Bethesda has decided that people don't get review copies of their games, ever. "We encourage you to wait for your favorite reviewrs before buying the game. Yeah, sure. Screw consumer protection and the Pre-Order culture they actively participate in that sees almost all of a games sales typically be in the first month and will actively punish people for doing as you recommend, and screw that this does tons of damage to the quality of reviews as reviewers rush to get their reviews out first so they can get attention while people will still read it, lets just not do them anymore because then people aren't experiencing *their* product the way *we* want. If that's even the real motivation, which TBH I don't believe because there is no profit motive in that. I say it's an attempt to keep prospective buyers as low information as possible for as long as possible so that people will buy it based solely on their misleading pre-release hype instead of peoples actual impressions of the real game, effectively tricking people into buying their stuff, and even if it isn't that will be the result regardless of intent.

http://gamesunderpressure.com/bethesda- ... es-review/

Sigh. Add another one to the list. Bethesda, till you change this policy, I don't buy your stuff. I strongly encourage others to do the same, they won't change it unless it's actually losing them money which means simply waiting a week and then buying it won't fix the problem. Buy used or don't buy at all (and don't buy DLC.)

That's because Fallout 4 got leaked weeks before release and no gaming studio wouldn't want this to happen to their IP.
And I think you can trust Arkane. They will deliver even better game than Dishonored was from what I've saw.

This is a sad turn of events. I'll follow up with our contacts and see how things will work out

I agree. I'm hoping a negative PR storm and/or dismal sales of whatever they release next (Sorry if some poor studio gets caught in the crossfire but nothing to be done about it) change their minds.

15865242 cyseal さんが書きました:That's because Fallout 4 got leaked weeks before release and no gaming studio wouldn't want this to happen to their IP.
And I think you can trust Arkane. They will deliver even better game than Dishonored was from what I've saw.

Lots of companies have leaks, most of those companies don't deny review copies and actively screw over consumers in the process.

No. They might deliver, they might not, you can't know when all you get is carefully controlled hype fodder from the *least* trustworthy source that will cover it (that being the people who have invested 50 million dollars into a project that they need to succeed wether it's any good or not.) What you've seen means nothing until you're seeing uninterrupted gameplay from the final build of the game and hearing the opinions of people whos literal job hinges on them providing you good purchasing advice. (Which is also why you shouldn't trust IGN, who make so much of their money from Ads run by the big companies they're supposed to be critical of. Of course they aren't, because if they give bad scores then they lose ad money from those companies, so really they're just extensions of of the EA marketing department most of the time.)

So no, I don't trust Arkane or any other company enough to buy a game before reviews are up, and because of the way Bethesda is handling review copies I have to take a stand. IF we just wait for reviews then they won't change the policy because people still buy their stuff, but millions of consumers will essentially be forced to either miss out on pre-order stuff or buy a game they know almost nothing about, without even the 1 day window we usually get between reviews and release, which means they're deliberately setting up a lose/lose situation for the consumer (risk your money on a game you know very little about or don't get the full game when you buy it,) and it's unacceptable. Ultimately (as with most EA or Ubisoft games) I don't actually care how good the games are or are not, I care that they're treating consumers poorly and the only way to change that is to make doing so very expensive, and the only way to do that is to not buy their stuff.

But shouldn't pre-orders not be required in the first place to get the full game experience? If I need to buy the game before it's even out to get the full game, I say that's the main problem that should be addressed.

For me, I either buy the game as soon as possible without bothering much about reviews cause I know it'll be awesome (something I very rarely do), or watch videos, listen to customer feedback, and try it myself with Gamefly before I buy. I don't actually read most pro reviewers cause I don't trust any of them. And the ones I do trust usually don't get review copies anyway, or at least that's what it seems like since their reviews of the game don't come out till after the game's release.

I agree that stuff shouldn't be locked behind pre-orders, but how often are special missions or powers or whatever sectioned off that way? It's pretty common. (in the case of dishonored 2 it's literally a whole game.)

