If you were hoping to pick up your copy of Red Dead Redemption 2 on its October 26 release date from your local small-time retailer, think again. In a recent article from Kotaku, it was made apparent that one local retailer had spent well in excess of $3,000 in marketing material to help push sales of the game through his four stores in Pennsylvania.

Zach Gieg, local store owner, was hoping to maximize sales of Rockstar’s latest blockbuster by displaying billboards, posters and handing out flyers – all at the stores expense. Predicting around 1,000 copies would be sold across his four stores, Zach would “potentially lose $60,000 in sales” of a game that his customers have pre-ordered reportedly two years in advance.

According to Kotaku, this is more of a wide-spread issue, as mom-and-pop stores all over the country may not receive the game until at least a week after it’s official release date on the 26th October. This raises concerns that a significant amount of small business owners may be affected financially, considering this announcement has only arrived a few days before the release date.

In a statement given to Kotaku during a phone interview, Zach had this to say:

I’m telling you: Gamers don’t like to wait, We have a very loyal customer base, per se, but I don’t think I’d want to wait for a week. It’s ridiculous. They’re gonna download it or go elsewhere and buy it at a big box retailer

The issue does not stop there. Even the largest of game rental services, such as GameFly, will also suffer from the delay. The service does not expect to receive the game prior to it’s release, it wrote in an email to customers. “At this time, we do not expect to ship PS4 discs before Wednesday, November 7th. We understand Red Dead Redemption 2 is a very popular game and apologize for this delay.”

Kotaku reached out to Rockstar and Take-Two Interactive; “Neither have responded to Kotaku’s requests for comment.”

For the majority, this delay will not raise any issues and will largely go unnoticed. However, this does have multiple implications in the independent business world as most customers will elect to purchase via GameStop; other popular retailers, or download digitally.

Pre-Load for Red Dead Redemption 2 on Xbox One and PlayStation 4 has already began, and will be available 26th October.

You can find more information on digital pre-load and the disk space required for the game in an article we published earlier in the week here.

Meanwhile you can also watch the Official Launch Trailer for Red Dead Redemption 2

Get involved in the conversation, will this affect you or anyone you know, or will you be purchasing digitally? Let us know on Twitter @MPFirst