In news that you should likely file in the category of ‘this really isn’t surprising at all,’ reports are already starting to trickle in that some smaller retailers might be already selling copies of Halo Reach; thus breaking the September 14th release date.

The decision by smaller retailers to break the street date may be driven by the fact that the game has been leaked online and smaller retailers are fearful of losing sales. We have been unable to verify with our local retail contacts that they have received their shipment of Halo Reach copies. This could mean that only certain parts of the country have actually received their copies at retail ahead of the release.

Because of the leak, it is thought that Microsoft might bump up the release of the title; but so far the company has had no comment on the situation, beyond being very vocal about the fact that those caught playing Halo Reach before the release date could face serious repercussions and this could include a ban from Xbox Live.

Microsoft has a lot of money invested in the marketing of Halo Reach, which is said to be the largest marketing campaign for a title in video game history. Due to this fact alone, we can’t see the company moving the release date up from the 14th. Still, the leak has caused a lot of unwanted problems for Microsoft and given them a headache that they didn’t need.