Deus Ex Mankind Divided Delay to August: I Never Asked For This

[AlTech]

The game didn't work, mate. The first thing about telling a great story is that it has to be a natural and immersive experience. Batman on launch, and still now tells its story about as naturally as reading a novel does, except when you turn every page someone slaps you in the face with a fish. 

 

The game is buggy, lags, has horrible, horrible graphical glitches and I end up being frustrated and expending my energy trying to get the game to work rather than kicking baddies asses. 

I would actually like some slapping me with a fish every time I turn a page.  Just for shits and giggles

[-BirdiE-]

I'm tired of all these delays. When you announce an official release date, you declare the date that you have estimated you would be done. I'd much prefer them release the game broken on their release date to show us the amount of work (whether it is a huge amount of work or lack of work) that they put into the development. They talk about exceeding our expectations but the fact that your release date is pushed shows either a failure to meet their own expectations or a failure to set proper expectations in the development's progress.

You'd rather them release a game that doesn't work to "see the progress", than wait for a working version? I feel like you're the kid that burns their mouth 6 times on their food instead of just waiting for it to cool down.

 

I don't know about you, but as a sane human being, I'd much rather wait 6 months and have a working game than have a buggy POS ruin a franchise I like.

[dragosudeki]

You'd rather them release a game that doesn't work to "see the progress", than wait for a working version? I feel like you're the kid that burns their mouth 6 times on their food instead of just waiting for it to cool down.

 

I don't know about you, but as a sane human being, I'd much rather wait 6 months and have a working game than have a buggy POS ruin a franchise I like.

I don't understand your reasoning in arguing against me at all either... By your logic, if we waited for every game to completely fix all of the bugs in it, no games would simply be released. Why? Because there will always be a bug(s) whether you like it or not. I could further show problems with your analogy too... Have you ever seen any kind of food show competition (such as "Chopped Canada")? Judges don't wait for the food to be done, rather they take it and critique it as soon as the time is up... The worst part about the scenario the gaming industry is in, is that they set and announce their own release dates.

 

And to be perfectly honest, the franchise that you liked has already let you down by not meeting their own deadlines and releasing the game in proper form and on time. In any other software company, this shows the incompetency of the company and could lead to a loss of clients/customers.

 

Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines is the most amazing broken game (fixed with community patches of course) in my opinion. If you also think about the reason why many players don't cause an uproar with Fallout 4's bugs is because the players appreciate the dev and publisher for doing as much they can before the release date. We didn't see them delay it further to simply fix all the possible bugs that can occur. Also, isn't my point of view, the reason as to why early access games exist right now?

[-BirdiE-]

I don't understand your reasoning in arguing against me at all either... By your logic, if we waited for every game to completely fix all of the bugs in it, no games would simply be released. Why? Because there will always be a bug(s) whether you like it or not. I could further show problems with your analogy too... Have you ever seen any kind of food show competition (such as "Chopped Canada")? Judges don't wait for the food to be done, rather they take it and critique it as soon as the time is up... The worst part about the scenario the gaming industry is in, is that they set and announce their own release dates.

 

And to be perfectly honest, the franchise that you liked has already let you down by not meeting their own deadlines and releasing the game in proper form and on time. In any other software company, this shows the incompetency of the company and could lead to a loss of clients/customers.

 

Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines is the most amazing broken game (fixed with community patches of course) in my opinion. If you also think about the reason why many players don't cause an uproar with Fallout 4's bugs is because the players appreciate the dev and publisher for doing as much they can before the release date. We didn't see them delay it further to simply fix all the possible bugs that can occur. Also, isn't my point of view, the reason as to why early access games exist right now?

Firstly, no company would delay a game by 6 months because there are a few minor bugs in the game.... Clearly there are some game breaking bugs.

You use Fallout as an example, but clearly the bugs were not incredibly major, only affected a small percentage of players, and were easily fixable with a small patch. I see your Fallout 4 and raise you a Batman: Arkham Knight... The game was straight up unplayable... It would have been MUCH better had they just pushed back the release date and released a functional game. They didn't and they had to pull their game from the shelves.

