original_release_date started returning null

I've been using the GiantBomb API for a while. I use 2 endpoints - 'games' & 'game'. For both these endpoints, the field 'original_release_date' almost always contained the release date of the game.

I've recently noticed that for most games this field now returns null, even for games for which in the past it returned values. I can't say how long ago this started happening, but it definitely did. I have an automated test that I run every once in a while to see that my API integration is correct, and that test started failing for this reason.

It looks like for most cases I can workaround by using the 'expected_release_year', 'expected_release_month' & 'expected_release_day' fields, which return non-null values (even for games which have already been released, which is slightly confusing).

Can anyone confirm that there were api or data changes on the side of GiantBomb?

Same Issue, looks like only thing I can pull for the "release date" is "expected_release_xxx" but "original_release_date" is null. Did something change or is this a bug?

There isn't an original_release_date field. You will need to cobble together the date using the expected_release_* fields.

The logic for the original_release_date is that it will be null if we do not have the full release date available. If we only have a partial release date, then it gets displayed via the expected_release_* fields.

There seems to be a bug in the api docs where expected_release_day is not listed as part of the games endpoint, I'll get that fixed.

Thanks for your reply. Can you please just clarify - was this field removed? I'm certain it was returning release dates before.

You may be thinking about the release endpoint which does contain a release_date field.

@frobie: I've noticed this has been broken in recent months too. There definitely is an `original_release_date` for the `/games` endpoint, it's right here in the API docs.

Can you please let us know when this will be fixed, because we can't guarantee the `expected_release_*` fields will be accurate. Thanks!

@frobie: I'm 100% positive that the original_release_date is broken/changed somehow. For instance BioShock https://www.giantbomb.com/api/game/17280 used to return 2007-8-21, but it now returns NULL...

Any updates to this? Should I just always assume the expected date is now the original release date? Don’t want to change my code just to end up reverting it if this gets “fixed”.

I have tested many games and the majority are not returning an Original release date using the /game endpoint. The games I tested had previously returned a date before this issue, now they just return null.

@frobie Is this going to get fixed anytime soon?

I'm also interested in any update on this. @frobie

@frobie bump

My plate is pretty full atm, but I'll try and carve out some time in the coming weeks to work on this.

Sorry for the long wait; this is fixed.

It seems like this is still a problem. I am trying to get recently released games by using this request:

https://www.giantbomb.com/api/games/?api_key=7347944b9f9422a3454f0122086539c2d314d9da&format=json&filter=original_release_date:2000-01-01+00%3A00%3A00|2023-02-22+00%3A00%3A00&sort=original_release_date:desc&limit=50&field_list=name,guid,original_release_date

This returns a list sorted descending based on original release date, but there are a lot of NULL values. However, it seems like that date is correctly saved somewhere, just not showing.

Am I doing something wrong or is original_release_date broken?
@frobie

@gmarius

This is correct. The way the dates work is if the full date is in our wiki, then you'll see the date appear in the original_release_date field otherwise it's null. The Spongebob Squarepants has a full date on Google Search but in our wiki it's listed as January 2023.

If the date is in the future, then the field is null and the expected release date will appear in the expected_release_* fields.