Why are we stuck with games being released on a Friday?

[Administrator]

For as long as most folk remember, games have launched on Fridays in the UK and on Tuesday in the US. That's the way of things. Sometimes they converge for a glitzy worldwide launch but mostly they don't - they stick to the norm, and Europeans wait.
But why? Who decided on Friday, and who decided on Tuesday? If some games can be released on a Tuesday worldwide why can't all games be? More pertinently, why do we stick to the same rules for downloadable games? If everyone can buy and pre-install a game on Steam at the same time, why can't they play at the same time - why must someone in the UK wait until Friday but someone in the US can play from Tuesday?
Where do all these rules come from and, more to the point, can they be changed?
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