 

Secondly, releasing a game is not the same as a chef's competition based on a time constraint... If you think it is, then you are a very confused person.

 

Developers give release dates as an estimate of when they think they'll be able to finish the game and have it released, so consumers can know roughly when to expect it. It's not a promise to you to give it to you on that day. You're clearly just a bratty kid that didn't get what he wanted, so you're throwing a fit.

[Notional]

Secondly, releasing a game is not the same as a chef's competition based on a time constraint... If you think it is, then you are a very confused person.

 

Developers give release dates as an estimate of when they think they'll be able to finish the game and have it released, so consumers can know roughly when to expect it. It's not a promise to you to give it to you on that day. You're clearly just a bratty kid that didn't get what he wanted, so you're throwing a fit.

 

Generally agree with you, but the last part is problematic. They have given an official date, and you can preorder, as in buy the game now, with that launch/delivery date given. Now we are venturing into law and consumer rights. So maybe tone it down a little?

 

But yeah, half a year, is what Watch Dogs, the Division and now this game got. It's scary to think about it. Honestly I think there's much more going on behind the scene.

[-BirdiE-]

Generally agree with you, but the last part is problematic. They have given an official date, and you can preorder, as in buy the game now, with that launch/delivery date given. Now we are venturing into law and consumer rights. So maybe tone it down a little?

 

But yeah, half a year, is what Watch Dogs, the Division and now this game got. It's scary to think about it. Honestly I think there's much more going on behind the scene.

 

We may be venturing in to law, but you'll only find that no laws are being broken by changing the release date. Firstly, when you pre-order you're making a contract with the place you pre-order it from, not the developer (be it GameStop or the xBox marketplace). Secondly, these retailers have terms of agreement you must agree to before pre-ordering which include the right to change the date. It also doesn't help your case that they don't charge you any money until the game ships. So what you have is an agreement to make the purchase when the game is released. If the game is not released on the original expected day you have every opportunity do cancel that agreement. If you have a problem with these terms, then don't pre-order...

[Guest Kloaked]

I don't understand your reasoning in arguing against me at all either... By your logic, if we waited for every game to completely fix all of the bugs in it, no games would simply be released. Why? Because there will always be a bug(s) whether you like it or not. I could further show problems with your analogy too... Have you ever seen any kind of food show competition (such as "Chopped Canada")? Judges don't wait for the food to be done, rather they take it and critique it as soon as the time is up... The worst part about the scenario the gaming industry is in, is that they set and announce their own release dates.

 

And to be perfectly honest, the franchise that you liked has already let you down by not meeting their own deadlines and releasing the game in proper form and on time. In any other software company, this shows the incompetency of the company and could lead to a loss of clients/customers.

 

Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines is the most amazing broken game (fixed with community patches of course) in my opinion. If you also think about the reason why many players don't cause an uproar with Fallout 4's bugs is because the players appreciate the dev and publisher for doing as much they can before the release date. We didn't see them delay it further to simply fix all the possible bugs that can occur. Also, isn't my point of view, the reason as to why early access games exist right now?

 

Okay. Number one, the company that put this game's content behind a superfluous paywall with pre-order tiers ended up taking the idea down after listening to the community. As game developers, they took a look at the model and gave us what we wanted.

 

Two, this isn't some TV show or food competition. Stop making dumbass comparisons.

 

And finally, three, I don't know how someone would rather have a broken and/or unfinished game up front for $60 (baseline) rather than waiting for them to actually FINISH the game and maybe you get your money's worth?

 

What even.

 

 

Generally agree with you, but the last part is problematic. They have given an official date, and you can preorder, as in buy the game now, with that launch/delivery date given. Now we are venturing into law and consumer rights. So maybe tone it down a little?

 

But yeah, half a year, is what Watch Dogs, the Division and now this game got. It's scary to think about it. Honestly I think there's much more going on behind the scene.

 

This ain't Ubisoft. They could have actually been playing their game and went "Wow this isn't good at all." and went back to fix it. Ubisoft just went and changed the game (Watch Dogs) entirely.

