It has leaked on the web that several GameStop locations in the North East (Brooklyn NY, Philadelphia PA, Bowling Green Ohio) have been selling Modern Warfare 2 before its November 10th release date — as in today.

According to Mike Fahey over at Kotaku, at least one location claimed that they received specific permission from Activision to do so based on other retailers (like Best Buy, Wal-Mart, and even Mom n’ Pop shops) already breaking the release date in their district.

Another individual I spoke to said they purchased MW2 from a Brooklyn, NY GameStop and added that their uncle picked a copy up at a Philly location. Activision responded directly, releasing the following statement today:

“Activision has not given any retailer permission to sell Modern Warfare 2 prior to the Nov. 10 street date. The company fully supports the Nov.10 street date.”

I reached out to a hand full of managers at GameStop locations in Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. All of them emphatically stated that they will be selling the game in accordance with Activision’s scheduled release date. In addition, I was told that employees working at locations caught breaking the release date are subject to immediate termination.

One GameStop manager added another layer to the convoluted “he said, she said” mess, accusing some individuals of flat out lying. His belief was that many of the leaked videos and images actually obtained from pirated copies of the game on torrent sites were being dishonestly attributed to GameStop broken release date sales a a means to garnish an envious reaction by those desperately seeking attention.

Update: Infinity Ward’s Creative Strategist, Robert Bowling, chimed in a few hours ago with the following tweet:

“ANY store selling #MW2 early is in violation of street date. There are no “special permissions”. That said, we won’t punish players for it.”

What do you think? Is this a case of GameStop greed or lying internet attention whores? Sound off in the comments section below.