The Dark Side of the gaming industry

[Gikoku]

Here's a funny one that happened only yesterday. The folks over at Harmonix (Rock Band series) have just had their employees caught posting 5-star reviews of their own game Rock Band 4 right before release on Amazon. To top it off, they posted said reviews with their real names under the belief they wouldn't get caught. When word got out and Harmonix confirmed it was them (regretfully), the employees then edited their reviews acknowledging their actions and apologizing for it... but still tried to defend it. The thing that gets me however, is that Harmonix is actually well-respected and talented devs that rake in critical acclaim with their games... so why do this?

"Harmonix employees have been posting reviews of Rock Band 4 on Amazon."
10/10
10/10
100/100
BEST GAME
BEST GAME!

I would happily pay closer to that $60 average if thats what they were the equivalent of here, however most titles are more like $69-$77 and special editions can go for as much as $150 (then there being multiple packages and options too). Digital prices are crazy most of the time, Shadow of Mordor for example when that released was equivalent of $92 here I ended up getting retail version for $49 in the end.

There has been a huge drop in the amount of sales for varying titles these days I have noticed with more people opting for the safe bet titles they purchase every year and franchises they know (Assassins Creed/Fifa/CoD). I mention some titles to friends (titles that have sold quite well worldwide) and some have never even heard of them, almost afraid to try something new for fear of feeling like they have wasted the £45-£50 on taking that chance.

Yeah that is another thing that bothers me greatly. What is wrong with your country's conversation rates?? I saw it a lot when I was over there where somehow companies think products at $10.00 = £10.00 and electronic devices are even worse. I'm looking at console prices right now for XB1 & PS4 over there and they equate from $450-500. Terrible.

Which is why I think cheaper prices would benefit everyone, people would be less likely to feel like game purchases are a gamble when it's only $30-40, and don't even get me started on the peripherals (controllers range from $5-12 to make, sell for $50). Otherwise they end up waiting for dirt cheap prices or used, which in turn doesn't help the companies all that much. The situation with digital releases is blatant price gouging and they know it, but gamers didn't make that big of a fuss because $60 has become such the norm.

 

[Dark Drakan]

Here's a funny one that happened only yesterday. The folks over at Harmonix (Rock Band series) have just had their employees caught posting 5-star reviews of their own game Rock Band 4 right before release on Amazon. To top it off, they posted said reviews with their real names under the belief they wouldn't get caught. When word got out and Harmonix confirmed it was them (regretfully), the employees then edited their reviews acknowledging their actions and apologizing for it... but still tried to defend it. The thing that gets me however, is that Harmonix is actually well-respected and talented devs that rake in critical acclaim with their games... so why do this?

"Harmonix employees have been posting reviews of Rock Band 4 on Amazon."
10/10
10/10
100/100
BEST GAME
BEST GAME!

I had heard about this and also heard of quite a few companies doing the exact same thing over a period of time too. Only difference being that most are smart enough to not use their real names and they actually registered multiple accounts in different names to respond to their own reviews and vote them up too.

I have also heard of some game developers actually copyright claiming negative review Youtube Videos too in order to have them taken down & some of the grounds for the claims are really clutching at straws.

Yeah that is another thing that bothers me greatly. What is wrong with your country's conversation rates?? I saw it a lot when I was over there where somehow companies think products at $10.00 = £10.00 and electronic devices are even worse. I'm looking at console prices right now for XB1 & PS4 over there and they equate from $450-500. Terrible.

Which is why I think cheaper prices would benefit everyone, people would be less likely to feel like game purchases are a gamble when it's only $30-40, and don't even get me started on the peripherals (controllers range from $5-12 to make, sell for $50). Otherwise they end up waiting for dirt cheap prices or used, which in turn doesn't help the companies all that much. The situation with digital releases is blatant price gouging and they know it, but gamers didn't make that big of a fuss because $60 has become such the norm.

