It's great that Ubisoft is making their fans feel like they are being heard but I highly doubt the 11,000 people who upvoted that boycott idea were going to make any noticeable impact on the overall player base. Still it's far better to get the community on your side as much as possible instead of letting this relatively small group of people fester into a larger problem.
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It's great that Ubisoft is making their fans feel like they are being heard but I highly doubt the 11,000 people who upvoted that boycott idea were going to make any noticeable impact on the overall player base. Still it's far better to get the community on your side as much as possible instead of letting this relatively small group of people fester into a larger problem.
While I've constantly raiiled on Steam for its lack of quality control and blloated marketplace, I will be the first to admit that its still better than the mobile marketplaces of App and Play Store.
It turns out that some scumbag uploaded a ripoff of Firewatch, the indie darling of last year, to the App Store and called it New Firewatch (how original). Well, someone who works at Firewatch's publisher saw the game, and rather than just file a dispute, they did a "Let's Play" of it. Now, I have yet to play Firewatch, but I'm pretty certain that quite a bit was lost in translation.
http://www.polygon.com/2017/4/5/15189722/new-firewatch-ios-app-store-playthrough
It turns out that some scumbag uploaded a ripoff of Firewatch, the indie darling of last year, to the App Store and called it New Firewatch (how original). Well, someone who works at Firewatch's publisher saw the game, and rather than just file a dispute, they did a "Let's Play" of it. Now, I have yet to play Firewatch, but I'm pretty certain that quite a bit was lost in translation.
http://www.polygon.com/2017/4/5/15189722/new-firewatch-ios-app-store-playthrough
Publishers making deals with certain retailers for exclusive versions of their games are nothing new. What IS new is when they do it with a company that has about as good of a business standing as Bank of America, Walmart, and Comcast all rolled into one entity of scumbaggery.
Gearbox is selling a special edition of their remastered version of Bulletstorm exclusively on G2A. For those that don't know, just google "G2A Scam" and you'll get a good idea as to why this is a rather disturbing idea. Say what you want about Gamestop and their practices, but they look like angels compared to what G2A allows to happen.
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/press...sedition_of_Bulletstorm_Full_Clip_Edition.php
As a result, TotalBiscuit (vocal critic of G2A) has declared he will no longer do any coverage for Gearbox games.
Gearbox is selling a special edition of their remastered version of Bulletstorm exclusively on G2A. For those that don't know, just google "G2A Scam" and you'll get a good idea as to why this is a rather disturbing idea. Say what you want about Gamestop and their practices, but they look like angels compared to what G2A allows to happen.
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/press...sedition_of_Bulletstorm_Full_Clip_Edition.php
As a result, TotalBiscuit (vocal critic of G2A) has declared he will no longer do any coverage for Gearbox games.
Out of all the possible places they could have done this, G2A definitely seems like a weird choice. My guess is that there weren't a ton of other retailers beating down the door to offer them a great deal for the chance to be the exclusive provider of the collectors edition of Bulletstorm Remastered though.
I'd have to imagine that SOME retailer would be up for releasing such an edition. In any case I'll just be playing the game via Gamefly. I should probably make a real effort to finish off Horizon before it arrives.
I'm sure plenty of retailers would have been happy to be the exclusive place to get the collectors edition. The problem is finding a retailer that is willing to pay for the privilege to get this exclusivity on a collectors edition of a remastered game that wasn't super popular the first time it came out.
It doesn't do Gearbox any good to offer an exclusive deal on a collectors edition for free. They would sell more collectors edition copies if it was available everywhere. The only way a deal like this makes sense from Gearbox's perspective is if G2A is paying for this in some way. This could be in the form of a reduced cut on every sale, free marketing, or actual cash changing hands.
Edit: I just read through the article and saw that they are only producing 54 copies of the collectors edition. In that case it seems stupid to even bother doing this at all. Also they pretty much had to pick one retailer to go through since there won't be enough copies to send them out to all the normal retailers.
Gearbox making more great decisions I suppose..
In other recent Gearbox News, they were recently offering Battleborn on a store that specializes in products that are $5 or less, so basically you can get BB for $5 now.
