It's Time We Protect Ourselves Against The Gaming Industry
As we approach year two of the new generation of consoles, I can't help but be disappointed. Two games currently sit on my shelf, unplayable in the way they were advertised to me. These aren't Indie titles, mind you, or bargain barrel franchises.
Ten years ago, if GTA: San Andreas gad promised me a set of cooperative heists missions only to not once, BUT TWICE fail to provide it to me on promised dates, the game would be in the trash. If Halo 2 had launched its competitive online multiplayer to endless problems and glitches for the first three months, the franchise wouldn't have lived to see Halo 3.
It's unfair to single out just those two games, as several others, including Watch Dogs, NBA 2K15, and Battlefield 4, all launched with broken features, some of which still haven't been resolved and won't be.
What changed from then to now? Why is it suddenly acceptable business practice to advertise a game to play one way, only to find you've been completely lied to upon playing it? I guess it's not "suddenly acceptable" so much as it has become "standard business practice." For years gamers have been lied to, deceived, and made to feel bad for criticizing a game that doesn't work, and now that the big boys are doing it, we have to say ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.
Seriously, gamers have gotten so soft over the last decade. 2014 in gaming was a year full of the phrase, "You can't expect it to work day one."
How many other times is that phrase acceptable with goods you purchase? Would you expect to hear that from your pharmacist on your medication? Would you be cool with hearing that from your electrician? Car salesman? Cable company?
What's worse is that the games industry isn't the one saying this... it's us. We've been conditioned to tell complainers not to buy games at day one, or not buy it at all if it's not working. In fact, the only time we seem to complain is if we don't receive a half-assed apology with a free expansion worth the value of five dollars.
There's a great term, "free expansion." We've lived so long in a world of DLC, we no longer expect a fully completed game upon launch. Because we no longer expect a fully completed game, we are seemingly more okay when a hotly anticipated game comes out a mere shell of the way it was hyped to us for the past year. We expect the gameplay will improve when we dip in more money for more content (Destiny), or when the developers patch the game (Assassins Creed: Unity).
That's an absolutely sickening reality when you think about it. There is too much talent and competition in the gaming industry for major titles to fail again and again and still be given the benefit of the doubt. This wouldn't have happened at the height of the console wars, and now that everyone is settled into their respective positions in sales, we likely have to expect six more years of this.
Perhaps the most infuriating thing is game companies try to make US feel bad for what they do. They often times put the most vulnerable staff on display (developers) and force them to explain why the game doesn't work, and how they are going to fix it. The reality is those game developers worked 72 hour work weeks to push out a half-baked game because the same people forcing them to take accountability wanted the game out by a certain date.
So then the ones who know the developers are not to blame go after the big wigs. They take guys like Andrew Wilson (EA Games) and Yves Guillemot (Ubisoft) to task, and guess what happens? Nothing. Nothing happens. You know why? Because ultimately nothing will change.
Why will nothing change? Because the money keeps coming in. How can this happen, though, when we all the time see educated gamers like ourselves ranting and raving about how we won't stand for this, and this is the last time we will get fooled by the games industry?
I'm still buying these games. You're still buying these games. Our friends are still buying these games. I can't, and won't, just stop gaming. So I bite, again and again, and get burned by the industry by broken games. It's easy to admit we can all be idiots to a fault because we are adults, and the gaming industry tells us we are an even 33% split of the gaming demo between kids, teens, and those over 35, but that's not true.
LEGO games don't make it into the top ten selling games year in and year out because of their appeal to us. I believe (although there's no hard data supporting it) children are still the driving force of video game sales. We are approaching the third generation of children born to gamers and a majority of these adult gamers are buying for two...often times at their children's request. Even if the most skeptical of us don't give into the 8th installment of Call of Duty, the children will. They always do... and they're the whales for the gaming industry at the end of the day.
So what's the solution? Right now there are zero official advocacy groups for the gaming industry. Guys like Boogie2988 and TotalBiscuit preach about what we should do, but at the end of the day they have no power to force change (although I wish they did). One solution is creating a committee to stop the gaming industry from deceitful business practice, and penalizing them for doing so. That scares a lot of people thinking that a committee may just turn into a witch hunt on bad games, but we are beyond that point at this stage. We aren't getting "bad games" anymore, we are being given BROKEN GAMES. Broken games you bought for 60 dollars that the publisher is no longer accountable for once you purchase it.
Which brings us to a second solution, which may be the saving grace for gamers. Digital downloads have been on the rise, and for the first time, we can bypass the middle man and go straight to the source. This is awesome because now when a game doesn't work, it's not Gamestop giving you back your money, it's Microsoft, Sony, or Nintendo. How much longer do you think broken games will be hitting shelves when the console makers are serving refunds out of pocket to disgruntled gamers?
Here's my solution to how Gamers can protect ourselves against the gaming industry...
- We need regulations in effect that monitor the wrongdoings of game developers and when they are in violation of gamers' rights. When a game is broken and unplayable due to negligence on the developer's part, after a week's time it should be green lighted for return.
- When the green light is given, gamers who digitally purchased can receive a full refund for the unfinished game they purchased from the parent console it released on. This will force console makers to hold a higher standards for the games they release. Hopefully.
- Games improve. Ticker tape parades are held and stock prices skyrocket for the developers who legitimately make good games. Half Life 3 is confirmed for release.
We need government intervention. It has gotten that bad. Currently, all the gaming companies are protected from such a pipe dream like stated above to happen. In a billion dollar industry that I recently spent an easy 300 dollars (5 new games btw) supporting, that's a problem. We need intervention, and we need a voice that can actually do something, because we can't.