$450-$500 is about average for consoles here in most retailers, I mean I got my 360 for $317 and that was considered to be cheap and it was the cheapest 'core' (Arcade) model at the time too with no Hard Drive. The Hard Drive cost me an extra £70 meaning overall with a controller the 360 cost me in total $472 and then had to buy a game. When the PS3 & PS4 launched they were the equivalent of $769 here (£500) in most stores though that price dropped like a stone after Christmas they were still expensive and the XB1 with Kinect to begin with was even more expensive than that (XB1 has been cheaper since). Amy paid $538 for my XB1 in the end and I even thought that was expensive, I was waiting for it to drop to around £250 ($384) before I purchased one as that was about the average I expected to pay.

 

[Dark Drakan]

Total War: Warhammer Pre-Order & DLC Angry Rant

Sega & Creative Assembly are at it again, this time locking off an Entire Core Faction (Chaos) behind a Pre-order. If you don't Pre-order you must pay for DLC to get the 5th Faction which is clearly already done and in the game...

 

[Precipice]

Gotta give Joe respect for his call to action. I hate when these people suggest stupid, unproductive tactics like encouraging a ddos or developing a hack to unlock game content; organizing people to vocalize has been a centuries-old stratagem with documented success and doesn't get anyone in trouble.

I can almost get behind the idea of preorder bonuses, microtransactions and day 1 dlc being purely cosmetic things. I still kind of feel that these things shouldn't be real things at all but maybe it's all give and take. If they don't lock core game content behind a pricetag I can give my thumbs up on the other stuff.

 

[Dark Drakan]

Gotta give Joe respect for his call to action. I hate when these people suggest stupid, unproductive tactics like encouraging a ddos or developing a hack to unlock game content; organizing people to vocalize has been a centuries-old stratagem with documented success and doesn't get anyone in trouble.

I can almost get behind the idea of preorder bonuses, microtransactions and day 1 dlc being purely cosmetic things. I still kind of feel that these things shouldn't be real things at all but maybe it's all give and take. If they don't lock core game content behind a pricetag I can give my thumbs up on the other stuff.

This should be the go to method for rectifying things like this, no death threats, threatening DDOS attacks and piracy. Simply state our displeasure and disagreement with these ideas in a rational and adult manner and get voices heard. If things like that simply were cosmetic then fine, you are rewarding players who have put faith in your game being good and putting cash down before it releases. However holding already created content hostage so people feel obliged to have to preorder or miss out on important content is a shady tactic.

 

[Gikoku]

This reminds me of that time when Zenimax held the entire Imperial Race hostage in Elder Scrolls Online, and the only way to play as them was to purchase the Collector's/Limited Edition release. My god. The rage in the air was almost palpable.

I had heard about this and also heard of quite a few companies doing the exact same thing over a period of time too. Only difference being that most are smart enough to not use their real names and they actually registered multiple accounts in different names to respond to their own reviews and vote them up too.

I have also heard of some game developers actually copyright claiming negative review Youtube Videos too in order to have them taken down & some of the grounds for the claims are really clutching at straws.

Yeah it's especially common among those TV products you see during early morning infomercials. I'm just surprised it was them, I expect something like that from EA or some random mobile game studio.

It's like they don't think people will catch onto this stuff. Ah, like that time when Microsoft & Machinima were in cahoots with Youtubers to pay them extra to give positive reviews and advertisement for the Xbox One? Yeah that went well.

$450-$500 is about average for consoles here in most retailers, I mean I got my 360 for $317 and that was considered to be cheap and it was the cheapest 'core' (Arcade) model at the time too with no Hard Drive. The Hard Drive cost me an extra £70 meaning overall with a controller the 360 cost me in total $472 and then had to buy a game. When the PS3 & PS4 launched they were the equivalent of $769 here (£500) in most stores though that price dropped like a stone after Christmas they were still expensive and the XB1 with Kinect to begin with was even more expensive than that (XB1 has been cheaper since). Amy paid $538 for my XB1 in the end and I even thought that was expensive, I was waiting for it to drop to around £250 ($384) before I purchased one as that was about the average I expected to pay.