Looks like they still are:
https://www.fivebelow.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=battleborn
Last point about Total Biscuit, this satirical news story made me laugh:
http://www.pointandclickbait.com/2017/04/totalbiscuit-ejected-from-art-gallery/
In other recent Gearbox News, they were recently offering Battleborn on a store that specializes in products that are $5 or less, so basically you can get BB for $5 now.
Looks like they still are:
https://www.fivebelow.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=battleborn
Last point about Total Biscuit, this satirical news story made me laugh:
http://www.pointandclickbait.com/2017/04/totalbiscuit-ejected-from-art-gallery/
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Well, THIS was unexpected...
So apparently Gearbox contacted Total Biscuit personally to ask for evidence that G2A was as bad as he claimed it was due to all the negative feedback they received from announcing the partnership. TB obliged, which wasn't hard because of G2A's very public track record.
As a result, Gearbox publicly stated that if G2A doesn't clean their act up that they're going to sever their partnership with them.
I take a few things from this: First off, shame on Gearbox for not doing some BASIC research before entering this partnership. Even if you don't know who TB is, any basic googling of "G2A Scam" would offer up enough evidence that this is not a company on the up and up. Still, the fact that they actually LISTENED to the fans about this shows that they're not blind and stupid when it comes to decent business practices.
As TB says in his statement, there's no real downside to this. If G2A cleans up its act and ensures that keys are legit and prevents people getting screwed over by using stolen credit cards (which ends up punishing the devs/publishers) then we have one less scumbag online store. If G2A doesn't, then Gearbox pulls out of their deal and G2A's awfulness is shown on a grand scale, which possibly could lead to its closure, which quite frankly I would not be opposed to. I'm all for capitalism, but not when done via they methods they're infamous for.
TB's statement on Tweetlonger: http://www.twitlonger.com/show/n_1spp1mm
If you don't want to sit and read and would rather have it told to you, you can do that here:
Well this didn't take long... Gearbox has pulled out.
http://www.polygon.com/2017/4/7/15223622/g2a-gearbox-bulletstorm-ultimatum-collectors-edition
It's not all that surprising to me that G2A didn't agree to change their entire business model because Gearbox was threatening to not sell 54 copies of the Bulletstorm collectors edition on their website. The scope of this entire thing was so small that the income was going to be a negligible amount for both companies.
True, but I think it would have been very good for G2A long term to take the opportunity to change things so more people and companies would want to do business with them. Their current model shows that they're sh*tty to both buyers, sellers, and publishers. When devs are telling people they'd rather their stuff get PIRATED as opposed to sold on their store, something has gone horribly wrong somewhere IMO.
I don't think they care what the developers/publishers think. The whole reason they are able to differentiate themselves from other retailers is because they are going around the publishers and getting keys for significantly less money than they would if they did it legitimately.
They care what customers think but only to the extent that it starts hurting their business. With all the bad press about G2A customers have shown that they don't care how the keys were obtained as long as they are able to get them for $8 while Steam is charging $60. The only time their customers care about these shady business practices is when they get burnt by a bad key. They prices are low enough that the risk is worth it to the people who shop there.
If they had given in to Gearbox's demands and stopped buying keys that were bought with stolen credit cards or purchased from countries with much poorer economies at a fraction of the cost they wouldn't be able to undercut the legitimate retailers and no one would have a reason to buy from them any more. The only way their business model really works is if they continue the scummy practices they are known for.
They care what customers think but only to the extent that it starts hurting their business. With all the bad press about G2A customers have shown that they don't care how the keys were obtained as long as they are able to get them for $8 while Steam is charging $60. The only time their customers care about these shady business practices is when they get burnt by a bad key. They prices are low enough that the risk is worth it to the people who shop there.
If they had given in to Gearbox's demands and stopped buying keys that were bought with stolen credit cards or purchased from countries with much poorer economies at a fraction of the cost they wouldn't be able to undercut the legitimate retailers and no one would have a reason to buy from them any more. The only way their business model really works is if they continue the scummy practices they are known for.
