Well, the digital distribution will take just as long as the physical distribution,
because the otherwise brick and mortar retail stores would get their panties in a bunch.
Thanks to that, and traditions like "we only release games on thursday!",
we still have two different release dates for US and EU, for any game.
I've seen this happen for purely digitally distributed games, where it makes no sense at all.
But I guess, as long as they insist that the internet has oceans,
other people will continue to sail them in a less than gentlemanly manner, if you catch my drift.
Not me though, I preordered the Stick through GMG, got my key, redeemed it, and hours later
the whole Germany gets delayed thing comes up. Not happy. I hope someone gets fired over this.