Awful prices. I got my 2nd 360 (an Arcade model) after the first buggered up (no RROD) and it was about $190 back in 2009. I saw XB1's right now for as low as £275 (no kinect) new which is what I'll be going for, but that's still more than the lowest US price by $100. :/

 

[Dark Drakan]

PayDay 2's Microtransaction nightmare just got worse

If you haven’t been following this story, here’s the quick version: Payday 2’s developers once declared the game would never get microtranscations. Then, it did! For $2.50, players could buy drills to potentially unlock specially skinned weapons that could also have better stats than standard weapon drops. Though Payday 2 is not a competitive game—it’s players vs. AI—it felt unfair, especially juxtaposed against the comments made by the developers. After much criticism, the drills were introduced as an item that could randomly drop for players, but this was many days after the developers pretended nothing was going on.
​

 

[Dark Drakan]

Payday 2 Moderators go on Strike After Microtransactions Fiasco

“We’ve recently being under a great deal of stress after the Crimefest update,”

“A number of death threats thrown at us as well as much more heavy moderation needed due to a huge increase in users breaking the rules. We are not paid and have been in a very stressful situation.”

“A lot of people will be wondering why we didn’t do this earlier, due to the recent safe release. A lot of things happened and Overkill admitted it wasn’t managed very well. We we’re hoping Overkill would learn from its mistakes regarding the last update and we were hoping they took these into consideration with the COP. We have a lot of issues regarding the release of the COP that shows they have NOT listened to user feedback at all.”

“I like to believe that I am not unreasonable but unfortunately the situation constantly degraded. We will no longer refuse to work if we are given a public interview with a member of Overkill. We want to be heard and see what Overkill are willing to do to fix the situation.”

“If Overkill decides to let us go as moderators it’s something we are prepared for, I personally cannot sit by when they continue to promote immoral business practices. I felt the skins system needed work but could function. The recent safe update showed against that.”​

 

[cheezMcNASTY]

 

[Dark Drakan]

Konami lawyers stopped Kojima accepting MGS 5 award

Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain won several awards tonight at The Game Awards, but series creator Hideo Kojima was apparently blocked from attending to receive them thanks to a business contract with Konami.​

 

[Dark Drakan]

Destinys DLC & Microtransactions are getting out of hand

The developers at Bungie just added more microtransactions to Destiny, a video game in which players travel the solar system hunting for new content. Get ready for level boosters.

New on the Xbox Store today are three different packs that will give you: A) a level-25 boost for your class; B) a “subclass boost”; and C) Telemetries, which are in-game that make your weapons level up faster.

As of right now the level boosters aren’t yet live on the U.S. PlayStation store, but you can see them on Xbox Live for $30 a pop. That’s thirty U.S. dollars. For a boost to level 25.​

 

[cheezMcNASTY]

My guess is Destiny isn't the 10-year cash cow they hoped it would be. I don't see it getting the mileage they hoped it would.

 

[Dark Drakan]

My guess is Destiny isn't the 10-year cash cow they hoped it would be. I don't see it getting the mileage they hoped it would.

You are talking the price of a console in DLC for 1 game, total madness. I stopped playing it out of principle & only reason I haven't sold it is that Jack wants to play it with his friends. Soon as he loses interest im getting rid.

Another article I read today...

MICROTRANSACTIONS COMING TO CALL OF DUTY: BLACK OPS 3

This new optional virtual currency is purchased with real money, and allows players to secure additional Supply Drops in multiplayer or Vials of Liquid Divinium in Zombies Mode. The currency will only be available on PS4, Xbox One, and PC.​

 

[cheezMcNASTY]

I guess every every game company is slowly turning into Nexon.
The end is nigh?

 

[Dark Drakan]

Tom Clancy’s The Division Will Not Include Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx and Staten Island

It seems that Ubisoft are at it again with the cutting of content before a game has been released. With the amount of times The Divison has been delayed and such you would think we would be getting a 'full game'. However they have already confirmed that Brooklyn (shown in trailers from as early as 2013) will not be in the game at release & neither will Queens, Bronx and Staten Island and will likely come in the form of DLC at a later date.​

 

[Hobbilis]

Here is another one.