I guess in my heart of hearts I though it would make for a great story if G2A did the right thing.. but sadly, when I saw the headline all I thought was:
While Mass Effect: Andromeda's dev team is hard at work fixing the broken dialog and animation systems, Extra Credits has chimed in about Dialog Systems in a rather informative video in regards to how these systems are designed.
Seemingly against all logic, G2A decided to host a panel at an international developers convention in Croatia. It didn't go very well for them.
http://www.polygon.com/2017/4/20/15369924/g2a-heckled-reboot-developers-conference-croatia
http://www.polygon.com/2017/4/20/15369924/g2a-heckled-reboot-developers-conference-croatia
Dear Developers/Modders,
If you're going to make a MOD/Addon for a game that is using an existing IP, do not announce to the world that you are going to make a MOD/Addon that is using an existing IP!
A Mod to put the map of Red Dead Redemption into the GTA V engine has been shut down via a Cease and Desist order from Rockstar.
http://kotaku.com/mod-to-put-red-dead-redemption-2-map-inside-gta-v-gets-1794574250
What people like this need to do is do it like Pokemon Uranium and Another Metroid 2 Remake did and just release the game. Don't make a public announcement that the game is in progress because the companies basically HAVE to send out a C&D or else they can run into issues maintaining their copyrights. Then when you DO receive a C&D it doesn't matter because once its out on the Internet its there forever, as opposed to this where the thing will likely never see the light of day because of this legal precedent.
If you're going to make a MOD/Addon for a game that is using an existing IP, do not announce to the world that you are going to make a MOD/Addon that is using an existing IP!
A Mod to put the map of Red Dead Redemption into the GTA V engine has been shut down via a Cease and Desist order from Rockstar.
http://kotaku.com/mod-to-put-red-dead-redemption-2-map-inside-gta-v-gets-1794574250
What people like this need to do is do it like Pokemon Uranium and Another Metroid 2 Remake did and just release the game. Don't make a public announcement that the game is in progress because the companies basically HAVE to send out a C&D or else they can run into issues maintaining their copyrights. Then when you DO receive a C&D it doesn't matter because once its out on the Internet its there forever, as opposed to this where the thing will likely never see the light of day because of this legal precedent.
That's a loaded question. Fact is that the Copyright laws are archaic and are in major need of revision in the modern era.
While I fully support the idea of people protecting their works and not having their stuff used to make other people money, fact is that when these fan projects are shut down its simply companies keeping the status quo. 99% of the time these MODs/fan projects are done out of love and are a tribute to the IPs, as opposed to something people are making to confuse others from the established brands. If they DON'T enforce the copyright though, then it does open the door for the scumbags that the laws are meant to stop to come in and make money and/or damage the brand. I think there should be exceptions or some sort of revision where people can improve upon something or tell their own stories and not fear legal action. And to be fair, sometimes these releases have led to real changes to and IP and/or someone actually getting to work with the IP owner directly, but 99/100 times it's just C&D, which is sad. If the people were trying to make money via purchases of these products, then I'd be all for legal action. However, it's hard for me to feel sympathetic towards billion dollar company Nintendo shutting down the AM2R project when they haven't released a proper Metroid game in nearly 10 years (Sorry, I don't consider Other M to be proper and I'm not alone in this) and show no signs of changing that trend, and because the release of AM2R did not do anything to hurt the Metroid brand.
Back on point, the fact is that if you ARE going to make something based on an existing IP, announcing that you're going to do it before you're done is akin to getting pissed at a co-worker and then announcing to all your friends "I'm going to kill that guy the next time I see him." You're basically publicly declaring that you are going to do something against the law. Now obviously that's an extreme example in regards to severity of law being broken, but it's still you making it well known to many people that you're going to do something wrong. And in cases like this it can be years of work gone down the drain because you can't release your product due to the legal precedent set by the C&D. At least if you just release it when its done then it gets out there and people can get to consume your work. At that point the dev can just take down the game and fulfill the requirements of the C&D but it can still live on.
How so? You just gave advice on how to blatantly violate people's copywrites and trademarks.
The examples you originally gave (ie, Pokemon, Megaman, and Red Dead Redemption/Revolver) are no where near as old as Mickey Mouse, so that point is irrelevant. In one case you held up as an example to follow, they even used the actual Pokemon Logo.
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