[Notional]

We may be venturing in to law, but you'll only find that no laws are being broken by changing the release date. Firstly, when you pre-order you're making a contract with the place you pre-order it from, not the developer (be it GameStop or the xBox marketplace). Secondly, these retailers have terms of agreement you must agree to before pre-ordering which include the right to change the date. It also doesn't help your case that they don't charge you any money until the game ships. So what you have is an agreement to make the purchase when the game is released. If the game is not released on the original expected day you have every opportunity do cancel that agreement. If you have a problem with these terms, then don't pre-order...

 

It's entirely situational. Consumer law in EU (or at least Denmark) would make such a large delay a valid reason to get a full refund. Often physical pre orders demands a small pre order fee (which is subtracted from the end price when you buy it), or in case of Steam, you pay the full price up front. The problem is not only consumer law, but also b2b law, meaning companies suffering a loss due to the delay could sue the publisher. Although that is less likely, the point is that this is not just about whiny little brats, but comes at huge consequences. I haven't even touched upon the share holders of Eidos/Square Enix.

 

This ain't Ubisoft. They could have actually been playing their game and went "Wow this isn't good at all." and went back to fix it. Ubisoft just went and changed the game (Watch Dogs) entirely.

 

True, but it's not exactly the first time it's happened. The Witcher 3 is another example (although not quite as bad). Generally these large delays happens in open world games. Nothing so far shows that Mankind Divided would be open world. In fact they are fairly linear, with smaller open areas. Such a long delay makes me worry that something more serious is at work. Rise of the Tomb Raider bombed on XBone, and maybe this is a way cut the game and sell it as DLC to gain funds from ROTTR (tin foil hat mode).

 

It just seems excessive for such a type of game, and considering the production time so far.

[dragosudeki]

You use Fallout as an example, but clearly the bugs were not incredibly major, only affected a small percentage of players, and were easily fixable with a small patch. I see your Fallout 4 and raise you a Batman: Arkham Knight... The game was straight up unplayable... It would have been MUCH better had they just pushed back the release date and released a functional game. They didn't and they had to pull their game from the shelves.

 

Secondly, releasing a game is not the same as a chef's competition based on a time constraint... If you think it is, then you are a very confused person.

 

Developers give release dates as an estimate of when they think they'll be able to finish the game and have it released, so consumers can know roughly when to expect it. It's not a promise to you to give it to you on that day. You're clearly just a bratty kid that didn't get what he wanted, so you're throwing a fit.

Two, this isn't some TV show or food competition. Stop making dumbass comparisons.

Okay, I will use the Batman: Arkham Knight example then. We got to see the true lack of effort (if any) put into their product. Why would you want to actually support a company that is both unable to release a somewhat decent experience and unable to fix it for others later? Like you said for Fallout 4, it did affect certain users, but was fixed shortly after (because they put the effort into it). We saw the amount of work done onto both games and the amount of work done after simply because they were released on their initial release date. Evidently, we can easily choose which company we should support (which is my main case in releasing the product as is on the initial release date).

 

Even if the chef analogy does not satisfy any of you, both of you have yet to explain to me why game industries are the only software companies that get the pass on "being unable to finish a project that they declared would be finished by a certain date". If you have ever worked at any other kind of software company, you would know that this practice is completely unacceptable.

 

To add onto my point, the Windows 10 Dev preview allowed users to see the progress of the software and help the developers make it better. Even Early Access games allow us to see the progress of the game as it goes. In both cases, the product was "released" in an incomplete state, but allowed users to improve the product further. Why can't the same be said for normal games? Are you guys completely against the idea of using the software and helping the developer improve their own game? Even if the game is released broken, both consumers and companies get feedback on how the other is doing. Regardless, nothing changes the fact that the company further shows their lack of execution by either releasing a broken game or delaying the broken game so that they properly fix it. There would be no better way to see how much they effort the company put into the product than to experience the product as it is on the initial release date, as well as how it is improved after the initial release date.

 

Note: I have little to no desire for this game, so stop using that idea against me. Making fun of me does not help your argument whatsoever. I am not saying anything about preorders, though this game's original preorder system is a good example of releasing something(the preorder system) and getting feedback to improve it.