You should have seen /r/hitman in the first couple of weeks from the launch. It was filled with complaints how IO lied about the game. Long story short: It's a singleplayer game that requires an internet connection.

People have been complaining about it, then IO came out and blatantly said: "Didn't we say we are developing a LIVE game, well LIVE game requires an internet connection."

 

[Dark Drakan]

Here is another one.

You should have seen /r/hitman in the first couple of weeks from the launch. It was filled with complaints how IO lied about the game. Long story short: It's a singleplayer game that requires an internet connection.

People have been complaining about it, then IO came out and blatantly said: "Didn't we say we are developing a LIVE game, well LIVE game requires an internet connection."

I always find it pointless when games have to remain connected online when they are single player games, its another type of DRM that developers hope most gamers wont notice (those with stable connections).

 

[Dark Drakan]

How far does reviewer personal bias really go? Do reviewers always take the time to get to know a game before settling on a score? Do reviewers know how much their scores can influence customers decisions to make a purchase of a game?

Recently had GameSpots Ashes of the Singularity review brought to my attention by Brad Wardell (Founder and CEO of Stardock) on Twitter. He had been pointing out the fact that their criticisms of the game start to seem rather harsh & confusing when you actually look through the details. He also goes on to point out that the reviewer had even blocked him on Twitter for some reason (possibly to do with GamerGate) some time BEFORE writing the review and followed it with a 4/10 score (one which Gamespot usually saves for games with fundamentally broken features).

Email from April 6th about his concerns about the reviewer assigned to the game.

Brad posted the following response to the review and reviewer on the Ashes of The Singularity forums (link below). Gamespots review is the only negative one on Metacritic so far. He has also said that Gamespot is deleting positive comments about the game and criticism of the review. The same reviewer has also been assigned to review Mohawk Games and Stardock Entertainments Offworld Trading Company too which seems ludicrous to me.

Gamespot’s disgraceful Ashes of the Singularity review

Interested to hear peoples thoughts on this and the issues it could raise within the industry. Reviews are merely opinions but when they can effect/influence customers decisions like the big gaming sites, should they be more objective? ​

 

[Dark Drakan]

Jim Sterling comes out on top as lawsuit with Digital Homicide dismissed

Statement by James Stanton (aka Jim Sterling)

For those curious about this resolution, I was not a direct part of the communication between Romine and my lawyer, but as I understand it, the agreement to drop the suit with prejudice was the result of Hartman's enviable reasoning ability. The plaintiff agreed to drop his case after my lawyer explained exactly what would happen if this went to court and how we would respond.

That it got as far as it did, went on for as long as it did, is atrocious - especially when this is a case that amounts to a game developer wanting to silence a game critic. While the accusations found within the lawsuit are farcical and definitively veer into comedy territory - as we'll find out when I go through it in detail at a later date - the existence of it is simply grotesque.

That you can be made to spend that much money and effort defending yourself from spurious claims should be a worrying prospect for anybody whose job involves saying things that some people aren't going to like.

​

 

[Dark Drakan]

WB Games have been known for their questionable business practices for a long time now but none have stuck more cords than their latest debacle. It seemed at first that they might have turned a corner but then they let their shady practices slip into what should have been a noble gesture.

Last week Monolith Productions announced a DLC that will immortalise executive producer Mike Forgey. Forgey was 43 years old and had died of cancer so the studio aimed to release some DLC in honour of his memory with proceeds going to his family. The Forthog Orc-Slayer DLC costs $5 and Warner Bros said it would donate $3.50 of every purchase.

The small print however revealed that money would only go to the Forgey family in most states in the US, and in the US only. Meaning any purchase outside of those states and the US would go directly to WB Games and his family would receive nothing from the sale, leading many to accuse WB Games of attempting to profit from his death.

Total Biscuit exposed Warner Brothers Games in regards to this in the following video.

​