three. Best Buy had a really good deal where if you buy Lego HP2 and the Blu-ray they take 20 bucks off. So basically I got the Blu-ray for free. I haven't even taken Skyrim out of the plastic yet. Lego HP2 is great!

.... To .. today is the 12th right?
I'm not in some Groundhog Day scenario, am I?
Why are we reporting on the release date after the fact?

Because Joystiq's weekend writers leave a lot to be desired.

@Kabapu
I guess Joystiq doesn't have this release-date thing figured out.

That picture reminds me of Home Improvement. Maybe it's those flannel shirts.

In reality, they probably didn't care. While there is overlap in players between Skyrim and Lego games, it's not enough to significantly affect sales. From previous numbers that have been released, the Lego games tend to sell really well no matter when they are released. Plenty of kids, parents and non-Skyrim players are going to buy it over the next couple of weeks.

Seeing the title reminded me of when Nintendo was going to release Star Fox 64 3D - 9/11.

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