NCAA Basketball 09 Release Date Change (Confirmed)

Both Gamefly and Amazon have changed the release date for NCAA Basketball 09 to Tuesday November 18th. While there is no confirmation of a push up in release for the game it does seem curious that two retailers would change it from the previously announced December 3rd with both settling on a date two weeks earlier. Currently the official website for the game and Gamestop still display NCAA as releasing in the first week of December.

Occasionally release dates on retail sites will fluctuate. However with a specific date having already been publicized it seems as though there would have to be a reason for them to go out of their way to change it. Both sites doing so would indicate that possibly some new information had been received. We’ll have to wait for official word on this and I’ll see if I can find out further information.

If the game is done and ready to go there would be little reason to hold it. By releasing on the 18th it would be out in time for Black Friday. This will basically be the newest sports title heading into the holidays with EA Sports hoping to pick up fans of the abandoned College Hoops series. Releasing it in mid-November, around the same time that CH has released the past few years, would seem a pretty smart move.

Update: My instincts were correct. The release date is confirmed to now be November 18th.