So for Dishonored 2 you either: Pre-order based soley on the word of Bethesda's marketing department that it will be good (and Bethesda has spent a ton of money on the game so they have every reason to lie through their teeth and display the game in the best possible light even if it's not representative of the final product) or you spend like 40 extra bucks on the HD version of Dishonored.

That is a deliberate move intended to manufacture low information customers and then "force" them to pre-order by exploiting peoples fear of having to invest more. (If you don't wait you might waste your money on a game you don't like, but if you do wait you will definitely have to spend more if you do like the game. Even though the risk of pre-ordering is bigger they payoff is also bigger and the companies do everything in their power to make it not seem like a risk at all.)

and here's a Jim Sterling video covering it (one of the reviewers I trust).



Dangit, why must AAA companies be such A**holes. I loved you Bethesda. You made such great games.

Influencers are easier to lean on.

But seeing so many people the gaming community doing a complete 360 in their views about traditional gaming media just so they can feel self righteous on Reddit is hilarious.

Esquire さんが書きました:Influencers are easier to lean on.

But seeing so many people the gaming community doing a complete 360 in their views about traditional gaming media just so they can feel self righteous on Reddit is hilarious.

This.

Gaming media is atrocious, finding an actually good and honest source of information is like digging through dirt. Reviews are just another form of advertisement, payed off and bias. Game developers obviously invest a lot of money in internet celebrities, streamers and gaming media sites to play their games and give them good reviews.

I agree with Bethesda on this. Reviewer copies be damned.

Aigaion さんが書きました:

Esquire さんが書きました:Influencers are easier to lean on.

But seeing so many people the gaming community doing a complete 360 in their views about traditional gaming media just so they can feel self righteous on Reddit is hilarious.

This.

Gaming media is atrocious, finding an actually good and honest source of information is like digging through dirt. Reviews are just another form of advertisement, payed off and bias. Game developers obviously invest a lot of money in internet celebrities, streamers and gaming media sites to play their games and give them good reviews.

I agree with Bethesda on this. Reviewer copies be damned.

What? That doesn't even make sense. if that was Bethesdas actual worry then all Bethesda has to do is not engage in that behavior and let people give their honest opinions, your arguement doesn't make any sense. Further still, just because some, even a majority of, outlets are untrustworthy does not make it a good thing that review copies are denied. Even the ones that are fairly untrustworthy (ie IGN) still post a lot of legitimate and relevant information about the game that can be filtered through their insistance on talking about everything as if it's amazing, especially with so many other sources to cross-reference and make sure it's accurate, and *trustowrthy* reviwers are also being denied access.

This will also wreck the quality of reviews, even from honest reviewers, as they have to rush to get their review out when people will still read/watch it.

Agreeing with this decision is cutting off your nose to spite your face. It only helps 1 entity and that's Bethesda, it's bad for dishonest reviewers, it's bad for honest reviewers, and it's bad for consumers. In fact it probably hurts the dishonest reviewers and "influencers" the least, because they are the ones who can most easily play fast and loose with information and the quality of their review and so get their reviews out before everybody else, while the honest ones who really take their time will actually want to be accurate and so will need to spend more time on it, decreasing the relevance of the review when it releases and thus hurting their wallets.

There are plenty of trustworth reviewers. Total biscuit (though technically they're impressions not reviews,) AGC, Jim Sterling, Kinda Funny, Super Bunny Hop, ect. Even IGN is reasonably good when they aren't talking about games from big publishers, there is no ad money in cozying up to whatever random indie studio.

Ultimately it's not just denying people reviewers opinions, it's denying people any information that Bethesda hasn't carefully selected. If Bethesda starts releasing full game playthroughs 2 days before launch so everyone can see hours of unedited gameplay and how all the sytems work then I'll reverse my position, but until then this is a horrendusly anti-consumer practice that only makes things worse for everyone, except Bethesda.



EDIT: And of course there are a couple hundred people defending this position based on similarly ****y arguments (while of course ignoring the counter points about how this is bad for everyone.) This is why I have 0 faith in democracy (but still wouldn't get rid of it because I actually understand the concept of cutting off my nose to spite my face, or worse, cutting off my nose because some celerbty told me to even though they don't have a reason that stands up to even casual scrutiny.)