In games, at least in the past and I'm pretty positive still, you have to make commitments months in advance. Want the cover of some magazine? It's decided 6 months in advance. Want TV commercials to run? Book them 6 months in advance. Want your ads on billboards or large displays? Again, several months in advance. Want shelf space at Walmart, more of the same.
So, your company, generally, has to book all of that stuff long before the game is complete. So they go to the team and ask. When will this be done? The team says (in 24 months) and so marketing and sales get to work making all the deals for the things above and now the team has to met their deadline or all that stuff above is not only wasted, those people will never work with you again because you messed up their scheduling. This is especially true for retail space because it's not like they can fill the shelves with random stuff on a moments notice. THey've basically got a hole in their inventory and shelf space they would have filled with another product so you've made them lose money.
Much of this is also true for consumer electronics. Deals are made to feature the next smartphone at all outlets, and run commercials etc, months before the phone is ready to ship. All the teams making software for that device have to be ready to ship by that promised date.
How do you do that if they are all booked? Do you just price to the highest bidder so if I wanted my new Star Wars movie on the billboard on May 4th and you want your new Star Trek movie on the same day who ever pays more gets it even if one booked it months in advance?
Right -- there isn't any booking its just about who brings the money for that sign on that day. You can pre-declare how much money you want to assign to an hour and sign but can't know that you'll win for that sign and hour. If you don't win there, you keep your money to use elsewhere.
But we have ~1500 signs and each of them is playing a new ad every ~8 seconds. In other words, there's plenty of space. Those 8 seconds can range from a penny to a buck depending on the time and place and on the current competition. If you want to show up, you can.
So, your company, generally, has to book all of that stuff long before the game is complete. So they go to the team and ask. When will this be done? The team says (in 24 months) and so marketing and sales get to work making all the deals for the things above and now the team has to met their deadline or all that stuff above is not only wasted, those people will never work with you again because you messed up their scheduling. This is especially true for retail space because it's not like they can fill the shelves with random stuff on a moments notice. THey've basically got a hole in their inventory and shelf space they would have filled with another product so you've made them lose money.
Much of this is also true for consumer electronics. Deals are made to feature the next smartphone at all outlets, and run commercials etc, months before the phone is ready to ship. All the teams making software for that device have to be ready to ship by that promised date.