Stop pre-ordering games.

[Tron Bonne]

I just deleted Destiny. Definitely my one regret this gen so far. I enjoyed it for a time but the refusal to add matchmaking to Raids and Strikes makes me morally against this game. Punishing players for not having 5 friends with the same schedule is not only ridiculous, but wrong.

But I have nothing against pre-ordering as a whole and I've pre-ordered many digital games this gen. If you know what you want, no need to wait.

I just deleted Destiny. Definitely my one regret this gen so far. I enjoyed it for a time but the refusal to add matchmaking to Raids and Strikes makes me morally against this game. Punishing players for not having 5 friends with the same schedule is not only ridiculous, but wrong.

I enjoyed it for a time but the refusal to add matchmaking to Raids and Strikes makes me morally against this game.

morally against this game.

morally against

this game.

You have...odd morals.

 

[MessiahDecoy123]

What is this "pre-order" you speak of.

Us late adopters don't have this problem.

When I buy a game it's one-fourth the price with all the bugs worked out.

 

[Tron Bonne]

Well, unless you're late adapter to a Nintendo console, then games will probably be four times the price.

 

[Travesty]

Damn you, Nintendo!

 

[Thundercrack85]

Hopefully Activision will actually listen to this criticism.

 

[James]

It's not as if they're unaware of the criticisms. But they don't care, as long as they're making money. So long as the profits roll in, why should they change their business practices? Sure they make art, but at the end of the day that's what most game developers are first and foremost- a business.

 

[Iceman]

Future profits.

It's the difference between having a monster hit with a CoD 4 and having a recurring hit that guarantees billions regularly. Same with Assassin's Creed. Now it's reached a level where it doesn't have to do too much to get a big chunk of fans back every time. Destiny doesn't have that luxury as a first game. If the game had blown past expectations everyone would have been back next time and if that game also had lived up to expectations people would be locked in for the longer term. Now a good chunk of people won't be back for the next one.

 

[Tron Bonne]

Future profits.

It's the difference between having a monster hit with a CoD 4 and having a recurring hit that guarantees billions regularly. Same with Assassin's Creed. Now it's reached a level where it doesn't have to do too much to get a big chunk of fans back every time. Destiny doesn't have that luxury as a first game. If the game had blown past expectations everyone would be back next time and if that game also had lived up to expectations people would be locked in for the longer term. Now a good chunk of people won't be back next time.

That's kind of a big assumption to make. The internet may be savagely hateful of Destiny, but it has what, 13 million active users now or something like that? I'm not sure if it can written off like that just yet.

 

[Iceman]

That's kind of a big assumption to make. The internet may be savagely hateful of Destiny, but it has what, 13 million active users now or something like that? I'm not sure if it can written off like that just yet.

I'm not writing it off. Even if half the people come back for a sequel it will be doing fine. But the future after that is less certain now than it needed to be. A team like Bungie should have been able to deliver on their hype. Then the half that are coming back anyway plus pretty much everyone else would also have been back. And then if the sequel had been good as well they would have a long term fanbase that returns every game and quality starts mattering a little less. There're degrees of success (eg CoD numbers vs Halo numbers) and wherever Destiny's potential was, it's now following a lower even if still successful trajectory.

 

[jmc]

I've just never understood the mentality of pre-buying something so expensive when you don't know the quality of the finished product. When gamemakers get all this money ahead of time all you're doing is rewarding their bad behaviours. What's even more baffling to me is the attitude from gamers themselves who seem willing to cop bad products from gamer makers in the hope they fix it down the line with a patch. Companies aren't going to learn unless gamers stop being so passive about the products, and they are not going to change their attitude towards quality so long as gamers continue to buy ahead of time. I hear people complain about broken games all the time but I hardly ever hear anyone say they sent it back for a refund.

 

[Iceman]

But once they're disappointed with a preorder maybe they don't preorder the same series the next time.

 

[Havok83]

I hear people complain about broken games all the time but I hardly ever hear anyone say they sent it back for a refund.

Because you cant return an open game for a refund!

 

[jmc]

You can where I live. Consumers are allowed to be refunded if they feel the item is defective, this goes for games as well.

 

[Havok83]

You can where I live. Consumers are allowed to be refunded if they feel the item is defective, this goes for games as well.

What country do you live in bc here in the US 99.9999% of retailers do NOT accept refunds for any type of media. That includes games, music and movies. It would be too easy for people to buy a product, burn it and then return it, thus getting something for free. If you've opened it then the sale is final. If you feel its defective, the most you can do is exchange it for the same exact product. Thats a standard rule with pretty much every major retailer with very little exception. Being surprised gamers dont get refunds is a non-issue bc its not something thats allowed

 

[Iceman]

I think he's from Australia.

 

[Tron Bonne]

You can where I live. Consumers are allowed to be refunded if they feel the item is defective, this goes for games as well.

Hm, I don't think, 'I didn't like this game' really counts as "defective".

 

[Travesty]

Yeah, if you opened the case, the game is yours. The only thing that you can do, is if you opened the case, and the game was already broken somehow, you can exchange it for the exact same game. And they always open up the new one in front of you to show you the disc is fine, and that's about it.

 

[Iceman]

I can think of only 2 or 3 games that I'll be preordering. Everything else I'll get around to eventually. No rush

 

[MadVillainy]

Hm, I don't think, 'I didn't like this game' really counts as "defective".

Yeah

It's like that same thing with people asking for a refund from a movie theater just because they didn't like it

 

[Havok83]

As long as there is some type of incentive, I will be preordering most of the games I intend to get in 2015. Those can always be cancelled if I change my mind, so its no money lost

 

[Iceman]

If I was fully caught up on my back catalogue I would probably be pre-ordering a lot more often. But over the next couple of years I'm gonna get even further behind as I can barely play.

 

[jmc]

Hm, I don't think, 'I didn't like this game' really counts as "defective".

No, but a game that doesn't work correctly does, it's Australian law than any product deemed faulty entitles the buyer to a full refund. The issue came to ahead with whole Sim City debacle a while back, our consumer watchdog made it very clear that if the game was difficult to play due to technical issues beyond users control people could get their money back. I'm sorry to hear you guys don't have the same consumer protections as us. Perhaps laws like that are needed in the US.

 

[Thundercrack85]

Would Unity be considered defective? I think you could make a legal argument for that if you found a good lawyer.

I read about law suits being successful due to deliberate misrepresentation.

 

[Iceman]

I guess any of Halo, Destiny and Driveclub could join that list depending on exact definition and how strict it is.

 

[Tron Bonne]

No, but a game that doesn't work correctly does, it's Australian law than any product deemed faulty entitles the buyer to a full refund. The issue came to ahead with whole Sim City debacle a while back, our consumer watchdog made it very clear that if the game was difficult to play due to technical issues beyond users control people could get their money back. I'm sorry to hear you guys don't have the same consumer protections as us. Perhaps laws like that are needed in the US.

That seems kind of like a slippery slope, though? Like what constitutes it? AssCreed Unity is widely seen as a glitchy game, but most people at least seem like it's playable, so I don't know if a case could be may for it being 'defective'. I'm not sure what the Sim City thing is.