Early Play - What's the Big Deal?

It appears that a few retailers have jumped the gun and began selling Modern Warfare 3 just a *tad* early.  Those that have been able to take advantage of this, of course, started playing.  Yesterday, Xbox Live Director of Policy and Enforcement Stephen Toulouse tweeted the following:

Stepto: clarification: dblchk'd with Activision. Mw3 pre-release play not authorized. So pls be patient. Playing early may impact your account! (link to tweet)

Two things are at question here.  First, it has been Microsoft's policy in the past that if you've legitimately obtained a game prior to its official release, go nuts.  This even came from Toulouse himself earlier in the day tweeting:

Stepto: For those asking about MW3 pre-release play: If your copy is legit and obtained legitly, have fun. It's a great game. (link to tweet)

So why the reversal?  Is Activision now dictating to Microsoft what its policy should be?  Moreover, if they're really that concerned about people playing it before release, here's a novel thought.  Turn off the multiplayer servers until release.  That'll teach those bastards to pay you money before they're supposed to!

And that brings me to point number two.  Why does it really matter?  These people are not pirates.  They're paying customers.  I could totally understand if these were leaked copies of the game being spread far and wide across the Internet.  This is not the case.  Here, you're punishing your most rabid fans for legitimately obtaining the game early.  You want to take it out on someone?  Find the retailer that sold it early and tell them they don't get the game next time.  Or if it was really that severe in your eyes, blacklist them from getting other games published from your company.  Don't punish the consumer, they're innocent in this scenario.  Who of us *wouldn't* take that opportunity?

The conspiracy theorist in me isn't entirely sure this hasn't been orchestrated since Battlefield 3 is enjoying some pretty ridiculous sales numbers with no opposition and Activision can't have it.  This could be the *wink wink, nudge nudge* "Now you're not supposed to be doing this yet guys!" in order to get some free publicity and to undercut the competition.

It's moderate level d-baggery at its worst, and crappy publicity stunt at its best.  Either way, the consumer that did no wrong ends up standing to lose the most.

Update - Toulouse later went on to say that nobody would see retribution for early play but to "wait til Tuesday to play with everybody", whatever that meant.