I see it a lot online now especially on gaming websights
“This game will release in 5 weeks”
It’s wrong. You should say “this game will be released in 5 weeks”
I’m impressed you are so knowledgeable about intransitive verbs. I had to look up the definition.
I’m impressed you bothered to look up the definition. I figured someone else would come along and explain.
I have a degree in Latin. If there’s one thing I do know, it’s pedantic grammar terms.
I haven’t noticed to the point of recognizing it, but in a strict sense its not wrong; simply because ‘rules of grammar’ are ‘descriptive’ of the language and not ‘prescriptive.’ If the rule and common usage disagree, its the rule that needs to be amended to reflect reality.
This seems related to “The album will drop in one week.”
Is this simply an evolution of “ship”?
As in “The new version of HotGame ships/will ship next week.”
AFAICT “shipping” for a long time no longer referred specifically to the physical movement of installation media - it simply meant the software was ready for distribution/download.
I’m no expert, tho, so this is an interesting language question I hope more people weigh in on.
Indeed, “drop” (meaning “to be released to the public”) is the one that puzzles me. I never seemed to hear it until about a year ago, and now it’s everywhere! Trailers drop, albums drop, videos drop. I don’t think novels drop, but maybe I’m just not reading the more hip kind of novels.
“Release” is also used for the outcome 
of a happy ending.
But passive voice is supposed to be bad form (according to some people), so it shuould be “<Name of publisher> will release the game in 5 weeks.”
McKean’s law in action.
There’s nothing inherently wrong with passive voice. Your high school teacher just tells you it’s blanketly wrong because it sounds awkward when used incorrectly. That’s easier than teaching good style.
“This game will be released in five weeks” is fine.
So is “This game will release in five weeks.” Languages evolve.
Yeah, I must agree. As much as certain phrases and word usages drive me up a wall, languages evolve. And the rules of English are so contrary and arbitrary and capricious and contradictory to begin with, so it makes little sense to get real worked up over further variations from an inconsistent and little-regarded norm.
I’m still trying to get over “grow the economy.”
That ship sailed many centuries ago. The OED lists transitive senses of “grow”, meaning “to cause to grow” or “to cause to increase”, with examples dating back to 1481.
Is that grammatically different from “grow a potato”?
Weirdly, I always have to look up the definition. Every single time. I’ve probably done it 200 times. You’d think that it would stick eventually, but no. Two seconds from now, I’ll forget it again.
This one has been around at least since the 80s, at least regarding albums. I’m no good at finding the origins of slang terms, though. Maybe **samclem **will come help us.
The online slang dictionary’s entry for “to release an album” was submitted in 2003.