For a lucky few consumers, Bioshock's street date was broken a week early. Apparently, Toys R Us ran an ad stating that the game was out so people showed up to buy the game, resulting in copies sold. Because the street date was broken, all other retailers with stock can now sell the game without waiting for the actual release date.

However, most stores will not have stock in until the day before, or the day of release. Finding a copy before the release date would be extremely lucky considering the buzz that the demo (that was recently released over Xbox Live) created. Demand is extremely high for the small numbers of the game that are out there.

The street date is the date that the game is supposed to be sold on. Sometimes game companies will send copies of their games early, with the promise that none of them will be sold before the street date. However, if a retailer breaks the street date, it can hinder their relationship with the publisher. Once the street date is broken by one retailer, all other retailers are typically allowed to begin selling that game without repercussion from the publisher.